The Rector’s Summit for Vision and Planning (RSVP) is a learning community for rectors of multi-staff, ASA 200+, parishes in the Anglican Church in North America to develop skills, gain insights into best practices, learn via case studies and encourage community. RSVP is sponsored by the American Anglican Council and Leaderworks. The inaugural meeting took place in December of 2016.
by The Rev. Jack King
The beginning of this new year holds a special significance for me. In August, I will celebrate the 10th anniversary of my priesthood ordination. I grew up in the Methodist tradition, but in the early years of my pastoral vocation, I sensed that the Anglican Church was my true spiritual home. I became an Anglican pastor because I love our church’s embrace of Scripture and tradition; liturgy and theology; mission and mystery.
In Anglicanism, I also discovered a beautiful and rich tradition of spiritual and pastoral theology. I’ve long been drawn to saints who mediate on the theology of the heart. I befriended wise counsellors and saints such as Michael Ramsey, Jeremy Taylor, Evelyn Underhill, and Austin Farrer.
Reading the wisdom of these saints was not a detached, academic exercise. I became a rector at the age of 33 and learned two things right away. One, I firmly believed God called me to become a rector. Two, I was out of my depth. Seminary was preparation for ministry, but becoming a rector felt like baptism by fire. I needed the wisdom of saints as I began serving as rector. I needed their counsel for real pastoral dilemmas. I needed trustworthy guidance in my inner life as a young priest. I will always need the counsel of the saints as I serve the church and grow in my vocation.
What I’ve also needed these past ten years is a living assembly of Anglican pastors where soul care, the inner life, and the pastor’s heart takes the main stage. I’ve been blessed with good friendships and pastoral care in my life as a priest. But until recently, my conversations about the inner life have mostly happened in one-on-one conversations, not when Anglicans gather for conferences.
I’ve attended numerous gatherings and conferences in Anglican life, both large and small, that seek to equip pastors and churches for mission and ministry. I’ve benefited from the tools I’ve received at these gatherings, but on the drive home, I commonly had the same lament conference after conference—the pastor’s soul took a back seat to other priorities.
As I drove to Asheville and another conference last December, the Rector’s Summit for Vision and Planning (RSVP), I came with both hopes and some reservations. I come by it honestly—I’m a Gen-Xer. But I also have these past experiences to overcome. I’ve returned from too many conferences more depleted than refreshed. I wasn’t expecting that I could be renewed and strengthened at the end of the gathering. I wasn’t confident the pastor’s soul would shape the next four days.
But from the first gathering, it was evident that the heart of this gathering would be the heart of the pastor. Thanks be to God. In the past few years, I’ve been encouraged that spiritual formation has garnered more and more space at Anglican gatherings. But I’ve never attended a conference that devoted as much energy and attention to the inner life of the pastor as RSVP did.
When Fr. Geoff Chapman, our main speaker on the pastor’s heart, quoted St. Seraphim of Sarov’s famous proverb, ‘Acquire a spirit of peace and thousands around you will be saved,’ I knew we were under the care of a wise and godly priest. I had been carrying St. Seraphim’s pearl of wisdom in my heart for years; now I was in a room with Anglican pastors from numerous dioceses who were discussing what it means to acquire peace in the pastoral life. It was so refreshing to meditate on this and other spiritual topics in conversation with brothers and sisters who know the stresses and strains of pastoral life.
I’m also grateful that the Rector’s Summit wasn’t entirely about the inner life of rectors. Too much attention on the inner life can be, well, just too much. Moderation is wisdom and RSVP had wise moderation in its schedule of topics. Interspersing RSVP with discussions about culture and mission in a secular age; hearing presentations on the best practices about membership or marriage preparation; considering the challenges for parish finances in the next 20 years—these topics were vitally important to the questions I’ve carried as a rector. I didn’t leave RSVP with clear solutions to the questions I have about leading my parish, but I left with a set of tools to address the dilemmas I face in my life as a rector.
Best of all, I departed RSVP with a group of new friends—friends who know exactly what it’s like to be a rector. I’m blessed with great pastoral support in my diocese, I have good spiritual friendships in Knoxville, yet these new friendships hold an important place in my life as a rector, too. It’s a gift to be in a room with attentive, passionate rectors. Honesty and vulnerability are a gift of the Holy Spirit and that gift was in abundance at RSVP. It was a safe place to share my heart, to learn with fellow priests, to grow in my calling as a rector.
In the years ahead, I’m sure I’ll still read Ramsey, Taylor, Underhill, and Farrer. But now when I’m faced with dilemmas or simply need encouragement from the saints, I’ll also reach out to my new friends, serving as rectors throughout this province. That seems like a good way to enter the next 10 years of ordained ministry.
The Rev. Jack King is Rector of Apostles Anglican Church in Knoxville, TN. Father King took part in the inaugural meeting of the Rector’s Summit for Vision and Planning in December, 2016.
