By Patrick Ware
 

• What do we need to know in order to be your friends?
• Are you content in your ministry?
• How are you maintaining your priestly vows?
• Are you neglecting your own soul as you care for everyone else’s?
• Is Christ your first love?
• Is your body sick?
• Are you addressing any areas of un-health?
• When was the last time you took a day off?
• How empty or full is your tank with the things that give you life (not ministry)?
• Give us an update on the emotional, physical, and spiritual elements of your covenant of marriage.
• How can we pray for your relationship with your wife?
• What do your children need from you right now?

Six years ago, we were all a part of the first Clergy Leadership Training Institute (CLTI) offered by the American Anglican Council (AAC). Now, once a year, I sit with a group of these pastors, and I answer these and a few other questions about my ministry, my family, and the state of my relationship with the Lord. Sometimes it’s hard to be honest, but with these men, it gets easier every year.

We come to learn, to discern, to pray, and to listen to each other; to laugh and to rest, to exercise, to strategize, and to let down our guards so that we are open to the sharpening that happens when disciples seek the Lord together.

They know me and the context of my ministry. They know what my kids have struggled with and they know what parts of ministry have been the most difficult on my marriage.

They know my sin. They know where and to what I turn in my life for comfort and stress relief (healthy and unhealthy) and they know my mistakes.

They also know my victories and they know how to encourage me. They know the long standing struggles I’ve had and because they know me, they help me to mark the Lord’s victories in my life when I forget what He’s already done.

I can’t imagine my life in ministry without these men and these 3 days that I have with them each year to think and pray together about our lives. Here’s some of what the other guys think about this time:

A life of continued learning and listening to the Holy Spirit together.

Every year “we continue to learn. The learning is less of a note-taking/lecture-style, and far more listening deeply with the Holy Spirit to one another. To have these guys listen to the Lord with me for what He’s saying is wisdom worth far more than just going it on my own.”

A commitment to serving and listening to each other.

“This group shares a very rare commitment to each other. I don’t know of anywhere else I have godly men who would listen to me for an afternoon, challenge me, encourage me, and pray for me with no agenda other than serving me as a fellow servant of Jesus. This makes Shepherd-Warriors, and I would go to battle with these brothers.”

A safe place to be challenged and encouraged. A place to remember what God has done.

“This is an annual priority for me because of the consistent connection with other clergy living with the same triumphs, tragedies, pressures and priorities. We challenge each other to grow, to get real with each other, and to look back and see how God has been growing each of us. This year was particularly great for me because I could look back and process with the guys how God has transformed and/or removed previous obstacles in my ministry and how he has given me greater resolve for the future.”

A group of cherished friends who speak into each other’s lives to evaluate each year and to set goals for the future.

“Everyone gets a morning or afternoon to share about life, family, and ministry. After we share, the group then gets to respond with questions, challenges, or prophetic words. We end each session with prayer time for that pastor. Each year God speaks to me through the group. It’s the best time I have to evaluate my last 12 months and to set goals for next 12. This is a rich fellowship with a group of guys that have become my cherished friends.”

It was one of the best choices of my ministry to be a part of this ongoing group every year following up our training with the AAC. Find colleagues, meet together, let them in, listen, pray, and encourage each other. Don’t go it alone. Life is better in community.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Heb. 10:24-25

The Rev. Patrick A. Ware is Rector of Winchester Anglican Church in Virginia.

Here’s a video of that first Clergy Leadership Training Institute.

Help Anglican Priests – Support the Clergy Leadership Training Instiute