A number of years ago I was scheduled to meet with the pastor search committee of a small church. This was before GPS was available. The chair of the search team had given me directions to the church, but they weren't the best directions I've ever had. It was my first time to be at this church so I was very dependent on the directions to find the church. Once I got off the main highway I realized how poor the directions were. As I drove around the country roads trying to find the markers the church had given me it started to grow dark. I had no cell phone service so I stopped at two houses to ask for directions to the church, but the people at these houses had never heard of the church. It was now about 15 minutes after our meeting was scheduled. I decided to turn around at the next drive way and return home. The next driveway was into the church's parking lot. It was within a mile of the two houses where the people said they had never heard of the church!
It's very hard to grow a church or have an effective ministry if people within a mile of your church has never heard of you. Unfortunately, this is true of many churches. These churches may think their long history and the fact that they "are the friendliest church in the area," should make them well-known, but the reality is that people near them may not even know they exist.
Even larger churches can have this problem. Several people told me to let them know if I was scheduled to preach in their community so they could come to hear me. A larger church in their community did invite me to preach there a few weeks later so I let the folks know that. Even though this was one of the largest churches in their community, none of them knew where it was located. These folks lived within blocks of this large active church, but did not know where it was.
This was a problem for the church I pastored when I first went there. This small, rural church was nearing its 150th anniversary when I became its pastor, but many people had never heard of the church and many others did not know where it was. A few years after I went there we began to intentionally address that problem.
One of our men put up a sign at the highway with the name of the church and an arrow showing where to turn. At the end of that road he put up another sign with another directional arrow that would lead people to the church.
We bought a number of professionally prepared videos that promoted some aspect of ministry featuring our church's name and service times. These video ads were ran for free on our local cable company on select channels. We also purchased a quarterly newspaper that featured positive stories and insights into family living that included one-and-half pages highlighting information about our church that was sent to the homes in our county. Both the videos and the paper gave us an opportunity to minister to people and allowed us to get our church name out into the community.
Today, if I was pastor of a church, we would be active on social media. We would have a web site and a Facebook page promoting the church. Someone has said if your church isn't on social media it doesn't exist. I believe there is a lot of truth in that. A Facebook page is free, and web sites can be very inexpensive so both are possible for even the smallest churches.
When people are interested in knowing about a business the first thing most will do is to check out that business online. If they do not have a web page it's likely the person will be less interested in the business. The same is true when people are wanting information about churches. Not only does your church need to be on social media, your content must be fresh and current. When I'm looking at a web site or a FB site and I see that the last posting was two or three years ago I lose interest. Your social media pages should be updated at least weekly to keep them fresh and appealing to those who are looking at them.
So, do people know your church exists? Are you sure? Can you prove it? How will new people get information about your church? If people cannot get information about your church before they visit, why should they bother visiting? Tough questions, but they need to be asked and answered.
Monday, September 30, 2019
Friday, September 27, 2019
Confessing sins to plants
You may have read about a recent chapel service at Union Theology Seminary at which the students prayed to a group of plants confessing how they had sinned against the plants. As people heard about this the seminary posted on their Twitter account "Today in chapel, we confessed to plants. Together, we held our grief, joy, regret, hope, guilt and sorrow in prayer; offering them to the beings who sustain us but whose gift we too often fail to honor. What do you confess to the plants in your life?"
I ate a salad for lunch on Wednesday so I guess I could have confessed to them that I might have eaten some of their cousins. But, if I did that I would probably have had to confess to some cows about the hamburger I had for lunch yesterday. There is no telling how much penance I would have to do to appease the hogs with all the bacon I eat!
Scripture is clear that if one does not worship the Creator one will worship creation. The apostle Paul in Romans 1 writes that "although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man - and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things."
John wrote that "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)." He goes on to write, "If anyone sins we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Our Advocate is not some oak tree in the middle of a forest or a dandelion growing in our back yard. Our Advocate is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and it is God alone who can forgive sins. Praying to and worshiping anything other than God is paganism.
If we want to know what is wrong with many of our churches we need to look no further than this example. Churches across our nation are being led by individuals who have seminary degrees from institutions that have forsaken the Scriptures for man-made philosophies and secular worldviews. They stand in the pulpits denying the truths of the Bible and spreading the fables they have been taught to unsuspecting listeners.
