By John R. Throop

There is a desperate need to develop holy models of accountability in ministry at every level - lay, episcopal, presbyteral and diaconal. One of the reasons for an emerging crisis in parish ministry is the struggle to find appropriate accountability in the parish. As the Rev. James C. Fenhagen, retired director of the Cornerstone Project, has stated, "Too often, the priest becomes the scapegoat for a problem that demands a wider accountability than is often acknowledged." Yet there are entrenched barriers to wider, mutual accountability.

A couple of years ago, I read a classified ad in THE LIVING CHURCH which gave me an uneasy feeling. A parish was looking for a priest who, the ad said, would increase the number of people in church. A couple of years after calling the priest, one could imagine a vestry meeting where unhappy people would say, "The numbers haven't increased, and that's what we called you to do. Unless you improve your performance in the next six months, you will need to find another position."

The entire standard of evaluation is based on a false premise. After all, the main work of lay ministry is evangelization. Is it appropriate to demand these "results" of the priest? Now, this situation may or may not have happened. But it can, and it does.

Other expectations of the priest might include "getting more young people into the church," or "leading us to self-support," or "providing strong pastoral care." As Fr. Fenhagen says, "A covenant relationship demands that responsibility for problems be shared and actions taken that encourage the entire congregation to take responsibility for its common life." Usually, however, this expectiation is not structured, nor is it ongoing. But it is there, and it can be destructive.

Every church has informal accountability. Often, the priest's accountability to the parish is tied to the expressed desires of the congregation at the time of call. In the first three to four years, lay persons often express accountability by how the priest has failed to fulfill stated (often, unstated or conflicting) needs and wants.

A struggle in my congregation, for example, has been over my use of time. On the one hand, parish leaders wanted the priest to be active in the community, and I have done that. But others wanted me to be out in the parish visiting regularly. Yet I was to be in my office with regular hours to be on call for counseling. And I was to be in the rectory as host of parish events. My informal accountability and evaluation then was based initially on competing expectations which came to the fore after the call. Even the perfect priest could not have balanced all of these desires.

Without a secretary, recovering from a divorce, serving as a single parent with children in residence part of the year, I had to set limits and make priorities. That caused considerable conflict not only between me and members of the parish, but within the parish as well. Yet I was clear that, as a priest, my primary functions were and are to be a person of prayer, preside at the holy table, preach the word of God, disciple believers, assist in crises, and equip the saints for the work of ministry. I am not hired by the members to do a job (or many jobs), but called by God and the parish to cast a vision and develop them to maturity in Christ Jesus. It is a sacred trust and a mutual covenant.

What a novel notion! I, as priest, hold the members of the congregation accountable for their spiritual growth and development of their ministries. And members hold one another accountable. In God's word, we find many examples of how we, individually and corporately, are accountable to God. I am accountable to God, my bishop, my family, my congregation and myself. What are godly structures and processes which foster trust, mutual ministry and godly leadership?

1. Develop a clear mission statement. Priest and lay leadership need to pray and work toward a clear, simple, yet comprehensive statement of the unique way God has called the congregation to minister in the community and the diocese. A mission statement is then the basis for mutual goals to be developed.

2. State a vision. One of the priest's primary spiritual tasks is to communicate vision for congregational development. Often, the vision is cast in concert with the congregation's mission; in time, the vision can alter the mission, but the vision cannot violate the mission without considerable conflict.

3. Develop a strategic plan. Here some specific, mutual goals are set for one, two or three years, with mutual measurements of progress and times to adjust or revise these goals. For example, a goal might be "to develop a ministry to junior and senior high students." Who leads this ministry, and what resources does the leader need? Who will be reached by this ministry? How will we know we have been effective (numbers of youth participating? number of meetings? numbers of youth from outside the church brought in?) Is our benchmark other Episcopal churches, or other churches in our community?

The leader must have the authority and responsibility for the work. If the leader fails to lead (and fails to ask for appropriate help), then the lay leadership and the priest together hold the person accountable for the work (or lack of work) done.

4. The priest's own goals. The priest should state three or four goals to be met in the next one to three years. The lay leadership then can be clear about the priest's priorities. The priest also takes responsibility for his or her ministry development, whether that be in continuing education, personal spiritual development, use of time, and ministry priorities in the congregation.

Sometimes these processes work best in committees separate from the vestry or bishop's committee. But a stronger mutuality and sense of teamwork is fostered if the priest and the key lay leaders work together. We move away from the dangerous (and unbiblical) model of employee, or manager/bosses or company, to one of covenantal relationship, more like marriage and family, or sacred friendship, with Christ in the center of the work.

Like all relationships, mutual accountability requires close attention and clear communication, as well as trust, and spiritual and emotional maturity on the part of pastor and people.

Striving for sacred accountability, we can move away from the damaging dynamics of dependency and codependency, or the faulty models of Religitron, Inc., and toward the vision found in the Letter to the Ephesians: to build up Christ's body and pursue unity so that we "become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

The Rev. John R. Throop is vicar of St. Francis' Church, Chillicothe, Illinois, and a nonprofit management consultant.