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SUMMARY and circumstances. What became clear from the interviews, though, is that some kind of awareness and the setting of clear frameworks are necessary if we want to be good stewards of the treasures — including our family and our own life — that have been entrusted to us. All environments have their own special culture and vocabulary, and the church is no exception; it has its own cultural specialties. On the one hand, we can talk about the church as an institution, a visible organization with its own hierarchy, employees, volunteers, its own rules, regulations, rites and ceremonies; on the other, the church may be described as an invisible spiritual community. This can cause some tension, but may also energize the organization. The church is an organization that is here and is to come, is visible and invisible at the same time; it is very much in the world, but does not live by the values of this world. Living on the border between two worlds, the pastor carries the message of the Kingdom of God; he represents, for himself and for his environment, a spiritual value system and lifestyle that is different from that of our world. To live the Christian life as a community it is necessary that the group shares a ,breath” (Spirit), whereby the individual affects the community and the community also affects the individual. The practical knowledge acquired by following Christ accumulates in the community as a whole and is not possessed or embodied by individual members of the community. The church is made up by the network of such practice-communities; thus we can regard the church as the community of many communities of dialogue with God and each other. The congregation looks to the pastor for teaching and guidance, and they expect the pastor to be ahead of them on the path of faith; this, too, belongs to the role of the pastor. Notwithstanding this role, it must be recognized that the pastor, too, is on the move and that his age, his upbringing, his piety have to be taken into consideration. On the path of faith pastors are seekers and homecomers in the same way as other believers, their role as pastor, however, is an important aspect of their spiritual growth. It is God who gives the growth, and God summons us within the framework of where we are. Sometimes this means a desire for growth; sometimes it means finding a new home, or a new home within the old framework. A special characteristic of the spirituality of a pastor is that nurturing his relationship with God is part of his job, and his own personality is one of his „work tools”. Today religion is regarded as a personal matter by the world of work, but in the case of the pastor his faith cannot belong to his private life only. According to the interviews pastors usually think that, while being spiritually nourished by their personal relationship with God, their life of faith must be open 202
