From the Trenches to the Balcony
Ministry often involves time in the trenches. We field 3:00 a.m. phone calls and offer hospital visits and sudden funeral planning. We rejoice with new physical births and new spiritual births. We lament when sin prevails and marriages fail. We mourn difficult diagnoses or untimely deaths. We tackle budgetary constraints and listen to congregant complaints. And we are present to just about everything else, from people wrestling with financial crises, parenting pitfalls, spiritual struggles and general sinfulness.
But there often appear to be more trenches than there is time. We balance our schedules around meetings, planning, laying out notes for class, and providing pastoral care and counseling. We are part of civic organizations because we care about our community, and we try to figure out how our congregation might be a blessing to our neighbors who are struggling. And then there’s the weekly sermon, people to mentor, and people to introduce Jesus to. There never seems to be enough time in the day for all the things that must be done!
So if you’re like me you might struggle to get above it all and catch the vision that God has for the congregation. Part of this struggle comes from my drive to be among my people helping, as a pastor first and foremost. Part of it comes from my difficulty in asking for help, because I hesitate to ask when so many others work long hours and commute longer distances. And part of it is from the fact that the trenches are always there and I feel a sense of having done something when I am ministering there.
But sometimes we have to get above it all to see the spiritual lay of the land in our church. Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky refer to this as the “balcony perspective,” where we gain a distanced perspective of the issue in order to understand what is happening. [1] Sometimes we have to get above the fray to see what is really taking place. And from here we can better see important patterns and trends.
What struggles and challenges exist in our people’s lives? How might they be connected?
What beautiful things do we see happening in our congregation? How can we leverage those for God’s glory?
What is happening in our church? What ought to be happening?
How do they bring about the change that is needed?
What needs are present that God has uniquely designed and gifted us to meet?
In order to chart a path forward we have to have a true picture of who we are and what is going on. We might be able to avoid certain trenches altogether if we can discern what is happening from above. Tod Bolsinger describes this as engaging the “geography of reality”: seeing what is really there rather than what we believe or hope to be true. [2]
Here’s the thing: we need to spend time in both the trenches and the balcony. Ministry requires knowing the needs of your people and discovering the spiritual truths behind those realities. Ministers who simply live in the balcony can’t fully know the needs, struggles, hopes, and dreams of their people. Ministers who never leave the trenches can’t see the true pathways forward to achieve God’s dreams for the congregation.
How do we hold these competing realities in check? First, we have to see that they aren’t in competition but collaboration. By moving from the trenches to the balcony we can best assess what is happening in our congregation. Second, I find it helpful to block off time for both activities. I schedule pastoral care where I am out of the office and in the lives of my people. We share meals and drink coffee. We meet in homes and chat together. I arrange studies with individuals and keep blocks open for counseling and spiritual direction. But I also block out time to do “big picture” work. I think about the church and its future. I look at what God is doing in the lives of my church family members, identify trends, and spend time in prayer, listening for what God might reveal.
Jesus modeled this balance. He spent time healing sickness, driving out demons, preaching, teaching and proclaiming the good news. But then he also withdrew to spend time in prayer and reflection (Mark 1:29-39 shows this contrast in distinct detail). There was no shortage of need in Capernaum, but his time on the balcony—in prayer and solitude—allowed him to say, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came…” (Mark 1:38). Jesus ministered in tandem from the trenches and the balcony.
This process is never-ending. There will always be spiritual trenches for us to navigate with grace and courage, and there will always be uncharted territory where the church needs to dream and discover God’s prompting. Only by ministering in the trenches and in the balcony can we truly lead our people toward God’s desire for our congregations.
So, remind me to go and practice what I preach.
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[1] Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership (Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2009), 7-8.
[2] Tod Bolsinger, Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory (Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2015), 92ff.
