Outgrowing the Old Church: What It Takes to Lead Spiritually in the New Era

A New Kind of Clergy for a New Kind of Christianity, Part 4

This January, I’ll release all my
Friday Deep Dives for free until 9:00 pm (CST) the following Friday.
So, if you want to read them for free, you can do so for a limited time.

If you want to upgrade to paid and get access to everything, go through this button for a special discount.

A quick heads up:

Due to the increasing cost of living and the amount of time I put into the various opportunities I offer, I’ve decided to raise the cost of paid monthly subscriptions from $6 to $7. The price of annual subscriptions remain the same.

---

“Did you know that Pat didn't go to a seminary?”

That was my friend who worked in a coffee shop several years ago. I would drop by every once in a while to say “hi” and chat (oh, and drink coffee).

It was an odd way to start the conversation. So, I leaned into it.

“What do you mean?”, I asked.

“Pat (not his real name) told me he did not have to go to a seminary to become a pastor.”

---

A little background before I continue…

Pat was a fundamentalist pastor who also dropped into the coffee shop. I only met him once in passing. My friend saw him while serving coffee, and they regularly talked about things like the Bible or theology.

So, when my friend and I talked about those topics, she would tell me what Pat said. I could tell that she respected his opinion. She didn't agree with him, but she respected him because he was a pastor. He was supposed to be an expert in the topics they discussed.

Back to the conversation…

---

She continued. “I know you went to seminary and were specifically trained to study the Bible and theology. I know Catholic priests also have to go to seminary (she grew up Catholic). Other clergy from other denominations have to go to seminary in order to be ordained. Pat told me he didn't go to a seminary to become a pastor. Instead, he had a mentor who trained him. When they decided he was ready, they made him a pastor of a congregation.”

I could hear the shock in her voice. Pat’s revelation definitely triggered her. It was like a switch had flipped. And then, she identified exactly what that switch was…

“When he told me that, I lost all respect for him as a pastor. Not as a person, but as a pastor. How can he teach the Bible to a congregation when he's never truly studied it himself?”

In my friend's mind, Pat had revealed that he was unqualified for the job. She could no longer trust what he had to say about the Bible or theology. And, she could no longer trust what he had to say about faith or spirituality. She felt bamboozled.

To be clear…

It is appropriate for people to have expectations regarding the qualifications of their spiritual leaders. And I would argue that the number one requirement for a spiritual leader of adults in the emerging age is this…

They need to embody a level of spiritual maturity befitting an adult in the faith.

Spiritual leaders of adults need to be spiritual adults

“We can’t take people where we’ve never been ourselves...”
—John Maxwell

Expect to get sick of hearing that quote. It’s practically my mantra for the Digital Ecclesiastic.

Last week I talked about Fowler's stages of faith development and how they reveal the biggest issue for the decline of Christianity in America. Yes, I realized there are other models for spiritual growth out there. I lean into Fowler most because I see his theory as scientifically based, accurate, and most accessible.

The stages we looked at last week were Stages 2 through 5. (If you haven't read the article or need a quick refresher, I recommend popping over here for a quick peek.) Here are the ages at which those stages typically become available to people.

• Stage 2 Mythic-Literal: 7 years

• Stage 3 Synthetic-Conventional: 12 years

• Stage 4 Individuative-Reflective: 18 years

• Stage 5 Conjunctive: 30 years

According to Fowler, Christians (including clergy) typically rest at a Stage 3 faith, which I call “community-oriented traditionalism”. This means they’re processing their faith with the personal frameworks they developed in adolescence.

Stage 4 faith is the first stage of faith that becomes available in early adulthood. So, when I talk about an “adult level” of faith, I'm specifically identifying a framework that becomes accessible to a person when they enter into adulthood. This does not mean that people functioning at Stage 3 are not actual adults. It just means they are not yet using the frameworks that become accessible to them in adulthood for one reason or another.

Last week, I proposed that the underlying problem leading people away from their churches (and possibly their religion) is that they have developmentally outgrown their communities of faith. The complexity with which they are processing their faith has moved beyond Stage 3 and into Stage 4, a move that can neither be understood nor supported by their Stage 3 communities.

Personally, I think the implication of this for anyone wanting to become a Digital Ecclesiastic is incredibly clear…

If you want to lead people who are processing their faith with adult frameworks, you have to be processing your faith with a framework of at least the same level of complexity.

Should we expect all adults to function spiritually at Stage 4 or higher? Of course not. People will develop as they develop. It is normal for many people to live their entire adult lives at Stage 2 or 3. Remember, it's not that Stage 4 is inherently better than Stage 3. It's just more complex.

The reason this is a vital issue here is because we're talking about spiritual leaders. Part of the responsibility of a spiritual leader is to facilitate spiritual growth.

It’s just not possible for someone who only has basic math under their belt to teach people who are ready for algebra.