A Pastor's Call for Pastors to Read Fiction
By David Stippick
I have been a reader my whole life - I used to get notes sent home that I was reading in school during any subject and not paying attention to what was going on during that class. Through middle school, I always had a book with me so I could read whenever there was a free moment - a habit I continue to this day. In high school, I would buy mass market paperbacks, now sadly no longer being printed, from the checkout line at the grocery store. As a young adult, I endured teasing, good-natured and not about reading The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and the entire ten-book Princess Diaries series.
Through all of that, I could not have known that every page I was turning was equipping me to be a better pastor to the people I would be spending my adult life ministering to.
During the six years I was working on my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, I was still reading quite a bit, but I had very little time or energy for fiction. My classes were filled with history, practical theology, commentaries, and the like; only in my first two years in English classes was I assigned anything besides nonfiction. When those books were closed and the diplomas were handed out, I and many of my peers kept on reading; however what I’ve found over the last fifteen years is that when we talk about what they’re reading, many of them are only reading nonfiction, continuing their personal and professional development with books on leadership and church strategy. Meanwhile, I respond with both the book I’m reading about preaching and the latest romance novel I’m finishing this week. I also work as a bookseller at an independent bookstore, and when I’m at a book club, I’m typically one of the only ones who answers with something like Universal Basic Income from MIT Press when we go around talking about what we’re reading outside of the book club.
It can be a bit strange in all cases.
People in ministry should be reading; it’s important for us to know what’s going on in our chosen field, but reading doesn’t have to just be for productivity. Reading for fun should be seen as just as valuable for ministers as the latest book on a giving strategy. In an article for Psychology Today, Craig B. Barkacs discusses the importance of Emotional Intelligence (EI), being able to understand and manage your and others’ emotions, and Adaptive Intelligence (AI), being able to adapt and thrive in changing circumstances. In the article, he discusses the importance of developing EI and AI for working adults and how it can be aided by reading fiction.
What I loved about fiction as a child and teen still holds true for me today - I can visit places, real and imagined, that I never would have the opportunity to otherwise. Great writers have the ability to transport me directly into the worlds they are creating. I root for characters, I loathe characters, I get ideas for recipes, and I have even made a point to visit some places when given the opportunity. I’m a Queer cisgender man in my late 30s, and it’s important to me to understand as many perspectives outside my own as possible. Much of that has come in the last six and a half years as I’ve made reading more of a priority overall. Some of the benefits, as noted by Barkacs:
sharpens empathy,
heightens self-awareness,
and bolsters adaptability
Empathy is a key skill in ministry. We interact with people every day, on our staff and in our congregations, who come from and are in different circumstances than our own. While it may not be a natural skill for some, learning through examining the inner lives of fictional characters can build the ability to see the emotions described on the page written on the faces of the people in our pews.
Building our self-awareness can have positive physical health impacts, as noted in the Psychology Today article. It can also give us the chance to “live out” some experiences we may be interested in. Maybe we don’t have quite the time to explore the outdoors as we’d like, but we can follow characters through journeys in beautiful wilderness.
In mid-July, I came across a post on Threads from Andy Rowell (@rowell.andy), who teaches at Bethel Seminary, about some of the books he was wrapping up reading in preparation for a course he will be teaching on Novel Reading for Pastors. I was intrigued because he mentioned the Mitford novels by Jan Karon. As someone who has worked in two churches that are 100+ years old, I have seen some books in church libraries; I’ve seen the Mitford books and felt about them the way he described, “sappy, sweet…sentimental…preachy,” without ever picking one up. So, I made the decision to give it a shot. Much of my reading is through audiobooks, and don’t let anyone tell you that doesn’t count, so I began At Home In Mitford, Karon’s first compilation of the stories about Father Tom that had previously been published as stand-alone stories in a newspaper.
Father Tom is tending to the sometimes-hard-to-believe (and don’t we all have stories of our own) happenings of his congregants. He has a deep love for them and will go to great lengths for them - sometimes at the risk of his own sanity. I wish I hadn’t judged the Mitford series so unfairly all those years ago. Reading the stories of his daily life and interactions brings a sense of solidarity that I didn’t know I was missing.
What then should you read?
When it’s been some time since you’ve picked up fiction for fun this can be a difficult question to answer. Many bookstores, and I encourage you to support local independent bookstores when you can, offer “Blind Date With A Book” - a book wrapped up so you don’t know the title or the author but with the genre and a few descriptive words. This can be an easy way to take a chance.
If you’re willing to hear me out, check out a romance book. Romance is the second most widely read genre in the US, and in many ways helps prop up the rest of the publishing industry. Not so much love stories like the works of literary fiction that Nicholas Sparks writes, romance books have a Happily Ever After (HEA). Many of the women, men, young adults, and older teens are reading Ali Hazelwood, Hannah Grace, and Kennedy Ryan.
My own reading is made up of seven shelves in my home office and split pretty evenly between fiction and nonfiction. I know what I like to read because I’ve been reading regularly for over 30 years now. If it’s new to you and you’re willing to give it a chance, start with things in the genre of movies and shows you like to watch, or games you enjoy playing.
There are gems in sci-fi, fantasy, middle grade, horror, and beyond that will give you more and more opportunities to connect with the people who look to you for guidance and care. If you want to expand your abilities in that role, pick up a book. Not another book about mission, vision, and values, but a novel that will take you to another place, give you another person’s perspective, and maybe help you learn to feel a little more.
David Stippick is a full-time caregiver to his disabled son and also happens to be a Pastor, Chaplain, and bookseller who somehow finds time to watch too much TV. The father of four lives with his wife, kids, mother, and pets in Georgetown, Texas, where he was born and raised. He loves the St. Louis Cardinals.
