Improvisation

In Pastoral Imagination:  Bringing the Practice of Ministry to Life, Eileen Campbell-Reed explores the ways that people learn the art of ministry.  She tells stories of people as they learn the practice, while offering questions for reflection, and conversation with thinkers and scholars about the practice of ministry.  The book grew out of a dozen-year longitudinal study of ministers, beginning when they were in seminary and tracing the arc of their ministry practice as they gain experience and confidence.  The study seeks to articulate how ministers develop pastoral imagination, which Campbell-Reed names as:

a minister’s capacity for wise and insightful perception and judgment that is both embodied and embedded in particular situations.  This capacity integrates skill and know-how, making use of multiple kinds of knowledge about self, context, relationships of power, and ritual practices of ministry.  The improvisational character of pastoral imagination strengthens the capacity of ministers to meet the challenges of the cultural complexity of congregational and religious life in the United States.  (p. 8)

Though this book is written from a Christian perspective, it addresses ministers in a variety of settings, including chaplaincy and CPE.

As I’ve been reading this book, I’ve been thinking about Broadwell’s four stages of teaching:  unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence.  Perhaps you can recognize these stages in your own learning processes?  I recently had some tennis lessons which landed me squarely and uncomfortably in the conscious incompetent category.  And yet, I can also recognize some recent times in which I “intuitively knew how to handle situations that used to baffle me” (as noted in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous).  Indeed, this insight and judgment felt easy and natural in the moment, but in reality, was born out of countless hours of preparation, reflection, and planning.  (Or 10,000 hours, if Malcom Gladwell is to be believed.)

As Campbell-Reed notes, pastoral imagination is improvisational, or a kind of playful experimentation.  Improvisation is the ability to take existing pieces and put them together in new combinations.  It takes planning and practice, certainly, but it also requires grounding, creativity, and trust.  Campbell-Reed’s stories demonstrate how such conditions can allow a minister full access to her creative resources.  While, conversely, harsh, oppressive conditions can limit a person’s ability to respond with energy, imagination, intelligence, and love. 

Today we learn the results of our recent election for board and commission leadership in our organization.  I am grateful for those who have said yes to the call to serve, especially in this time when we are all asked to do more with less even as we face unprecedented challenges.   In the months ahead, these leaders will surely be called upon to improvise, to bring together elements of our practice and skills in combinations that we have not seen before.  My fervent prayer is that as the community gathered around these leaders, that we can create the conditions that allow their gifts to emerge and flourish.  

Katherine Higgins is the Director of Communities of Practice. She may be contacted at katherine.higgins@acpe.edu