This is not a recent problem. Dietrich Bonhoeffer taught at Union for a short time in 1939. Even then he was shocked at the liberalism of the students and wrote they "are completely clueless with respect to what dogmatics is really about. They are not familiar with even the most basic questions. They become intoxicated with liberal and humanist phrases, are amused at the fundamentalists, and yet basically are not even up to their level." He remembered the students laughing at a lecture about sin and forgiveness. Bonhoeffer decided to leave Union to return to Germany to resist the Nazis where he would later be executed for his role in the plot to assassinate Hitler. One can only wonder what he would have thought about this recent chapel service.
As I was listening to a radio program this morning this chapel service was discussed. The hosts spent a good while making fun of this seminary and pointing out, as laymen, how wrong it was to seek forgiveness from plants. I had to laugh at some of their comments, but this really is no laughing matter. At least, it shouldn't be to anyone who cares about the church and the Kingdom of God. If the men and women who are preparing to lead the church are not taught to worship the one true God and to respect the authority of the Scriptures, what hope is there for the church and for those people for whom Christ died to save?
I ate a salad for lunch on Wednesday so I guess I could have confessed to them that I might have eaten some of their cousins. But, if I did that I would probably have had to confess to some cows about the hamburger I had for lunch yesterday. There is no telling how much penance I would have to do to appease the hogs with all the bacon I eat!
Scripture is clear that if one does not worship the Creator one will worship creation. The apostle Paul in Romans 1 writes that "although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man - and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things."
John wrote that "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)." He goes on to write, "If anyone sins we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Our Advocate is not some oak tree in the middle of a forest or a dandelion growing in our back yard. Our Advocate is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and it is God alone who can forgive sins. Praying to and worshiping anything other than God is paganism.
If we want to know what is wrong with many of our churches we need to look no further than this example. Churches across our nation are being led by individuals who have seminary degrees from institutions that have forsaken the Scriptures for man-made philosophies and secular worldviews. They stand in the pulpits denying the truths of the Bible and spreading the fables they have been taught to unsuspecting listeners.
This is not a recent problem. Dietrich Bonhoeffer taught at Union for a short time in 1939. Even then he was shocked at the liberalism of the students and wrote they "are completely clueless with respect to what dogmatics is really about. They are not familiar with even the most basic questions. They become intoxicated with liberal and humanist phrases, are amused at the fundamentalists, and yet basically are not even up to their level." He remembered the students laughing at a lecture about sin and forgiveness. Bonhoeffer decided to leave Union to return to Germany to resist the Nazis where he would later be executed for his role in the plot to assassinate Hitler. One can only wonder what he would have thought about this recent chapel service.
As I was listening to a radio program this morning this chapel service was discussed. The hosts spent a good while making fun of this seminary and pointing out, as laymen, how wrong it was to seek forgiveness from plants. I had to laugh at some of their comments, but this really is no laughing matter. At least, it shouldn't be to anyone who cares about the church and the Kingdom of God. If the men and women who are preparing to lead the church are not taught to worship the one true God and to respect the authority of the Scriptures, what hope is there for the church and for those people for whom Christ died to save?
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
The rural church is often forgotten
Last night I finished re-reading another great book, The Forgotten Church: Why Rural Ministry Matters for Every Church in America by Glenn Daman. I was privileged to have been asked to write a recommendation for the book before it was published. It was an honor to write that because the book was very good and because Glenn is a champion for the small, rural churches. He grew up in rural communities and currently pastors a rural church in Washington. He has written a number of other books specifically for smaller churches and their leaders and serves as an adjunct professor at Western Seminary. I would suggest this book should be required reading for anyone serving in a rural church,
The title of the book says it all: the rural church has been largely forgotten by seminaries, denominations, church historians and pastors on the fast-track to their "dream" church. Most resources are spent on the urban and suburban communities. That is where you find denominations targeting their new church planting efforts. Seminaries teach ministry practices best suited for the large churches normally found in the cities. Much has been written by many people, including myself, on the difficulty of smaller churches finding pastors willing to serve them.
