The first and most basic task required of a minister...is to clarify the immense confusion which can arise when people enter this new internal world [of the heart]. It is a painful fact indeed to realize how poorly prepared most Christian leaders prove to be when they are invited to be spiritual leaders in the true sense.
Most of them are used to thinking in terms of large-scale organization, getting people together in churches, schools and hospitals, and running the show as a circus director. They have become unfamiliar with, and even somewhat afraid of the deep and significant movements of the spirit. I am afraid that in a few decades the Church will be accused of having failed in its most basic task: to offer men creative ways to communicate with the source of human life.
In this context pastoral conversation is not merely a skillful use of conversational techniques to manipulate people into the Kingdom of God, but a deep human encounter in which a man is willing to put his own faith and doubt, his own hope and despair, his own light and darkness at the disposal of others who want to find a way through their confusion and touch the solid core of life.
Teaching in this context does not mean telling the old story over and over again, but the offering of channels through which people can discover themselves, clarify their experiences and find niches in which the Word of God can take hold.
Henri Nouwen: Wounded Healer: written in1979 (but sounds like it was written yesterday)
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