Pastoral Supervision: A Handbook New Edition

Jane Leach, Michael Paterson

• Publisher: SCM Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780334053446
• eBook ISBN: 9780334053460
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Pastoral Supervision is increasingly sought out by people working in ministry. It offers a safe space to reflect theologically and constructively on pastoral experience. Pastoral Supervision: A Handbook is the standard text for what is a growing discipline and endorsed by APSE, the Association of Pastoral Supervisors and Educators, which is now established as an accrediting professional body for all involved in supervision in a Christian context.

1. Attending to Vision

Summary In this chapter we argue that supervision is a core practice of the Christian Church. Because any authentic ministry is a share in Christ’s ministry, it is shared with others in Christ. Although this is an ideal espoused widely in the churches, in practice ministry can be an isolated and isolating experience. Here we argue that mutual accountability in Christian ministry is essential and that it is rooted in the God who calls us into covenant relationship in the body of Christ. While supervision is also practised in other communities and professions, part of the distinctiveness of pastoral supervision is its attention to the vision and vocation into which God is calling us. Towards the end of the chapter, readers are invited to consider how they are accountable in practice and how they might establish a covenantal mode of supervision that is grounded in God’s covenant with the Church in Jesus Christ.

He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two … The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

Mark 6.7, 30–32

A Vision for Pastoral Supervision

Reading this text with those engaged in ministry often results in the laughter of recognition. Those who have struggled to find time to come away from their responsibilities know what it means to have no leisure even to eat. They know too well that there are always more needs than can be met, and that success breeds work. Just as the disciples are spotted leaving and are met by hungry crowds when they land, so those in ministry who establish a reputation for being effective will struggle to outrun those who seek them out.

If there is no time to eat in such a life, then there is similarly no time to reflect, but Jesus here underlines the importance of rest, food and opportunity to reflect on ministry in his company and in the company of others sent out in his name. Moreover, the gathering of the apostles around Jesus mirrors the sending out of the apostles earlier in the chapter. Both emphasize the point that the ministry the disciples exercise – proclaiming repentance, casting out demons, anointing the sick – is the ministry of Jesus himself: they are sent as his representatives; they are gathered back to share with him what they have done. It is not just in theory that the disciples are Christ’s apostles (those sent by him); their accountability is made concrete in their willingness to discuss with Jesus what has been going on.

Although no one in the churches today would want to deny that authentic ministry is a share in Christ’s ministry and is accountable to Christ, it can be tempting to spiritualize and individualize what this means. We can argue that while Jesus of Nazareth was on earth the disciples were able to report to him directly; now Christ is ascended into heaven, we are accountable to Christ through prayer. This, of course, is right. Prayer should include us laying open to God what is happening in the ministries we exercise and listening for what the Holy Spirit is saying to us. Yet prayer is a hard discipline; most of us need help to keep us faithful and honest in prayer, and in order to discern what the Holy Spirit is saying to us we need to be part of the Christian community. If we are tempted to think that we do not need supervision because we are people of prayer, this can be an attempt to avoid telling the truth about our ministries. Often it is the courage of others in a group that can help us to find the truths that we ourselves have buried.

Jane remembers being part of a group of Methodist ministers who had been working for five years since leaving initial training. They had all been invited to write a paper outlining what the first five years of ministry had been like for them. The first couple of papers presented were quite upbeat, telling the success stories. The third contribution was more honest about the pain and struggle that ministry also involves. Gradually those who had presented earlier started to amend their stories, admitting to doubts, to exhaustion, to a panic attack while conducting a funeral, to relationship difficulties. Partly the group were learning to trust each other; partly the honesty of one enabled the rest to be more truthful to themselves. Everyone’s prayers and stories became more honest as people became more willing to open more of their lives to Christ’s judgement and healing.

The Church – the body of Christ – is the community we are given in which to discern together who Christ is and what Christ is saying. Just like those who in the time of Jesus were sent out in pairs, so too those sent in his name today need partners in ministry; we also need time for retreat with others engaged in ministry: time in which we help one another to open up what is really going on and to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us. Yet when we get together we can also need help to deepen our conversation to a level beyond the superficial. Too often if gatherings of those in ministry are not characterized by the telling of success stories and trying to outdo each other with tales of how many hours we have worked without a break, then they are dominated by moaning about the structures and systems within which we work, or about those who seem to have power over our lives. If the community of the Church is to help us honestly to reflect on our ministries, in our experience there needs to be some structure, some skill, some agreement or someone appointed to help us to be intentional in doing this.