Attend denominational gatherings and you will usually find their speakers and workshop leaders come from large urban churches. Try to find a course offered by seminaries that focus on rural ministry. Check out any Christian bookstore and compare the number of books on the shelves written by pastors of larger churches and those written by pastors of smaller churches. Yes, the rural church is largely forgotten by just about everybody, except those who go there.
Like Glenn, I have spent my entire life in small, rural churches. It was in such churches that I first came to faith in Jesus Christ. It was in the Sunday school classes, Vacation Bible School and Baptist Youth Fellowship that I learned about the Bible and the Christian life. It was while attending such churches as a young boy that I first felt God's call on my life to enter the ministry. It was in small, rural churches that I saw how people came together to support one another. It was a small, rural church that allowed me to serve them as pastor for twenty years even though I did not have the seminary training or experience to do so.
I remember when I was licensed to the ministry that I contacted a leader in my denomination at the time. I told him the church had licensed me and I was willing to fill the pulpit or preach any time he needed my help. I got a letter back telling me if I wanted to be a minister I needed to go to college and seminary, and in seven years when I completed my education to contact him again. That little rural church didn't ask about my educational credentials. They were glad I was willing to serve them and voted me in as their pastor. Maybe some people today have forgotten the rural church, but me and millions of others whose lives have been impacted by such churches will never forget them.
Reading this book, and especially the stories Glenn tells, reminded me again of how much I loved that church I pastored and how much I miss pastoring such churches today. The relationships one has with the congregation in a rural church is amazing. I've sat in the barn while one of our members was greasing his equipment as we talked about church matters. I went coon hunting with one member and spent countless hours with another one fishing. I prayed with many a member when they were in the hospital and sat around the table talking to family members who had just lost a loved one. In the rural church you don't spend much time sitting in your office, not if you want to spend time with those you serve.
If you pastor a rural church you need to read this book. It will help remind you of why you do what you do, especially during those times when you get frustrated by some aspect of ministry. If you are a denominational leader, you need to read this book. Maybe you won't be so quick to write off your churches located in rural communities. Seminary leaders need to read this book and begin to think of ways you can better serve those who will be going to rural ministries. If you are a lay leader in a rural church and often find yourself frustrated at the on-going challenges of rural ministry, you should read this book as well. Maybe it will remind you that in God's economy it's not just the large churches that are important. Christ came to save individual people, both in urban and rural communities. Every church has a role to play in that effort, and historically and currently the rural church has performed amazing work for the Kingdom of God.
The title of the book says it all: the rural church has been largely forgotten by seminaries, denominations, church historians and pastors on the fast-track to their "dream" church. Most resources are spent on the urban and suburban communities. That is where you find denominations targeting their new church planting efforts. Seminaries teach ministry practices best suited for the large churches normally found in the cities. Much has been written by many people, including myself, on the difficulty of smaller churches finding pastors willing to serve them.
Attend denominational gatherings and you will usually find their speakers and workshop leaders come from large urban churches. Try to find a course offered by seminaries that focus on rural ministry. Check out any Christian bookstore and compare the number of books on the shelves written by pastors of larger churches and those written by pastors of smaller churches. Yes, the rural church is largely forgotten by just about everybody, except those who go there.
Like Glenn, I have spent my entire life in small, rural churches. It was in such churches that I first came to faith in Jesus Christ. It was in the Sunday school classes, Vacation Bible School and Baptist Youth Fellowship that I learned about the Bible and the Christian life. It was while attending such churches as a young boy that I first felt God's call on my life to enter the ministry. It was in small, rural churches that I saw how people came together to support one another. It was a small, rural church that allowed me to serve them as pastor for twenty years even though I did not have the seminary training or experience to do so.
I remember when I was licensed to the ministry that I contacted a leader in my denomination at the time. I told him the church had licensed me and I was willing to fill the pulpit or preach any time he needed my help. I got a letter back telling me if I wanted to be a minister I needed to go to college and seminary, and in seven years when I completed my education to contact him again. That little rural church didn't ask about my educational credentials. They were glad I was willing to serve them and voted me in as their pastor. Maybe some people today have forgotten the rural church, but me and millions of others whose lives have been impacted by such churches will never forget them.
