Place of Pastoral Ambition

by Rev. Mark E. Tidsworth, Founder and Team Leader

I’ve wrestled around with this issue for a long time now. What’s the place of ambition in the pastoral life? Does it even have a place? On the other hand, do we want unambitious pastors? What do we mean by “ambition” anyway? Is ambition something of the world, so to speak, having no place in a faithful life? What’s the relationship between ambition and motivation?

So many questions, yet an issue that needs clarity in the thinking of most pastors. The place of ambition in the pastoral life arose again recently in the Young Clergy Cohort. These are clergy under the age of 40, who are leaning into their pastoral identity right here in this volatile world. Even while traditional paradigms of church are deconstructing and emerging church paradigms are taking shape, younger or newer clergy are constructing their paradigms for the pastoral life. Those who are motivated want to know how to relate to their ambition in these strange and wonderful times.

Even so, we at Pinnacle are keenly aware that mid and late-career clergy are asking the same questions about ambition, but from different viewpoints. They want to know how to measure effectiveness, or dare we say success, given the swirling waters of change in which the church finds itself. Since the former metrics are less relevant, how do we know when we are effectively leading and how do we measure church effectiveness? Ambitious and motivated clergy want to know.

One very clear insight rising from engagement with clergy at various stages of the vocational life cycle… motivated clergy want to know what to do with their ambition.

If you are like me, this is and remains an ongoing conversation within myself and with colleagues. In fact, making this an overt conversation with colleagues is a great way to gain clarity, engaging with each other as community. And, when that small voice in the back of your brain cautions you against raising this topic with your clergy colleagues, that’s an indicator that clarification is needed. Hesitancy around the subject of ambition may indicate we believe ambition is largely a function of pride or somehow sinful. Clarity here is needed for healthy pastoral motivation to flourish.

After this introduction to the need for healthy perspectives on pastoral ambition, definition of terms will help us move ahead. Here are four terms we might hold up against the backdrop of healthy pastoral functioning, providing a way to reflect until next week’s E-News article.

• Pastoral Ambition

• Pastoral Motivation

• Pastoral Effectiveness

• Pastoral Success

How we understand these will directly influence how we form our perspectives on this significant issue. I look forward to forwarding this conversation with you, and am glad to receive your insights before next week’s article moves us along. May we ambitiously follow the Lord Jesus Christ as we go, centering everything in the Way of Jesus.