Spiritual Direction and the Specialized Minister

Last updated on: March 21, 2016 at 12:41 pm by Teresa Blythe

Spiritual Direction and the Specialized Minister 2016-03-21T12:41:45-08:00 Teresa Blythe

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hospital corridor Chaplains, campus ministers, denominational leaders, pastoral counselors and spiritual directors are all ministers with a specialty and their needs in spiritual direction can be specialized as well. Some are ordained clergy who have transitioned from local congregation work to their specialty. Some (like me) have only worked in their specialty. Some work regular hours, some are on-call and others make their own schedule. Most find themselves in need of spiritual direction either as a regular practice or during times of transition or difficulty.

It is a great joy to work in spiritual direction with any clergy person, and specialized ministers are no exception. Specialized ministers tend to be sensitive, hard-working people who hold a lot of people’s confidential stories. Their needs differ greatly from the traditional pulpit-filling pastor. Here are some content areas that come up for exploration in spiritual direction:

Processing emotions they encounter. Chaplains in particular are ministers who serve people in times of great crisis. Hospital, hospice, nursing home or first-responder chaplains come face-to-face with traumatic events, suffering and death. In the best-case-scenario, these ministers will have had excellent Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), a rigorous education process of supervision that helps chaplains face their feelings about the work they are doing. CPE is required for most chaplain positions but not all. Even with a strong background in how to process difficult feelings of sadness, fear and anger, many chaplains find monthly sessions of spiritual direction helpful. Since the session is held in confidence, this is a place where the chaplain can activate what they have learned in CPE and find support in prayer and encouragement. Many other specialized ministers may not have had the benefit of CPE and may find spiritual direction one of their only outlets for processing difficult emotions. Campus ministers and denominational leaders in particular are “first responders” to a number of highly volatile situations. And while pastoral counselors and spiritual directors are usually in supervision for the inward look at their responses to their own feelings, it is highly recommended (mandatory for spiritual directors) that they be in spiritual direction as well.

Status within their religious denomination. With the exception of the denominational leader (who is usually quite fine with their status!), many specialized ministers feel marginalized in their denomination. One former hospice chaplain I know stopped going to denominational meetings because the sign-in sheet only had one category—church you serve. Even after repeatedly pointing this out to denominational leaders, the sheet never changed. Some specialized ministers are ordained but others cannot be ordained, because their denominations do not yet ordain women or LGBTQ persons. That feeling of being a second-class citizen within your denomination is appropriate material for exploration in spiritual direction.

Difficulties working within their systems. Specialized ministers who are hired by organizations must do their job within the confines of a system with rules and regulations that take up a lot of time and have little to do with their ministry. As soon as the government agreed to allow federal Medicare funds to pay for spiritual care in hospice, those chaplains had a lot more paperwork to attend to. Some systems understand spiritual care but others do not. Specialized ministers who work within systems that “just don’t get it” will find spiritual direction a safe place to release some of their frustration and take a look at how God manages to break through even the toughest of systems.

Maintaining a work-life balance. It is difficult to work “on-call,” being accessible to work at a moment’s notice, and be available to friends and family when they need you. Specialized ministers who accept jobs that include on-call periods have to work harder at keeping their life in balance. There will, in fact, be times their life is not in balance. Spiritual direction can help a chaplain or campus minister figure out how to recalibrate during those times. Spiritual discernment can help them find ways to live peacefully with the on-call status they have chosen.

Here are some good open-ended questions I like to use when working with specialized ministers:

What is most meaningful about the work you do?
What is least meaningful and in need of a change?
How do you process your sadness or other difficult feelings on the job?
(If they had CPE) What are some of the concepts you learned in CPE for staying balanced on the job?
How is life for you outside of work?
How do you take care of yourself?
What spiritual practices help you the most?
Where do you find spiritual community?
What are your most meaningful connections with your denomination?
When is your sabbath (break from all work) and how do you observe it?

As churches shrink in size you would think the need for chaplains would increase. But positions for chaplains are also waning. Denominations are consolidating their systems so that fewer denominational leaders are needed. Many colleges have no campus minister. So specialized ministers live and work in an uncertain economy. They need the kind of prayerful “long, loving look at the real” that spiritual direction provides.

I have openings in my schedule for new directees—regardless of where you live. I can work by phone or Skype or if you live in the Phoenix metro area we can meet in person. If you are interested in learning more about spiritual direction or entering spiritual direction with me, please contact me at [email protected] or visit www.teresablythe.net. Also visit my website for the Phoenix Center for Spiritual Direction.

Photo credit: Christiana Care via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

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