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If your union Ministerial Director does not initiate contact with you (they should!), reach out to them as early as possible. With rare exception, union Ministerial Directors have been conference-level Ministerial Directors themselves, and may have a lot of experience and wisdom they can share with you. They can be a valuable sounding board, source of ideas & cautions, and can be a safe place for you to go when you need to process something that comes up in your work with pastors or in your relationship with your conference administration. Your union Ministerial Director can be as helpful as you would like for him or her to be.

Your union Ministerial Director should be as confidential with what you say to him as you would be toward your pastors. You function as a pastor to your pastors. But the pastor's pastor needs a pastor, too! Don't be hesitant to seek out your union Ministerial Director to fill this role in your life. Most will readily respond to such a request coming from their colleagues.

Developing a good relationship with your union Ministerial Director also enables that person to better integrate you into the fellowship of Ministerial Directors in your union. When these relationships are healthy, plans, programs, solutions, and resources are most easily shared in your group that can greatly enhance your own work. In addition, healthy relationships with other Ministerial Directors in your union provide you with a very helpful support system. Finally, if you have healthy relationships in this group, it will enable you to plan events and training that cross conference boundaries which you cannot afford to do on your own. Next...