The Relational Pastor: Sharing in Christ by Sharing Ourselves
by Andrew Root
InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Ill. 255 pages.
Though he begins by admitting he has been described by a friend and teacher as “a well-socialized introvert,” Andrew Root has written not one, but two helpful books about relational ministry. In his first book, “Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation,” he raised concerns about a type of youth ministry he had observed in which relationships were created and valued not for themselves but for the influence they might have to bring youth to Christ. That book had obvious possible implications for ministry in general and pastoral ministry in particular.
In both his first book and “The Relational Pastor,” his most recent book, Root offers an alternative for relational ministry that is rooted in Bonhoeffer’s concept of “place-sharing.” Root argues for a relational ministry where relationships are not a means to an end, but are the ends in themselves. In other words, the relationship is the ministry.
This is not a recipe book for pastoral ministry nor is it a “how-to” book on ways to be more “incarnational.” Root begins with a two-chapter sweep of eras of human history and how spiritual or pastoral leadership fit within those eras. Then he lays out his case for a new understanding of relational ministry:
The time is right contextually to recover and deepen the theological perspective of ministry in the life of Christ through the personhood of the other, through relationship, helping to redefine pastoral ministry beyond the priestly reader, moral exemplar, or self-help entertainer. Instead the aim is to see the pastor as convener of empathic encounter of personhood, as the one who invites congregation members into relationships of place sharing with those in and outside the church (p. 44).
Root illustrates his concept of relational pastoral ministry through accounts of ministry in his wife’s small south Minneapolis congregation. These stories were helpful, especially in the chapter called “What this looks like.” However, I would have appreciated examples of relational ministry for which Root is arguing from more diverse pastoral settings — urban congregations, congregations in changing communities, large congregations, new worshipping communities, immigrant fellowships and non-parish settings.
While Root writes in an easy-to-read prose, he wrestles with thoughtful subject matter including neuroscience research, Bonheoffer’s theology and Derrida studies. But lest one think this book gets too “heady,” he also manages to make some solid theological observations using the films “Tommy Boy” and “The Big Kahuna.” Perhaps the most helpful chapter of the book is the closing one where Root shares visions of what the relational ministry he is calling for might look like. Called “Portraits of Relational Pastors,” it is a fitting end to a helpful and challenging book that calls 21st century pastors to discover the place where they can live out relational ministry as a way of living out and encountering the incarnation, the place where two or more persons are gathered in his name and Christ is present.
Stephen Smith-Cobbs is the Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Herndon, Virginia.
