7 Qualities of Fruitful Pastoral Leaders

by Deacon Keith Strohm | Sep 11, 2018 | Uncategorized

I’ve traveled all over North America serving the Church during the last 25 years, and I’ve learned a few things.

The most important being the fact that our parishes are filled with amazing, generous, gifted men and women who are not yet disciples of Jesus Christ–not through any fault of their own, but because we as pastoral leaders have not done a great job of proposing relationship with Jesus to them (and living it out for them to see).

Yes, there really is a crisis of discipleship.

But it is aided and abetted by a related crisis–a crisis of leadership.

If evangelization and accompaniment are the core components of the engine that drives parish renewal, leadership is the essential fluid that cools and lubricates that engine, allowing every component to perform at maximum efficiency. Without authentic leadership, the engine of cultural change fails to start, overheats, or blows a gasket, thereby coming to a complete stop.

Just look at the current manifestation of the sexual abuse crisis we are living through right now. Clearly, the causes of this abuse and cover up issue are complex and interrelated, but you can be darn sure that poor leadership on the part of our shepherds has helped to move us to this place today. Healthy things can grow in a healthy climate, and nothing has quite as profound effect on organizational climate (also called culture), than leadership. Just talk to anyone who has volunteered or worked in a parish for any length of time–chances are they will have run in to an unhealthy climate (or two…or three). Such toxic environments stunt growth–personal, professional, and spiritual. They spread division, woundedness, bitterness, anger, and hurt like a virus, and they act in direct opposition to the Church’s mission.

If we are going to take the New Evangelization seriously, and truly live out the Church’s mission, we need to form, raise up, hire, and nurture authentic pastoral leaders who can bear great fruit. The hard truth is that many of our parishes are not led well, and the blame isn’t simply on the pastors, priests, and deacons. Our entire leadership culture often suppresses innovation, uses intimidation and manipulation masked in pious language, promotes mediocrity, and is more concerned with external data (numbers of people who go through our programs and processes) than spiritual fruitfulness. Often, our parishes live, lead, and struggle out of silos rather than focused and generous collaboration.

The context of our current crisis only highlights the dire necessity of leadership transformation. There are no other options–we either embrace a fundamental change in how we govern and live out our common baptismal life as parishes, or we just accept the fact that our future fate will be one of decline, retrenchment, and a growing irrelevance to the secular world.

Responsibility for such a change in leadership begins, first and foremost, with each of us. To that end, we have identified 7 Qualities of Fruitful Pastoral Leaders in an attempt to help individuals and groups of parish leaders begin this journey of transformation. You’ll find the 7 Qualities listed below. In addition, we have also created a free, downloadable Leadership Resource to assist you. This resource not only contains details on the 7 Qualities, but it also sets out some critical reflection questions that you can use individually or in a group setting to form and support your personal development as a leader or the growth of leaders at all levels of your parish. You can download the FREE resource by clicking here or by clicking on the image at the bottom of this blog post.

Note: We chose to use the word fruitful rather than simply effective to highlight an important reality–leadership isn’t simply about positional excellence but about individual and communal impact. Fruitful leaders not only change culture…they change people. In addition, each of these 7 Qualities rests upon the foundation of vision. Not every leader in your parish has the ability to see, articulate, and promote a new vision, but all leaders internalize the vision of the community and live it out in such a way that others are drawn in.

7 Qualities of Fruitful Pastoral Leaders

• Discipled: First and foremost, a fruitful pastoral leader must be a disciple—one who has had an encounter with Jesus and intentionally chooses to follow Him in the midst of His Church. The discipleship process can not be understood “from the outside.” Fruitful pastoral leaders understand the spiritual journey toward discipleship and know how to help others entrust their lives to Jesus.
• Invested: Effective pastoral leaders invest intentionally in the mission of the community or organization. They are present and proactive in the process of helping their community live out that mission. In addition to this “mission alignment,” authentic leaders invest in the people they serve, seeking to build them up—even when it isn’t convenient.
• Relational: Fruitful pastoral leaders understand that, ultimately, their role is to foster their own relationship with Jesus as well as the relationship of others with Jesus, and they create cultures that prioritize those relationships. One of the key ways they do this is by accompanying others relationally. Even if their role has a large administrative component, they never lose sight of the reality that it is all about Jesus and the people they serve. This extends to their colleagues and other staff members; effective pastoral leaders build a web of authentic relationships and choose to work collaboratively rather than in silos.
• Accountable: Pastoral leaders who bear sustained fruit in their ministry prioritize accountability. They hold themselves responsible for delivering on their objectives and expect others to do so, too. Working in team, these leaders do not hesitate to hold their team members accountable, and when difficulties arise, they do not scapegoat or shift blame; they step up, take responsibility, and look for solutions. Accountable pastoral leaders do not hesitate to have difficult conversations with team members, peers, and their own leaders to bring clarity, reinforce healthy boundaries, and address issues.
• Discerning: In order to bear the most fruit, effective pastoral leaders intentionally discern the direction and will of God for themselves, their community, their ministry, and in relation to the people they serve. This begins with prayer and attentiveness to the movement of God, coupled with a growing detachment to their own plans and visions. Discerning leaders prioritize prayer as a leadership team and seek the will of God together.
• Surrendered: Effective pastoral leadership begins with the deep understanding that nothing can truly grow and move forward on our own power; all depends upon the power and presence of God. Fruitful leaders intentionally invite the Holy Spirit to move in their ministries, expect that He will show up, and leave room for His direction and supernatural action.
• Empowering: Fruitful pastoral leaders know that they do not have all the gifts necessary to move and transform a community or organization. Therefore, they seek out, nurture, and support others with the gifts that are necessary. These leaders are not threatened by the giftedness of others—even when these gifts exist to a greater degree than their own—and they actively work to grow others into leadership roles.

Living these qualities out will not be easy–especially in the beginning. It will take much understanding, compassion, frank and honest discussion, and trust to change our leadership culture. But doing so is one of the most powerful ways that we can cooperate with the supernatural life that God has given His Body, the Church. When I first met Fr. James Mallon’s parish, St. Benedict, a few years ago, I commented to him that the secret sauce of the Divine Renovation model was that they wedded the very best in human organizational leadership principles with a reliance on the supernatural life of the Kingdom.

Are we ready to commit to such a shift in our own leadership? Are there other qualities of fruitful leaders that should be highlighted? We’d like to know. Drop a line in the comment box. And don’t forget to download our FREE Leadership Resource by clicking the image below: