The place of Pastoral Supervision in ministerial development 

Retired Baptist minister Paul Campion highlights the importance of Pastoral Supervision or similar support and accountability, in order to experience life in all its fulness and to keep alive the flame of a calling and gifting in ministry

 
I recently attended my first APSE conference (Association of Pastoral Supervisors and Educators)[1]. I have recently become a member of APSE and this was my first time of meeting with others in the same network. The current pattern for APSE conferences is to alternate between online and in person, and last week’s conference was online, so I didn’t have far to go!

The main focus of the conference was the place of research into Pastoral Supervision. It is a relatively new discipline and is not always understood or recognised in its own right, so APSE members were encouraged to read current research and indeed to engage in research ourselves. But alongside this focus on research, a wider range of other topics were covered especially in the seminars, feedback and Q&A sessions, and overall it was a hugely inspiring time.

Methodists have made regular Pastoral Supervision a compulsory part of life for every minister since 2015, and this was reviewed after the first six years. A very substantial report was prepared for the 2021 Methodist Conference[2] leading to the approval of a Supervision Policy which is to be reviewed again in 2026. The particular benefits of Pastoral Supervision among Methodist ministers from the first six years were summarised as follows:

• Increased clergy wellbeing
• Reduced clergy anxiety
• Increased trust within the life of the church
• Strengthened boundaries and role clarity for ministers and those in oversight
• Increased clergy capability around dealing with conflict, change and other complex dynamics
• Emboldened clergy ready to take appropriate risks in mission
• Clergy who are encouraged to intervene at an early stage around challenging practices that cause harm[3] 

Among Baptists a very comprehensive programme of Continuing Ministerial Development was published in 2020[4] and this featured Pastoral Supervision as one of the possible forms of accountability which a minister might choose to follow. As far as I am aware we have yet to see any research on the take-up of this among Baptist ministers and its impact on their ministry, but it is early days.

My own story is that throughout my 43 years of full-time local church leadership in four pastorates I was generally relying on informal accountability through friends and family. I did have a ‘senior friend’ in my first four years, and this was a wonderful relationship which I greatly appreciated, and which involved regular games of squash and coffee afterwards. (I was more energetic in those days!)

Then life took a full circle in my last three years before retirement when I specifically asked a colleague to have a mentoring role in my ministry to help me finish well. I was keen not to drift towards retirement, but to offer my very best to the church and work hard towards a good conclusion, and also to work with the church on effective succession. Little did I know at the time how complex those final years were going to be, and on reflection now I have no doubt that my regular meetings with my colleague to reflect on my work and think strategically were absolutely key to that season of ministry. My thinking now is that the 36 years in the middle would have been far more effective if I had sustained some form of regular accountability and review with trusted colleagues.

I first came across APSE in 2010 when I read what was then the newly published handbook on Pastoral Supervision by Jane Leach and Michael Paterson[5]. I was not in a place to engage in formal training at that time, but I was delighted when the leadership at Shirley Baptist Church agreed that I could give some time to this in my final year of ministry so as to prepare me for offering Pastoral Supervision to other ministers in my early years of retirement. Alongside this I have continued as a Placement Tutor at Regent’s Park College since 2010 and this has enabled me to develop further skills in mentoring and support.

The Baptist CMD programme is built around the five habits of learning, attentiveness, accountability, connection and review. The purpose is to sustain the well-being and capability of ministers. Pastoral Supervision is one option in the accountability habit, alongside mentoring, spiritual direction, coaching and learning communities.

These forms of accountability do overlap, and there are varying definitions of each. Even within Pastoral Supervision there is a progression of thinking, as I will explain in a moment. Furthermore, those who are trained in one particular area may also bring to the conversations their awareness of and experience in other forms of accompaniment. The important issue is that CMD encourages every minister to have some form of accountability as a natural and normal part of their life and work. My heart is to encourage this, and my training is primarily in Pastoral Supervision, though my reading and experience embraces mentoring as well.

So what exactly is Pastoral Supervision? Back in 2008 the members of APSE agreed a set of bullet points to bring some order into the thinking about Pastoral Supervision. Then in 2016, Michael Paterson offered a definition as follows: ‘Pastoral Supervision is a safe, boundaried and hospitable space in which people with a duty of care reflect on their use of time, talents and roles in their work with others. It pays attention to the worker as well as the work, is truthful about the past, attentive to the present and directed towards a transformative future.’[6]

Just two years later in 2018, Paterson extended his thinking and added ‘Pastoral Supervision is the intentional dialogue between Soul, Role and Context.’[7]

An alternative way of understanding Pastoral Supervision is by thinking of the origin of the word ‘supervision’ from the Latin words ‘super’ (over) and ‘videre’ (to see)[8] – thus the idea of seeing over, seeing the bigger picture, seeing from a different perspective and seeing with a transformative purpose. Pastoral Supervision involves looking back to what has happened (usually in the recent past), but also very much looking forward and seeing how life could be different. It therefore embraces elements of reflective practice, self care, spiritual discernment and visionary thinking.

A number of Scripture passages have been in my mind as I have considered the place of Pastoral Supervision in ministry today, and foremost among them are the words of Paul to Timothy ‘Fan into flame the gift of God….’[9] or as the Message paraphrase reads ‘And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze!’

It is so easy to lose the fire of God’s spirit in the complexities of modern ministry. On Pentecost Sunday I recall singing the song ‘New Wine’ from Hillsong….

In the crushing
In the pressing
You are making new wine
In the soil
I now surrender
You are breaking new ground…….
The song also has the phrase:
I lay down my old flames
To carry Your new fire today[10]

In my own life, I am reflecting on the old flames which need to be laid down and the new fire which is the focus of my ministry now, and I think this is also an important reflection for those currently serving as church leaders in various forms of ministry.

Jesus invites all who follow him to live life to the full. Indeed in the story of the shepherd and the sheep, he describes the thief as the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy, but that he himself has come so that we might have life in all its fullness.[11]

Ministry has many wonderful blessings, but also some huge challenges. Given that my understanding and experience is particularly in a Baptist context, I would say there are a number of factors which highlight the importance of Pastoral Supervision or similar support and accountability at the present time, in order to experience life in all its fulness and to keep alive the flame of a calling and gifting in ministry.
 

• Baptists are notoriously independent and it is possible to become very lonely in ministry. There is still a post-pandemic tiredness among some of us, given the extraordinary demands of the last few years.
• While some churches have discovered wonderful new opportunities for ministry and are experiencing exciting growth, others are working with diminishing resources and an ageing congregation, and finding the way very hard.
• We continue to wrestle with questions around same sex marriage and the request for changing the ministerial rules, and this is a difficult area to navigate well both in local congregations and as a whole Baptist network.
• There are other huge missional opportunities which we need to grasp as God’s people in our post-pandemic society.

So what are the particular benefits which I think will come from engaging in some form of regular, disciplined commitment to Pastoral Supervision or similar support?
 

• Being listened to is the first and greatest blessing. We need those who are skilled in listening to really hear what we are saying, discern how we are feeling and draw out some of the deeper thoughts and feelings we might have, both positive and negative.
• Exploring new ways of seeing a particular issue. The ‘seeing over’ opportunity to look beyond the immediate challenge and explore the bigger picture.
• Understanding the impact of life and ministry on ourselves and applying the necessary forms of self-care to ensure sustainability and longer term effectiveness.
• Discovering the abundance of life in Jesus and rekindling the fire of the Spirit where life is heavy and burdensome.It would be a false expectation to suggest that all this would happen instantly with a single session of supervision, but rather that over a period of sustained supervision or similar reflection then these outcomes will gradually come to fruition.

I am at an early stage of working in this area. I took an extended break from any form of ministry when I retired last summer, but I am now beginning to take up new areas of service and consider Pastoral Supervision to be a significant part of this.

If anyone reading this is interested in having a further conversation with me then my contact details are on the APSE website under ‘Find Supervision’ in the Midlands area[12], or alternatively I can be contacted direct by email at phf.campion@outlook.com.
 

Paul Campion is a retired Baptist minister
 
If you are interested in receiving pastoral supervision, the APSE website is a good place to start
 
If you are interested in training for pastoral supervision, Spurgeon’s College offers the Professional Certificate in Pastoral Supervision

The Ministries Team is also planning a bespoke course from January 2024, using the same material, but aimed just at Baptist ministers. Anyone interested in this course should get in contact with the Ministries Team to express their interest  
 

[1] pastoralsupervision.org.uk
[2] methodist.org.uk/for-churches/ministries/supervision/supervision-policy-2021-26
[3] methodist.org.uk/for-churches/ministries/supervision/faqs-about-supervision
[4] baptist.org.uk/Articles/589058/CMD_Handbook.aspx [Accessed 15.06.23]
[5] Paterson, M. and Leach, J. (2010) Pastoral Supervision – A Handbook, London: SCM (2nd edition published in 2015)
[6] Paterson, M. Between a Rock and a Hard Place p.9
[7] Paterson, M. Between a Rock and a Hard Place p.12
[8] etymonline.com/word/supervision
[9] 2 Timothy 1:6
[10] hillsong.com/lyrics/new-wine
[11] John 10:10
[12] pastoralsupervision.org.uk/home/find-supervision
 

Image | Priscilla Du Preez | Unsplash