Reading this book, and especially the stories Glenn tells, reminded me again of how much I loved that church I pastored and how much I miss pastoring such churches today. The relationships one has with the congregation in a rural church is amazing. I've sat in the barn while one of our members was greasing his equipment as we talked about church matters. I went coon hunting with one member and spent countless hours with another one fishing. I prayed with many a member when they were in the hospital and sat around the table talking to family members who had just lost a loved one. In the rural church you don't spend much time sitting in your office, not if you want to spend time with those you serve.
If you pastor a rural church you need to read this book. It will help remind you of why you do what you do, especially during those times when you get frustrated by some aspect of ministry. If you are a denominational leader, you need to read this book. Maybe you won't be so quick to write off your churches located in rural communities. Seminary leaders need to read this book and begin to think of ways you can better serve those who will be going to rural ministries. If you are a lay leader in a rural church and often find yourself frustrated at the on-going challenges of rural ministry, you should read this book as well. Maybe it will remind you that in God's economy it's not just the large churches that are important. Christ came to save individual people, both in urban and rural communities. Every church has a role to play in that effort, and historically and currently the rural church has performed amazing work for the Kingdom of God.
Monday, September 23, 2019
Leaders under attack
I have voted in every election since becoming eligible to vote. That includes every primary and general election. When I was overseas in the Navy I made sure to have an absentee ballot so I could vote in the election. Even before becoming eligible to vote I was interested in politics and elections. I still remember watching Dwight Eisenhower being sworn into office on our black and white television and watching the national conventions as they selected the person they supported in the presidential race. At one time I owned and had read every book written by the main people involved in Watergate as I found that episode in our nation's history fascinating. I've read a number of books about various presidents to better understand what made them tick and some of the things that happened while they were in office that doesn't make it to the news. I have seen and read a lot about our nation's political system, but I have never seen anything resembling the past two years.
Many people don't like President Trump. I get that. He's unlike any president we've ever had. He says things that previous presidents would never have said publicly. He does not take criticism well and isn't able to refrain from lashing out at his critics. He has many faults. Even some of his supporters wish he would stop saying some of the things he says. I understand why many do not like him.
Never in my lifetime have I seen a political party spend every waking moment trying to drive out of office a duly elected president. Even before taking office Democrats were talking about impeaching him. They had no charges against him since he wasn't even president yet, but they were determined to force out of office the individual the American people had elected to the position. In effect, they were saying the vote of the people does not matter; they would decide who would sit in the Oval Office. They rigged the primary to ensure Clinton would win, and they were convinced she could beat Trump. When that didn't happen, despite the best efforts of most of the news media, they began to plot how to drive him from office. Two years of investigations found nothing impeachable, but that has not satisfied those determined to force him out of office. Facts don't matter. Only feelings matter in today's culture.
Forget the needs of the nation. Forget the rotting infrastructure. Forget the issues related to undocumented aliens crossing the borders in record numbers. Forget the wars that are being fought by our brave military. Forget the rampant drug use and violence sweeping across our nation. Forget serving the people who elected you to office to represent them. The only thing that matters is that they find some means, legal or illegal, to force Trump out of office. Not only have they failed to lead our nation forward, they have made fools of themselves trying to accomplish the only thing they want to do. Impeachment will never happen. Everything they are doing, the millions of taxpayer dollars they are spending in the effort, is all for political show. The Republicans control the Senate so even if the House votes for impeachment it will not happen. They know that, and if they don't they are not smart enough to be in the House. It's all childish grandstanding.
There is another election in 2020. If the Democrats seriously want Trump out of office they need to select someone who can win the 2020 election. They need someone with a vision for America who is a statesman that can convince voters his or her vision is better than the one Trump will offer. Currently, they do not have such a person. Watching the debates is like watching people trying to outdo one another in explaining why they should not be elected. It is amazing to me that a political party that produced such great leaders as John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hubert Humphrey and others have nothing better to offer American votes than the ones currently running for the office.
It's time real leaders in the Democrat party step up, tell these wannabes to go home and nominate someone who can run a legitimate campaign against Trump. That is, if they are serious about winning the next election.
