Dear Pastor, Slowing Down Might Just Save Your Ministry

This article is part of the Dear Pastor series.

Dear Pastor,

In the past five years alone, how many of you reading this article have questioned your calling, lost ministry friends and co-laborers, or have grown generally weary? Perhaps there is a growing awareness of discontent within your church, and you are tempted to ignore the issue or throw in the towel altogether. If you are still hanging in there, you might be tempted to find temporary relief in unhealthy habits or otherwise mindless distractions. Periods of rest and leisure are pivotal towards healthy pastoral leadership; further, it might be the case that in the day to day, we simply need to slow down and move towards more extended periods of prayer and contemplation of the things of the Lord for the sake of our soul.

Numerous studies, conversations, and stories from our own pastoral experiences indicate that pastoral ministry and care are in danger of faltering under current pressures. There is no “quick fix” to these issues. With prayer and biblical meditation in mind, let’s consider a spiritual reading of Psalm 23, guided by the sixth-century church father Gregory the Great (c. 540–604), and apply some lessons from author Eugene Peterson. Intimacy with God, quietness of soul, and the pursuit of contemplation will significantly impact our spiritual health and the spiritual lives of those we are called to serve.

Ancient Wisdom for the Care of Souls

Coleman M. Ford, Shawn J. Wilhite

Professors Coleman M. Ford and Shawn J. Wilhite help pastors to embrace a classic, patristic vision of ministry through a study of pastoral virtues and early church figures.

Eugene Peterson and the Contemplative Pastor

I (Shawn) remember where I stood, who was with me, and the season—it was springtime because baseball had recently begun— when I finished reading Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Rule and Eugene Peterson’s The Contemplative Pastor. They were simple reads, and I remember finishing them in a single day. Peterson’s vision of the pastoral office slowly melded together with Gregory’s. This part of Peterson’s book was not new to me, but it felt different that day:

It was a favorite theme of C. S. Lewis that only lazy people work hard. By lazily abdicating the essential work of deciding and directing, establishing values and setting goals, other people do it for us; then we find ourselves frantically, at the last minute, trying to satisfy a half dozen different demands on our time, none of which is essential to our vocation, to stave off the disaster of disappointing someone.

But if I vainly crowd my day with conspicuous activity or let others fill my day with imperious demands, I don’t have time to do my proper work, the work to which I have been called. How can I lead people into the quiet place beside the still waters if I am in perpetual motion? How can I persuade a person to live by faith and not by works if I have to juggle my schedule constantly to make everything fit into place?¹

As I read this, my soul grew unsettled, and I knew something was happening. Of course, we need to plan for our day. Of course, we have plenty of ministry planning meetings. Of course, we have projects to finish, people to visit, and phone calls to make. But how do I create space in my schedule for my piety and stave off the demands of stuff?

Psalm 23, Spiritual Stillness, and Flourishing

For days afterward, Peterson’s line reverberated throughout my soul: How can I lead people into the quiet place beside the still waters if I am in perpetual motion? Psalm 23 depicts God as a shepherd to David. He nurtures us. He leads us. He guides us. God is the one who leads us to still waters to drink deeply from the Father’s presence, the goodness of the Son, and the peace of the Spirit.

We all know a frantic person chasing something they can never fully grasp. We see their tired soul, fatigue in their eyes, and (if we look carefully) their disordered inner life. They exude a sense of restlessness. Maybe this is what some of us see every morning in the mirror. Does your life feel chaotic, running from one thing to the next? Are you leading people to the goodness of Christ while doubting his goodness yourself? Are you finding your soul fatigued while you perform good deeds? Do you neglect to cease from your labor and internal spinning to rest in God? In ministry, we do many good things in a single day or week—we pray, teach, counsel, tend to the needs of others, and care for widows. We may feel frantic because we have said yes to many good but perhaps unnecessary ministry duties.

Working for the church can be good and noble; we should labor for people’s souls. Yet, to labor without rest may be idolatry. It may also be a ministry lacking spiritual depth, as we can care for others while empty, chasing fulfillment. The veneer of busyness and the drive for acceptance can govern our identity, clouding our well-being, our pursuit of spirituality, and our times of reflection.

By slowing down, we draw closer to God.

The contemplative tradition—which began with the fathers and continues today—shows us that the desire for acceptance at any cost and the commitment to busyness without limits are spiritual vices. Slowing down, it seems, is best for a full schedule of ministry. Augustine likened human life to a pilgrimage that joins one’s soul to God: we are constantly “called home from the noise that is around us to the joys that are silent. Why do we rush about . . . looking for God who is here at home with us, if all we want is to be with him?”² By slowing down, we draw closer to God.

