Pastor's Message

I recently completed the Lewis Pastoral Leadership Inventory (LPLI). It consisted of answering 75 questions about myself and then having six to ten church leaders from Wacousta answer the same 75 questions about me. Results were then compiled and tabulated, and sent back to me. The hope of the LPLI is to help pastors identify their strong points so as to build on them, and to identify their weak areas so as to either develop them or recruit others to provide help with those particular skills.

 

Like most pastors, I had strong areas and weak ones. I got high points for honesty. Honestly! I got low scores on “Experiments and takes strategic risks.” I’ve got to be honest with you;[1] I’m definitely a risk-averse person. I don’t like risks. I try to avoid risks. I don’t even like the board game by the same name.[2] I avoid high adventure[3], hair-triggers, and, whenever possible, rabid hyenas. 

 

And yet, apparently (at least according to the LPLI), experimentation[4] and strategic risk-taking are attributes to be embraced. To its credit, the LPLI is referencing strategic risks. I assume this means well thought out and duly considered risks rather than just plain recklessness. Still – I don’t score highly here. Which causes me to ponder.[5]

 

There could be, I think, a multitude of reasons for risk-aversion.[6] One is personality. It may be that risk-avoidance is just part of my hardwiring. Which means that I’m probably never going to change that tendency. What I may be able to do, through awareness of that tendency, is to make conscious effort to counteract it by intentionally taking the occasional strategic risk even though my personality is screaming, “Don’t to it, you idiot!”

 

But it may not be personality-driven. My risk-aversion may be a learned response. What if, in my early developmental years, every time I took a risk, it turned out badly? What if the first time I risked walking, I fell down? Or the first time I risked trying solid food my parents fed me beets? What if the first time I risked asking my folks for a pet they gave me a rattlesnake? Or a cat? Exactly! I would have developed a phobia, an irrational fear, toward risk. If this is the case, a little bit of therapy, some desensitization work, and I could be cured!

 

It could be based in a fear of failure, or anxiety about being rejected by those I care about -- either because the risk turns out badly or because they are even more risk-averting than I am and resent being led into a risky situation.

 

But just suppose my risk-aversion is the result of none of these? What if, at its root, it is a spiritual issue? Suppose Noah had said, “You know, it’s just not worth the risk of being ridiculed by the neighbors. What if we get a drought?” Suppose Abraham had decided God couldn’t really be trusted to come through on that promise about a new land? What if Moses had thought, “Take advice from a voice out of a burning bush? Sounds pretty risky to me.”? Paul, after all, risked shipwreck, arrests, imprisonments, beatings, and finally, martyrdom. Why? Because he believed that God would be faithful, that he could count on God in the end. 

 

So, is my risk-aversion a spiritual issue, a simple lack of faith in God’s faithfulness? Do I avoid strategic risk (as opposed to reckless behavior) because I’m afraid to step out in faith as a pastoral leader trusting that “the eternal God is our dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms[7].”?

 

I suppose I could, as pastor, experiment with the occasional strategic risk, step out in faith and trust in God (and the benevolent support of my congregation). 

 

Or I could sit in the safety of my office and ponder it awhile longer. 

 

Honestly.

 

 

See you in church,

 

 

 

Lyle D. Heaton

Parish Pastor

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[1] It’s not that I want to be honest with you. It’s a strength area; I can’t help it!

[2] First, it takes too long; and second, I’m just not that into world domination.

[3] I remember passing a business up north that advertised itself as “Adventure Oil Change.” I thought, “This is not the place I would choose to have my car serviced; I want all my oil changes to be boringly routine, thank you, not adventuresome.” 

[4] Didn’t these people ever watch “The Fly” or “Frankenstein’s Monster?”   How about “Godzilla?” Scary things happen when you experiment.

[5] The LPLI does not have a pondering category. If it did, I suspect I would rank at least as high there as I did on honesty.

[6] In addition to native intelligence exceeding that of a common garden slug – who themselves are not known for being great takers of risks. (Though I’ve heard they’ll risk crawling sliming through beer to reach certain garden delectables.)

[7] Deuteronomy 33.27.