My experience says that one of the most important traits that the clergy must have to effectively undertake evangelistic efforts is trust in the laity involved in such efforts. While the pastor is ultimately responsible for what happens in the parish, the scope and variety of efforts the faithful are called by the Gospel to undertake requires the delegation of the bulk of those efforts to the laity. The trust necessary for the clergy to comfortably delegate the evangelistic efforts to the laity comes primarily through the confidence in the individual members of the laity acquired through personal relationships. Some members of the clergy have personalities with inately high levels of trust in others, that experience has not yet broken down; other members of the clergy have to consciously work at developing the interpersonal skills required to build the relationships that lead to the necessary trust; and others fall somewhere in between those two ends of the spectrum.

Another important personality trait that the clergy require in large measure is courage. I believe that this trait can be acquired and augmented. For some, a great deal of courage is required to create and build the relationships with the laity that produce the trust that allows for that necessary delegation. Courage is also needed to undertake the efforts within the parish that may be needed to educate the laity on their duties and responsibilities, commanded by that the Gospel,as part of the faithful.

Aside from this, I agree with everything Mark has said above.

As for the image, it’s a woodcut from Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), a friend of Martin Luther. It depicts John 13:14-17, Christ washing the feet of the disciples. You can see the whole thing at Wikipedia.

TOPICS: At the parish level, the 3 most important leadership topics that need to be addressed are:

1. personal spiritual formation/development;

2. setting priorities that correctly reflect the faith we profess; and

3. setting and following financial priorities and procedures that correctly reflect topics no. 1 and no. 2 above.

It seems to me that topic no. 1 is the most important and, by far, the most difficult. Appropriate ways to deal with topics 2 and 3 naturally flow from progress with topic no. 1.

ABUSE OF CLERGY AND CLERGY COMPENSATION: Thankfully, neither proposed topic has been a problem in any of the parishes where I was or am a member. God has blessed each parish with pastors for whom the laity has great respect and affection. In two of the parishes, the parish was financially able to provide enough compensation to allow the priest to serve the parish in a full-time capacity; in the third, the priest worked a full-time secular job and directed that the money that would have gone to his stipend instead go towards the building program. In my present parish, the long-standing financial guidelines provide for a minimum annual cost of living increase based on the annual Civil Service cost of living increase for the region; however, at a number of annual parish meetings, the parish has increased the amount of the proposed cost of living increase.

POSTSCRIPT: I like the image you’ve added to this post. Is it detail from a wood-block print of Christ washing His disciples feet?