THE JOURNEY INSIGHT QUESTION

As a part of JPC’s mission, we ask our members each month to answer what we call an “Insight Question.” From time to time we open our “IQs” to non-member U40s. However, the IQ that serves as the basis for this article was restricted only to Journey members. 

The purposes of the JPC monthly IQ are simple:

1.  Coach the coach:  

Journey members’ responses are vital to me as I share their individual journeys, and as I seek to understand the issues they face; 

2.  Coach the Journey coaching community: 

IQ results (without identifying information) are usually distributed to our members;

3.  Coach the church world outside of Journey:

Many of our IQs become the material for Journey articles we post online. This article is an example. 

NOW AND THEN

In two recent IQs, we asked U40 ministers about their lives since entering their vocations, be it church ministry, marketplace ministry, missions, or whatever.  We listed ten categories or subjects, with five statements in each category. Respondents were asked to read each question and answer, on a scale of one to ten, how true that statement is for him or her.

THE SCALE:

An answer of one (1) means that the statement is not at all true for the respondent;

An answer of five (5) means that the respondent is neutral about the statement; 

An answer of ten (10) means that the statement is absolutely true for the respondent.

A hypothetical example: 

Category:  JESUS

Statement:  I am confident Jesus Christ walks with me in everything I face.  

Answer:  8 

Once all responses were submitted, we compiled them and calculated the averages. These are posted below.  Following each category, you will read our observations on the results. Clarification: while the observations after each section primarily reflect our thoughts on respondents’ answers, they are informed by our coaching relationship with our members, not individually, but collectively. In other words, our observations are our interpretation of members’ responses to this IQ, along with reinforcing information from our coaching relationships.   

We present the results of these two Insight Questions in this and our next article.

THE CATEGORIES AND STATEMENTS PART I

GENERAL

1.  Life in ministry has been what I expected.  4.5

2.  I love my life in ministry more today than when I began my life in ministry.  7.1

3.  My ideas about the ministry have not changed since I entered the ministry.  3.0

4.  I have a greater excitement about the future today than when I entered the ministry.  7.0

5.  I am more confident in Christ today as a minister than I was when I entered the ministry. 8.6

Observations: At Journey, we often talk about the “twin virtues” of humility and confidence, referencing our need to walk in “humble confidence”:  humble before our Lord; confident in Him and who He has made us to be as His ministers. In their responses to the five statements above, as in our regular coaching calls, respondents reveal this humility as they acknowledge that life in ministry has not proven to be exactly as they thought it would be when they began – they’ve had to change many of their ideas. They humbly, and joyfully, proclaim that they have to be passionate lifelong learners, another Journey value. As to confidence, they reveal their confidence about their future in ministry by their passion for learning and by their assurance that God goes before them. Even more important, they are very confident in Jesus, that He will sustain them as they continue to answer to His call. 

CALLING

1.  I was completely ready for the calling I have followed since entering the ministry.  3.7

2.  I am more convinced than ever that I know God’s call on my life.  8

3.  I am more confident in my calling today than I was when I began life in ministry.  8.3

4.  I am more convinced than ever that I can obey God’s call on my life for a lifetime.  8.6

5.  I am confident that my creation and calling are one whole: breathing in and breathing out.  7

Observations: Humility and confidence are again on display, but in a new way. Our U40 ministers at Journey strongly acknowledge that they have had much learning and work to do in answering God’s call on their lives. That learning and work continues to this day. But even so, Millennial ministers are confident in their calls and in their futures: as they focus on and obey the One who calls, He will strengthen and sustain. Our members do say that the work of integrating their creation and call can be challenging, and so, requires special focus and energy every day. This is indicated not only above, but is a frequent and wonderfully engaging topic of our coaching calls: if only more ministers of all ages were willing to do this kind of internal processing and work with a coach or peer. Our members recognize that it is very possible to follow God’s call without allowing God to work in us, His called ones. Many ministers, even successful ones, are proof of this: who they are and what they do are dangerously disconnected; their doing does not flow from their being; they do the work of pastoring without being pastors. Millennial members acknowledge this dark hole pull against integration and their need of God’s help in making their lives in ministry one action of breathing in God’s life and breathing it out again, being and doing blended as one life, one creation and calling. 

