SAMPLE Spiritual Mentoring Policy for our Pastor

Preamble:

One of the key indicators of spiritual and emotional health in leadership is the willingness to engage in a relationship of support, growth and accountability. It is the policy of this church that our pastor has a spiritual director, guide, mentor or supervisor while leading this community and meets with this person regularly. The purposes of spiritual mentoring are:

1. Development – enabling our pastor to grow personally, spiritually and in ministry leadership knowledge and skills.
2. Support – enabling our pastor to deal constructively with the emotional and spiritual load of pastoring and leading.
3. Accountability – a place outside of the church and denominational structure where our pastor can work through issues around time, family commitments, ministry pressures, recreation and self-care to avoid long term stress and burnout.

Guidelines:

1. The mentor will be nominated by the pastor and approved by the church board.
2. The mentor will not be a person either in membership in the church or in direct authority over the pastor within the denomination.
3. The mentor will not normally have other formal relationships with or in the church.
4. The funding for the mentoring relationship will be allocated in the church budget.
5. Between 4 and 12 sessions per year is considered a regular commitment.
6. The Pastor will identify several developmental goals to be the key agenda of the relationship each year and share these with the Church Board
7. The pastor will report in general terms to the church board annually on the effectiveness of the relationship.
8. Apart from the above, confidentiality will be respected in this relationship. The church board will not contact the mentor directly (except in life-threatening circumstances) and does not expect the mentor to communicate directly with the board. All communication will take place via the pastor.