Pastors must never stop growing

One of my professors worked for a number of years for Ford Motor Company.  He had worked in many departments, but for several years he was in Human Resources.  In our first or second class he said something that has always stuck with me.  He said when he was reviewing job applications he was not impressed with the degrees the person may or may not have had.  The only thing a college degree meant, according to him, was that the person was capable of learning.  He emphasized that Ford would teach a person everything he or she needed to be successful in the company as long as the person was capable of learning.  At the time that made a lot of sense to me, and it still does.

Some people believe that once they receive a degree they have learned everything they need.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I read recently that when one individual received his PhD  his mentor sent him a congratulatory card in which he wrote, "Now you can start learning."  What an insightful comment!  As important as formal education may be, we must always recognize that we must continue to learn and grow if we want to enjoy success in our ministries.

In his book How to Thrive as a Small-Church Pastor Steve Bierly writes, "If you are not trying to grow as a pastor, you won't be able to retain even the level of competence you have now."  As a regional minister I can say sadly that I sometimes meet pastors who have never grown beyond what they learned in seminary years earlier.  Such ministers leave a trail of destruction behind them everywhere they go and cannot understand why.  Every two or three years they change churches never realizing that their problems are not coming from their churches but from their own lack of personal growth.

What are some of the areas in which we need continual growth?

• Spiritual growth - A major risk that many ministers face at some point in their ministries is neglecting their own spiritual development.  We can become so busy doing things for God that we forget our own need to maintain a growing relationship with Him.  We cannot give out what we are not taking in.  The pastor who neglects his or her personal walk with God will eventually dry up and have nothing fresh to give.
• Relational skills - Everything in smaller churches is based on relationships.  The pastor who is weak in relational skills will never enjoy a successful ministry in a smaller church.  The good news is that this is an area in which anyone can grow.  One place to start growing in relational skills is by becoming a better listener.  Another is by spending time with people.
• Leadership skills - In the past several months I have worked with churches that asked their pastors to resign.  In every case the primary complaint was that the pastor failed to provide leadership to the congregation.  One of the problems faced by pastors is that many seminaries have not trained their students to be leaders.  They've taught them how to manage their churches, not lead them.  Churches that are serious about growing and serving their communities are looking for leaders, and if we are not growing in that area we will find ourselves limited to serving only those churches who are satisfied with the status quo.
• Communication skills - Pastors must be great communicators both in and out of the pulpit.  As far back as 1870 John A. Broadus wrote, "The record of Christian history has been that the strength of the church is directly related to the strength of the pulpit.  When the message from the pulpit has been uncertain and faltering, the church has been weak; when the pulpit has given a positive, declarative message, the church has been strong.  The need for effective preaching has never been greater."  I agree totally, and I also believe that ministers must be skilled at interpersonal communication.  Such communication is directly related to our ability to lead, and if we can't communicate with others we cannot lead them.
• Conflict resolution skills - Church conflict is a reality.  While it will never be entirely eliminated, it can be managed and even resolved.  The problem is that many of us in pastoral leadership have never been taught how to do that.  At a workshop I once led a pastor asked why so many pastors get stabbed in the back.  I responded that I wasn't sure that we get stabbed in the back as often as we shoot ourselves in the foot.  I've witnessed many pastors who made the conflict in their churches much worse by the steps they took to address it.  We must continually be learning ways to better handle conflict.

These are only five areas in which we need to continue to grow.  There are more, but these are a good place to start.  I cover each of these in much more detail in my book The Bivocational Pastor: Two Jobs, One Ministry.  I would certainly recommend you read that book and Bierly's book mentioned above for more information on the need for continual growth and some helpful steps you can take to experience that growth in your life.