In Mark 6 it is Jesus who is intentional and focused. Intentionally he makes space to listen to the apostles and to provide time for them to rest. In the post-resurrection Church – in a manner akin to what we do in order to worship – we need to set aside particular times when we will relate in particular ways and appoint particular people who can help us to keep to our intentions. This is the role of a pastoral supervisor. Whether he or she is working with a group or with an individual, with someone she or he manages or someone who has chosen him or her as an external supervisor, with an experienced practitioner or someone new to ministry, the task of the pastoral supervisor is to be intentional and help others to be intentional about the time spent together. In other words, if supervision is to be effective, supervisors need to have a clear sense of what supervision is (and is not).

A Definition of Pastoral Supervision

In October 2008, the Association of Pastoral Supervisors and Educators (APSE) was formed around an agreed definition of pastoral supervision.18 The full text is printed at Appendix 1 but the opening statements set down useful markers in helping pastoral supervisors identify what it is they are offering. APSE suggests that pastoral supervision is:

1. a ‘regular, planned, intentional and boundaried space in which a practitioner skilled in supervision (the supervisor) meets with one or more other practitioners (the supervisees) to look together at the supervisees’ practice’.
2. ‘a relationship characterized by trust, confidentiality, support and openness that gives the supervisee freedom and safety to explore the issues arising in their work’.

So far these statements might be common to any practice of supervision. Distinctive in the definition of pastoral supervision, however, is the third point of the APSE definition, that pastoral supervision is ‘spiritually/theologically rich’ and ‘works within a framework of spiritual/theological understanding in dialogue with the supervisee’s world view and work’. Pastoral supervision, then, presupposes the spiritual or religious orientation of the supervisor and declares its interest in the belief systems and faith commitments of those who come for supervision. Although – for example, in the healthcare context – not everyone who comes for pastoral supervision may necessarily be Christian, a pastoral supervisor is going to be interested in and motivated by the world view, sense of vocation and vision of their supervisees, and informed by their own.

Extracting the word ‘vision’ from the word ‘supervision’ suggests that the term lends itself to word play. ‘Supervision’ may be seen as a kind of super-seeing – or seeing over; getting an overview; seeing things in the perspective of a broader vision. The word ‘supervision’ is the Latin version of the Greek word episcope, literally, ‘oversight’, and is most readily associated with forms of governance in the Church, particularly bishops who exercise personal episcopal oversight.

Pointing this out perhaps suggests that supervision is a kind of watching over – with the unpleasant connotations of being watched to make sure there are no ‘oversights’. However, the Methodist ordination service uses the phrase ‘watching over’ in rather a different tone: ‘These things are your common duty and delight. In them you are to watch over one another in love.’19 This restores the sense of mutuality in collegial oversight and has echoes of the language of covenant. In addition, ‘watching over in love’ is a reminder of the way Luke’s Gospel uses the word episkeptomai (from the same route as episcope) to speak of God visiting and redeeming his people. This visiting is not understood as popping in to check up on things, but as God coming into the life of the people of Israel as a steady and reliable presence. Supervisors who are not constantly checking up on those they supervise, but are able to be a steady, reliable presence, are worth their weight in gold for they enable those with whom they sit in supervision to see their ministry both in its detail and in the perspective of the kingdom. The metaphors of sight buried in the word ‘supervision’ suggest that ministry which does not attend to its vision is short-sighted.

This implication of the word ‘oversight’ came home to Jane on holiday in Corfu. As she drove over the mountain range which forms the backbone of Corfu she passed signposts for a town called Episkopii. Hearing the echoes of episkopos, the New Testament word for bishop, she expected, perhaps, an ancient monastery. To her surprise, what she encountered was a pl...

Table of contents

• Copyright information
• Contents
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Preface to the Second Edition
• Introduction
• 1. Attending to Vision
• 2. Attending to the Process
• 3. Attending in the Present
• 4. Attending to the There and Then
• 5. Attending to the Here and Now
• 6. Attending to the Body
• 7. Attending to the Story
• 8. Attending to Context
• 9. Attending to Group Matters
• 10. Attending to Endings
• Glossary
• Appendix 1. APSE Definition of Pastoral Supervision
• Appendix 2. Supervision Covenant Proforma
• Appendix 3. APSE Code of Conduct
• Appendix 4. Values-based Reflective Practice
• Appendix 5. Learning Needs Analysis
• Appendix 6. Pastoral Supervision Professional Bodies
• List of Referenced Works
• Suggestions for Reading