Unfortunately, I've seen similar things happen in churches. The pastor does something that some lay leaders don't like or does something that seems to threaten their position in the church and they become obsessed with getting rid of the pastor. Forget evangelism. Forget discipleship. Forget missions. Everything in the church is focused on driving out the pastor. I've seen people withhold their giving so the church would be unable to pay the pastor's salary. I've seen pastors threatened with immediate termination if they didn't resign. One church reported that they had requested additional police patrols around the parsonage because someone had threatened to burn it down. I've heard wild accusations made against pastors with no evidence to back them up. More than once I've counseled pastors they needed to leave their churches because they could not win. Some moved on to healthier churches and enjoyed good ministry there. Some left the ministry altogether, their health and nerves shot.
We have created an attack culture in our nation that does not respect the office or the person who holds it. In our entitlement-minded society we want immediate satisfaction or we go on the attack. Too many of us are convinced that we deserve to have everything our way, and if that doesn't happen we will destroy anyone who prevented us from having it. This is currently true in our nation, and it's true in many of our churches.
Our nation needs God. We need to return to biblical values in the way we treat one another and work with one another. Rather than seeking an office for personal enrichment and power we need to seek leadership positions in order to better serve others. We need people, both in government and in our churches, who are more interested in improving the lives of others than they are in personal gain. We need to pray that God will send us such leaders. We need to pray that He will grant them wisdom to lead. We need to pray for revival to sweep through our nation. We need to pray that it's not too late for either our nation or our churches.
Many people don't like President Trump. I get that. He's unlike any president we've ever had. He says things that previous presidents would never have said publicly. He does not take criticism well and isn't able to refrain from lashing out at his critics. He has many faults. Even some of his supporters wish he would stop saying some of the things he says. I understand why many do not like him.
Never in my lifetime have I seen a political party spend every waking moment trying to drive out of office a duly elected president. Even before taking office Democrats were talking about impeaching him. They had no charges against him since he wasn't even president yet, but they were determined to force out of office the individual the American people had elected to the position. In effect, they were saying the vote of the people does not matter; they would decide who would sit in the Oval Office. They rigged the primary to ensure Clinton would win, and they were convinced she could beat Trump. When that didn't happen, despite the best efforts of most of the news media, they began to plot how to drive him from office. Two years of investigations found nothing impeachable, but that has not satisfied those determined to force him out of office. Facts don't matter. Only feelings matter in today's culture.
Forget the needs of the nation. Forget the rotting infrastructure. Forget the issues related to undocumented aliens crossing the borders in record numbers. Forget the wars that are being fought by our brave military. Forget the rampant drug use and violence sweeping across our nation. Forget serving the people who elected you to office to represent them. The only thing that matters is that they find some means, legal or illegal, to force Trump out of office. Not only have they failed to lead our nation forward, they have made fools of themselves trying to accomplish the only thing they want to do. Impeachment will never happen. Everything they are doing, the millions of taxpayer dollars they are spending in the effort, is all for political show. The Republicans control the Senate so even if the House votes for impeachment it will not happen. They know that, and if they don't they are not smart enough to be in the House. It's all childish grandstanding.
There is another election in 2020. If the Democrats seriously want Trump out of office they need to select someone who can win the 2020 election. They need someone with a vision for America who is a statesman that can convince voters his or her vision is better than the one Trump will offer. Currently, they do not have such a person. Watching the debates is like watching people trying to outdo one another in explaining why they should not be elected. It is amazing to me that a political party that produced such great leaders as John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hubert Humphrey and others have nothing better to offer American votes than the ones currently running for the office.
It's time real leaders in the Democrat party step up, tell these wannabes to go home and nominate someone who can run a legitimate campaign against Trump. That is, if they are serious about winning the next election.
Unfortunately, I've seen similar things happen in churches. The pastor does something that some lay leaders don't like or does something that seems to threaten their position in the church and they become obsessed with getting rid of the pastor. Forget evangelism. Forget discipleship. Forget missions. Everything in the church is focused on driving out the pastor. I've seen people withhold their giving so the church would be unable to pay the pastor's salary. I've seen pastors threatened with immediate termination if they didn't resign. One church reported that they had requested additional police patrols around the parsonage because someone had threatened to burn it down. I've heard wild accusations made against pastors with no evidence to back them up. More than once I've counseled pastors they needed to leave their churches because they could not win. Some moved on to healthier churches and enjoyed good ministry there. Some left the ministry altogether, their health and nerves shot.
