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Curiosity is a key quality for church leaders. It doesn’t appear on too many top ten leadership lists, but being curious is a valuable skill that can change the way we relate to our followers.

We had a neighbor who lived to be 99. Helena had lived almost her whole life next door to the parsonage of the First Baptist Church of Gardner, Massachusetts, where I served as pastor for 13 years.  Helena was endlessly curious about the world, always wanting to learn something new, genuinely interested in people.  Even when she fell and broke a hip at the age of 86, she took on the experience of rehabilitation as yet another opportunity to learn.  And a second broken hip a decade later was a challenge to see how she could manage to stay in her own home, which she did almost until she died, still attending church as often as she was could.

As the New England autumn leaves took on color, she exclaimed every year, “Isn’t the foliage wonderful this year!”  Others would complain the leaves weren’t quite as beautiful, but not Helena.  She saw the beauty in most things and most people.

That kind of curiosity and wonder can serve us well as leaders.  Standing as a learner in the churches we lead gives us a broader perspective and greater flexibility.  Rather than complaining about our people, we can begin to wonder:

• what makes them tick
• what is their family story
• what is the history of the church
• what they do that we can appreciate most.

Setbacks become challenges for our own learning. Helena was curious about the tools that would help her stay independent, like the metal grabber that helped her pick things up off the floor. We, too, can become curious about our own process of recovery when things go sour.  What does it take to recover when we or our churches are broken?

An attitude of wonder toward what's going on around us can affect not only us but our followers.  We may take for granted the gifts of those in our congregation, only noticing when there’s a problem. When we are genuinely curious about them, we’ll have a different relationship with them. Like Helena, loving the fall foliage after living through 99 of them, we can keep our eyes open to see the beauty around us—the talent, the dedication, the creativity in those we lead.



Rev. Margaret Marcuson works with churches that want to create a ministry that lasts and clergy who want more impact on the people they serve best. She is the author of Leaders Who Last: Sustaining Yourself and Your Ministry (Seabury, 2009). She served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Gardner, Massachusetts for thirteen years. Get the free mini-course, "Five Ways to Avoid Burnout in Ministry" at http://margaretmarcuson.com/.