Lamb's Ear, stachys lanata, is a low-growing perennial used in gardens for balance of color and connection between diverse groups of plants. The silvery green color provides a restful, appealing place for the eye. The plant's main feature is its vigorous root system. Lamb's ear propagates by root, not by seed. Its dense, fibrous matting of roots sustains the plant's habit of growing in clusters.

The complex root system provides plentiful nourishment during drought, and protects the whole plant from any damage to root or leaf at any single point. The plants have a separateness of leaf, but cannot survive without connection to each other. Neither can a single root of Lamb's ear be planted, as if to survive and develop the communal root system on its own.

The plant is not known for fruit or flower. Its early English name is Woundwort, describing the soft, absorbent qualities of leaf which made it a valuable herb in dressing wounds before woven cloth became more easily available for bandages. The plant flourishes in usual conditions, and will spread easily in rich soil. Varieties of stachys lanata are found growing all around the world, in both northern and southern hemispheres.

The Beginning in Silence

This consulting agency has its roots in a silent retreat conducted by Madeleine l'Engle in 1977. I was an Elder serving on a Presbyterian Session at the time, and during the retreat I was struck by the power of silence held in common among a group of Christians. I found astonishing strength and resilience from silence in a group focused on understanding direction and purpose in decision-making. This made me think about leaders navigating the space they share between boundaries.

Barbara Hutchinson and I began our work while we served together on a church staff. Over the next three years our ideas for leader training developed into Lamb's Ear Consulting. We wanted a name suggestive of a non-fruiting plant that gives support benefits to a garden. We were thinking of the similarities between a tended garden and the Christian community of worshipping and ministering members.
Leaders in the church do not provide the fruit, but must model the kind of community they hope their congregation to be, while providing the links which encourage and sustain members' own fruitfulness in ministry.

We observed in leadership work, as with lamb's ear in the garden, much is done in the places between. Leaders in discussion are between the perceived need and the discerned response; leaders in action are between the clergy and the congregation; leaders in conflict are between a rock and a hard place; leaders navigate between boundaries, spending most of their time in the space between their point of departure and the landing.
The consulting work we envisioned offers help to parish and church leaders in their work of faithfulness and change in the Christian community.
A note: all the photographs of lamb's ear on the website were taken in Barbara Hutchinson's Lancaster garden.

More than 25 years after my initial vision for church leader development, I served on a church staff with the Rt. Rev. Ronald H. Haines, 7th Bishop of Washington, Retired. He joined with me and Barbara Hutchinson in the early stages of designing our church consulting agency.
Bishop Haines was particularly interested in the needs of small churches, certain of their significance to the health of Christian witness in the 21st century. He believed that leaders and members could be changed and made whole in a disciplined focus on being in communion, and he saw great potential in our consulting design. Bishop Haines' greatest contribution emphasized Lamb's Ear consulting work on prayer, the value of silence in the process of making decisions, and the training skills necessary for strong stewardship and fiscal responsibility.

With Bishop Haines' recommendation and encouragement, I attended CDI Deer Isle for training in church development consulting. Barbara Hutchinson, meanwhile, went off to seminary and was ordained, and is now rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. During Barbara's three years of seminary, Bishop Haines and I developed many aspects of the variety of consulting options now available through Lamb's Ear Consulting. Bishop Haines died untimely in 2008.