In fact, by slowing down, we will also be more effective in ministry. Reflecting on lessons from Gregory the Great for Christian educators, Kyle Hughes says, “By tending to our own spiritual and emotional health, we will be better able to deal with inevitable things like conflict and tension both inside and outside the classroom, gradually becoming transformed into the kinds of people that we would want our students to emulate.” ³³ Whether a student in a classroom or a congregant in a sanctuary, our spiritual lives matter to those whom we serve. The point is not to cease all ministerial duties but to place limits on ministerial work because we are human. Kelly Kapic clarifies, “Denying our finitude cripples us in ways we don’t realize. It also distorts our view of God and what Christian spirituality should look like.” ⁴ We must find time to rest in God to minister effectively.

Gregory the Great, Contemplation, and the Care of Souls

The contemplative life is . . . to rest from exterior action and cleave only to the desire of the maker, that the mind may now take no pleasure in doing anything, but having spurned all cares, may be aglow to see the face of the Creator.—Gregory the Great⁵

One of Gregory’s most significant treatises was his Book on Pastoral Rules. George Demacopoulos notes that this book “is the most thorough pastoral treatise of the Patristic era.”⁶ The Pastoral Rule includes instructions about the pastoral office and a chastened ascetic life from a mature bishop to a younger bishop. It has four parts, with the first two focusing on the spiritual attention that a pastor should pay to himself and the church, the third describing how a spiritual director ought to shepherd, and the fourth showing how the pastor should return to humility after public ministry.

Gregory stood between two worlds—ascetic contemplation of God and public ministry to the church; the double love was important to this vision for a bishop. On the one hand, a pastor is to love God, and part of loving God is contemplating God. On the other hand, Christians must love their neighbors and thus cannot remain in an ascetic life. George Demacopoulos explains that Gregory “believed that successful pastoral leadership required a balance between the contemplation of the isolated ascetic and the action of the well-trained administrator. The ‘active-contemplative’ was not only a more effective leader, he was also a better Christian than either the recluse or the administrator.”⁷

Gregory envisioned two forms of life: the contemplative and the active. To contemplate God was to reflect on the mysteries of God and participate in the divine life of God. These activities quiet the soul and enable the minister to drink deeply from the well of God’s presence. Yet, one must also engage in ministry. The two forms always go together—no one can adequately minister to others if the quiet life is all-consuming, and no one can fully contemplate if ministry is all-consuming. Gregory thus called those entering the pastoral office to slow down and pursue a balanced life of contemplating God and ministry to others. He wrote,

The spiritual director should be a compassionate neighbor to everyone and superior to all in contemplation so that he may transfer the infirmities of others to himself by means of his intense piety and transcend even his own aspirations for invisible things through the loftiness of his meditation. Otherwise, in pursuing high things he will despise the infirmities of his neighbors, or by adapting himself to the infirmities of his neighbors he will abandon the pursuit of high things.⁸

Gregory taught that even while contemplating God, pastors must act compassionately for their neighbors. To live a superior life of contemplation is a way to bear the sicknesses of the church. Retreating to the inner life should not be a retreat from ministry; instead, one must retreat to the inner life only to return and minister to their neighbor. As Gregory counseled, “It is necessary that the attention that is given to the external concerns of the laity must be kept to a certain limit.”⁹

By paying attention to the interior life through prayer and contemplation, pastors are more equipped to deal with their busy schedules. Slowing down is essential for pastoral effectiveness. Listening to Gregory’s wisdom helps us understand that the active life of ministry is fueled, not fizzled, by cultivating the interior life of contemplation.

Coleman M. Ford and Shawn J. Wilhite are the coauthors of Ancient Wisdom for the Care of Souls: Learning the Art of Pastoral Ministry from the Church Fathers.

Coleman M. Ford (PhD, Southern Seminary) is an assistant professor of humanities at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He serves as a fellow for the Center for Pastor Theologians. He is also the codirector and research fellow for the Center for Ancient Christian Studies. He also serves as an assistant pastor. He is published in the areas of patristic theology and Christian spirituality.

Shawn J. Wilhite (PhD, Durham University) is an associate professor of New Testament at California Baptist University in Riverside, California. He is also the codirector and research fellow for the Center for Ancient Christian Studies. He has published books and articles in the areas of New Testament, early Christianity, and patristic literature.

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