We have created an attack culture in our nation that does not respect the office or the person who holds it. In our entitlement-minded society we want immediate satisfaction or we go on the attack. Too many of us are convinced that we deserve to have everything our way, and if that doesn't happen we will destroy anyone who prevented us from having it. This is currently true in our nation, and it's true in many of our churches.
Our nation needs God. We need to return to biblical values in the way we treat one another and work with one another. Rather than seeking an office for personal enrichment and power we need to seek leadership positions in order to better serve others. We need people, both in government and in our churches, who are more interested in improving the lives of others than they are in personal gain. We need to pray that God will send us such leaders. We need to pray that He will grant them wisdom to lead. We need to pray for revival to sweep through our nation. We need to pray that it's not too late for either our nation or our churches.
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Leading with Integrity
Anyone who knows me is aware that I spend a lot of time studying leadership and advocate for strong leadership from pastors and lay leaders. I've just finished a book that was published in 2010, but I just got around to reading it. Actually, it's been in my to-read stack for over a year, but I kept ignoring it to read books I thought might be better. I wish I had not done that. Leading with Integrity: The 28 Essential Leadership Strategies of Solomon by Pat Williams is an excellent book that studies leadership through the life and writings of Solomon.
Williams is Senior Vice President of the Orlando Magic, author and motivational speaker. He has spent his adult life involved in professional sports and uses many examples from his experiences and those of well-known athletes to illustrate how Solomon's insights apply to the things leaders face today. Since I am such a sports fan, I really enjoyed reading the stories of some of these players and coaches.
The book of Proverbs contains a lot of wisdom, but for me it has not been the easiest book to understand. During my pastoral ministry I did not preach many sermons out of Proverbs. I wish I had. The author made some of the passages in that book come alive for me in a way they had not before.
Everything rises and falls on leadership. No organization can rise any higher than the lid of its leadership. This is why I am convinced that pastors must be strong leaders of their churches. Strong leadership allows the church to rise higher and accomplish more for the Kingdom of God. However, some mistake strong leadership with dictatorial leadership. Adolf Hitler was a strong leader. So was Joseph Stalin and Jim Jones. None of these three led with integrity. They led through intimidation destroying anything and anyone who dared stand in their way.
The type of strong leadership the church needs is one marked with integrity in everything the leader does. Leaders with integrity love those they lead. They speak the truth in every situation. They don't cut corners or compromise their ethical values to accomplish their goals. They control their emotions and build moral firewalls into their life to protect them from temptations. They are focused on victory, not for their glory but for the glory of God, and they are focused on transforming the lives of the people they serve.
Williams addresses each of the things I listed, and more, in this book. He gives a biblical basis for each one as well, all from the book of Proverbs.
This would make a great book for the leaders of a church to study together. It would also be an excellent book for a small group to explore. There are follow-up questions at the end of each of the 28 chapters that would enable a good discussion of the book in such groups.
Williams is Senior Vice President of the Orlando Magic, author and motivational speaker. He has spent his adult life involved in professional sports and uses many examples from his experiences and those of well-known athletes to illustrate how Solomon's insights apply to the things leaders face today. Since I am such a sports fan, I really enjoyed reading the stories of some of these players and coaches.
The book of Proverbs contains a lot of wisdom, but for me it has not been the easiest book to understand. During my pastoral ministry I did not preach many sermons out of Proverbs. I wish I had. The author made some of the passages in that book come alive for me in a way they had not before.
Everything rises and falls on leadership. No organization can rise any higher than the lid of its leadership. This is why I am convinced that pastors must be strong leaders of their churches. Strong leadership allows the church to rise higher and accomplish more for the Kingdom of God. However, some mistake strong leadership with dictatorial leadership. Adolf Hitler was a strong leader. So was Joseph Stalin and Jim Jones. None of these three led with integrity. They led through intimidation destroying anything and anyone who dared stand in their way.
The type of strong leadership the church needs is one marked with integrity in everything the leader does. Leaders with integrity love those they lead. They speak the truth in every situation. They don't cut corners or compromise their ethical values to accomplish their goals. They control their emotions and build moral firewalls into their life to protect them from temptations. They are focused on victory, not for their glory but for the glory of God, and they are focused on transforming the lives of the people they serve.
