Church leaders must interpret congregational situations at many simultaneous levels. This tutorial describes three layers: the pastoral, the organizational and the theological. Read the "Youth Service" case study and then return to this page to see how one might interpret that situation at multiple levels.

The pastoral level refers to the personal concerns you (as Terry the Youth director) might have for the various people in the scene. Pastoral concerns center on relationships, emotions, perspectives and self-image.

• Iniki, Adele, Bob and Camille: Pastorally, you want to make sure that the youth themselves feel heard and that they are taken seriously in planning the service that will bear their name. So, for example, when they suggest that they want you to preach without a robe, you hear the symbolic importance that they will place on dictating the appearance of the service. And, from a pastoral perspective, you will want to make sure that Foster Franks does not push through ideas that do not appeal to the youth. You can also listen to hear them comment on how they experience the worship service throughout the year. So, their desire for an interactive, question-answer format during the sermon says a lot about their experience of weekly worship.
• Foster Franks: Your pastoral concern for the adult volunteer is a little different. It seems clear that the youth are not interested in his patriotic service. So you will want to make sure that he does not feel slighted even if he does get his way.

The organizational level refers to the issues that arise from running an organization. They often have to do with budgets, procedure, rights, and proper channels.

• Ambiguous Instructions: The senior pastor assigned you the service but gave you ambiguous and contradictory instructions. You are supposed to be innovative but not take it too far, different but not too different. In short, you have to make a judgment call about a community you do not yet know. Thus you are in a difficult organizational situation because you have not been given an adequate description of your assignment.
• Lead the Meeting: This may be the first major project you do with the youth group and with the adult volunteers. And your still-forming credibility with them is more important in the long run than the service itself. How you handle yourself as you mediate between the youth and their adult advisors is crucial. It can be an early success on which to build or it can be a unfortunate obstacle that you will eventually have to overcome. At the organizational level, the service is not as important as your credibility with the youth and their advisors.

The theological level refers to the deeper theological issues that provide the foundation of most religious discussions. It focuses on theological assumptions about God, the church and the role of each in the world.

• Theology of Worship: Creating a worship service is a theological act. The music, prayers, readings and sermon each contain messages about who God is and how God relates to the congregation.
• Theology of Ordination: How is a worship service different when lay people lead it? Does a sermon diminished when someone who is not ordained preaches it? Your answer to those questions depend on your theology of ordination and your interpretation of theological concepts like the "priesthood of all believers."

Each of these levels -- the pastoral, the organizational and the theological -- must be layered so that none of them is ignored. It is often tempting to focus on one (e.g. the pastoral) and neglect the others. It takes sustained attention and practice to learn the art of balancing each so that addressing one (e.g. your pastoral interest in the youth) does not nullify the others (e.g. your theology of worship).

The order in which you address each concern affects the pacing of your ministry. The concerns can come up in different orders. For example, organizational concerns are often "safer" and "less threatening" than pastoral issues that speak to the heart. There will, therefore, be times when the best strategy is to postpone the pastoral concerns while people adjust themselves to a jarring situation. Likewise, it may be that pastoral conerns (e.g.the youth's desire to be heard) must preceed all other concerns.