Prayer and Ministerial Leadership – Workshop

The first session provided information on five common types of prayer, such as blessing and adoration, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise, and some common forms of prayer, such as litany, antiphonal, acclamation, mantra, and contemplative. What I found especially interesting, because I am uncomfortable with spontaneous spoken prayer, was a formula that included You-Who-Do-To-Through. My attempt to create a prayer for guidance resulted in; Dear Lord (You), you share your Grace with us (Who). Lead each of us to be the person you want us to be (Do), so that we may share your love for us with others (To). We ask this in the name of your Son (Through). Amen.

The second session was on Ministerial Leadership. While talking about cultural considerations and the perception of power we reviewed cultures that feel empowered and cultures that don't feel empowered. Low Power Distance cultures believe that inequality in society should be minimized, that the existence of a hierarchy is only for the convenience of accomplishing tasks, and that changing the system by redistributing power includes giving the powerless the ability to make changes, such as a fair vote. High Power Distance cultures assume that there should be an order of inequality, that the existence of a hierarchy should be accepted as a fact of life, and that changing the system by redistributing power is restricted, which eventually results in the use of force.

We discussed the differences between leadership and ministry, and talked about a leadership model that included vision and mission. The vision should answer the question, "How will the world be different as the result of what we do?". The mission should answer the question, "What is our unique contribution to achieving the vision?". A good culture for leadership creates systems for participation that includes articulating the vision and mission, listening to feedback, and exchanging information. It should also include decision making skills and accountability that establishes expectations and a clear sense of responsibility.