Williams addresses each of the things I listed, and more, in this book. He gives a biblical basis for each one as well, all from the book of Proverbs.
This would make a great book for the leaders of a church to study together. It would also be an excellent book for a small group to explore. There are follow-up questions at the end of each of the 28 chapters that would enable a good discussion of the book in such groups.
Monday, September 16, 2019
Toxic leaders in the church
One of the most discouraging things I dealt with as a judicatory minister who worked with a group of churches in his assigned area was the toxicity I found in some of them. In some churches it was lay leaders who spread toxicity throughout the congregation. In other churches it was the pastor. Regardless of the source of the toxicity, I hurt for those who were harmed both within and outside the congregation.
If you have a medical condition that is causing problems in your body it's normal to see a doctor to seek healing before the condition can do permanent damage. Most people would not hesitate to seek treatment. Why do we not address toxic conditions in the church before they can do damage to the body of Christ? Why do we allow toxic people to spread their poison throughout the body instead of addressing it in a way that will promote healing?
The pastor of one church went through a very painful business meeting in which decisions were made that would limit the ministry effectiveness of the church for years. He told me that the problem in the church he served was that the people were too nice. The majority of the congregation, who supported the changes he proposed, refused to attend the meeting to voice their support. They allowed a small, vocal minority to turn down every proposal because "they didn't go to church to fight." They not only allowed a handful of people to have a negative impact on the future ministry of that church, they also lost a good pastor who gave up. It's sad that this happened to this church; it's even sadder that it happens in churches every day. The one part of that ministry I disliked was the number of times I had to do a conflict mediation in churches because of similar stories.
Sometimes it's the pastor who dumps toxic waste on the congregation. As a pastor myself I was appalled at some of the stories people in churches told me about their pastors. To this day I cannot understand how someone who believes he or she is called to ministry can justify some of the things I've seen pastors do to their churches. In some cases, the congregations knew the pastor was wrong in the things that were being done but felt powerless to stop it. They had bought into the "touch not God's anointed" philosophy and stood by thinking they couldn't stop what was happening.
Again, I have to wonder why we allow these kinds of things to happen in churches? Just as we would not hesitate to go to the doctor with physical problems, we should not hesitate to seek assistance in dealing with spiritual issues. As I have written numerous times, these people are controllers who are determined to preserve their positions or power within a church regardless of the damage they cause while doing so.
Sometimes people don't like it when I say this, but controllers are cancers in the body. They are unhealthy cells that attack healthy cells, and if a cancer is not treated it will eventually kill the body. Just as cancers are sometimes found in physical bodies, they are also found in the body of Christ. Unfortunately, successful cancer treatment is seldom easy or pleasant. The more aggressive the cancer is the more aggressive the treatment must be. Cancer treatment is no time to play nice. The survival of the body depends on aggressive action.
Early detection greatly improves the survival rate of cancer, and early intervention greatly improves the church's chances of limiting the influence of toxic leaders. I've often told pastor conferences that most churches wait too late to call for assistance. By the time they seek assistance with their problems there are huge messes that must be cleaned up before the church can begin to heal, if it can heal. Early detection and intervention is best.
When you begin to see toxic conditions occur in your church you need to contact your denominational representative as soon as possible. If you are not part of a denomination, you need to find a consultant or someone who can come in from the outside to help you address the situation. Do not think by ignoring it the problem will go away. It won't. It will only get worse making it more difficult to resolve.
In the last chapter of my book The Healthy Small Church: Diagnosis and Treatment for the Big Issues
I provide a list of diagnostic questions to help your congregation determine how healthy it is in various aspects of congregational life. I encourage you to use this list annually to give your church an annual check-up. If you find areas in which your church could become healthier you can address them. Of course, don't wait until it's time for the annual check-up if you notice problems now. I'll say it again, address those problems as quickly as you become aware of them. Don't allow toxicity to destroy the life of your church.