CHARACTER

1. When I began in ministry I relied more on my gifts than my character.  6

2. I am more teachable today than when I began in ministry.  8.3

3. I am more humble today than when I entered the ministry.  8.7

4. Personal holiness is more important to me today than when I entered the ministry. 8.1

5. I emphasize being over doing more today than when I entered the ministry.  9

OBSERVATIONS:  As a U40 pastoral coach, i.e., a pastor to ministers under the age of 40, I have sometimes been told by peers that Millennials are un-coachable: they are unwilling to be coached-pastored; they want nothing to do with older ministers and feel they have nothing to learn from us. I respectfully disagree. As campus pastor for five years at the national Bible College of my denomination, I was privileged to pastor well over one thousand Millennials. During this time, I couldn’t keep up with the requests for coaching and counsel. At Journey Pastoral Coaching, for the past five years our membership roll has always been full. And we always have U40s waiting to join for coaching in our “being over doing” approach. That’s character. That’s teachability. That’s humility. That’s a desire for holiness. That’s a desire to grow in character rather than just learn the techniques of leadership and church growth. Are all Millennials so strong in character?  Of course not, but neither are ministers of my generation or any generation. Are Millennials perfect? Of course not, but neither are ministers of my generation or any generation. But as to the Millennials with whom I am privileged to walk, and the Millennials with whom I am privileged to help from time to time, I see character and Christ. I see a generation ready to learn and grow.  I see a generation ready for what I call “gray hair” mentors, coaches and pastors to come along side them. 

DISCIPLESHIP

1.  I live a more disciplined life today than when I began in ministry.  6.9

2.  My rhythm of life is healthier today than it was when I began in ministry.  7.8

3.  I hunger more for God today than when I entered the ministry. 8  

4.  Evangelism is more important to me today than it was when I entered the ministry.  7.2

5.  The driving force of my life and ministry is more internal (from within me) today than it was when I began in ministry.   7.1

OBSERVATIONS: Yet again we see the humility of respondents as they acknowledge their challenge in living a disciplined life in ministry.  Their response is not a measure of their discipleship, i.e., their commitment to Jesus and following Him, but of the way they structure their lives in ministry. It’s an issue every minister of the Gospel understands and has probably wrestled with at some time. But there is strong reason to believe that Millennials will grow in this area. The reasons are two: their strong hunger for God and their rhythm in living in Jesus. At Journey, we often talk about living according to the rhythms of the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and our own creation, rather than external or imposed rules. One who lives by externally imposed rules can say that he or she is disciplined but may find it much more difficult to say that the rhythm of their life is healthy and sustainable. Our respondents acknowledge a need to grow in living a disciplined life, but that as they do, they are depending on and growing in the Holy Spirit as they live as disciple-ministers. 

GRACE

1.  I can accept the faults of others more easily today than when I entered the ministry.  9

2.  Grace is more real to me today than when I entered the ministry. 9.5

3.  I am a better listener today than when I entered the ministry.  9

4.  I am more mentally conscious of the Gospel at work in my life than I was when I entered the ministry.   9.4

5.  My life and ministry are defined more by the Cross of Jesus today than when I began in ministry. 9.4

OBSERVATIONS: If there is one subject that has been the Journey subject of our first five years, that subject is grace.  Members are far more conscious today of God’s grace at work in their lives than they were when they entered their vocations, or even when they joined Journey. The reason? They’ve been willing to let grace wrestle with them and to help each other as grace wrestled with them. It’s been an unbelievable joy to watch grace work in their lives, and to see the resulting riches. Yes, they do accept others’ faults, and they walk with those people as they work through those faults. Yes, they are better listeners. At Journey we not only emphasize and train in listening well, but we depend on our members to be great listeners. They excel. Finally, talk for just a few minutes with a Journey member and you’ll hear them immediately talking with you about Jesus, His Gospel, and the Cross: how their lives are defined by and dependent on them.  

FINAL THOUGHTS

At Journey Pastoral Coaching, our mission is helping young ministers (U40s) build strong for a lifetime of healthy and effective ministry.  We do so by focusing first on the “being” of the minister rather than the “doing” of the ministry – being pastors rather than merely doing the work of pastoring, for example. As we build the minister, we build the ministry, and we do so for a lifetime of healthy and effective ministry.  That’s not only good news for the minister, but for the ministry that he or she leads.   

The results of our “Now and Then” IQ are very encouraging. JPC members are serious about being over doing: intent on growing as persons; resistant to defining themselves by the metrics of numbers.  They are serious about building strong for a lifetime of healthy and effective ministry: humble, teachable, and dependent on the Holy Spirit to form them. Most important of all, they are hungry for Jesus Christ and determined to serve Him according to His measures rather than the measures of others.

In two weeks, we’ll look at the second half of this IQ as U40 ministers look back and ahead.