If you have a medical condition that is causing problems in your body it's normal to see a doctor to seek healing before the condition can do permanent damage. Most people would not hesitate to seek treatment. Why do we not address toxic conditions in the church before they can do damage to the body of Christ? Why do we allow toxic people to spread their poison throughout the body instead of addressing it in a way that will promote healing?
The pastor of one church went through a very painful business meeting in which decisions were made that would limit the ministry effectiveness of the church for years. He told me that the problem in the church he served was that the people were too nice. The majority of the congregation, who supported the changes he proposed, refused to attend the meeting to voice their support. They allowed a small, vocal minority to turn down every proposal because "they didn't go to church to fight." They not only allowed a handful of people to have a negative impact on the future ministry of that church, they also lost a good pastor who gave up. It's sad that this happened to this church; it's even sadder that it happens in churches every day. The one part of that ministry I disliked was the number of times I had to do a conflict mediation in churches because of similar stories.
Sometimes it's the pastor who dumps toxic waste on the congregation. As a pastor myself I was appalled at some of the stories people in churches told me about their pastors. To this day I cannot understand how someone who believes he or she is called to ministry can justify some of the things I've seen pastors do to their churches. In some cases, the congregations knew the pastor was wrong in the things that were being done but felt powerless to stop it. They had bought into the "touch not God's anointed" philosophy and stood by thinking they couldn't stop what was happening.
Again, I have to wonder why we allow these kinds of things to happen in churches? Just as we would not hesitate to go to the doctor with physical problems, we should not hesitate to seek assistance in dealing with spiritual issues. As I have written numerous times, these people are controllers who are determined to preserve their positions or power within a church regardless of the damage they cause while doing so.
Sometimes people don't like it when I say this, but controllers are cancers in the body. They are unhealthy cells that attack healthy cells, and if a cancer is not treated it will eventually kill the body. Just as cancers are sometimes found in physical bodies, they are also found in the body of Christ. Unfortunately, successful cancer treatment is seldom easy or pleasant. The more aggressive the cancer is the more aggressive the treatment must be. Cancer treatment is no time to play nice. The survival of the body depends on aggressive action.
Early detection greatly improves the survival rate of cancer, and early intervention greatly improves the church's chances of limiting the influence of toxic leaders. I've often told pastor conferences that most churches wait too late to call for assistance. By the time they seek assistance with their problems there are huge messes that must be cleaned up before the church can begin to heal, if it can heal. Early detection and intervention is best.
When you begin to see toxic conditions occur in your church you need to contact your denominational representative as soon as possible. If you are not part of a denomination, you need to find a consultant or someone who can come in from the outside to help you address the situation. Do not think by ignoring it the problem will go away. It won't. It will only get worse making it more difficult to resolve.
In the last chapter of my book The Healthy Small Church: Diagnosis and Treatment for the Big Issues
I provide a list of diagnostic questions to help your congregation determine how healthy it is in various aspects of congregational life. I encourage you to use this list annually to give your church an annual check-up. If you find areas in which your church could become healthier you can address them. Of course, don't wait until it's time for the annual check-up if you notice problems now. I'll say it again, address those problems as quickly as you become aware of them. Don't allow toxicity to destroy the life of your church.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Pastors are not immune from mental health issues
Jarrid Wilson, an associate pastor in a mega-church in California, was a strong advocate for mental health. He began an organization to help promote good mental health and was very open about his own struggle with depression. On Monday evening he took his life.
Sometimes people think that ministers are immune from the challenges that affects others. We're not. We struggle with the same physical and emotional problems that others battle. Too often we keep these battles private afraid or ashamed to share them openly in fear that people will think less of us. Sometimes that leads to preventable tragedy.
From news accounts I've read Wilson did not keep his battle with depression private. He was open about his struggles in his books, his sermons and on social media.
I've shared my own battle with depression in this blog, in my books, in pastor conferences I've led and in sermons. Unlike some others, my depression did not include thoughts of suicide, but it did take me into some dark times. I can't recall a time when I was open about my struggle with depression that someone didn't come to me thanking me for the hope I gave them. I pray I will never go through such a time like that again, but I am thankful that my experience has brought hope to others who were going through it.
For a year I met weekly with a Christian counselor and took medication for depression. Some Christians still believe that counseling and medication for emotional issues show a sign of weakness or a lack of faith. These same people think nothing of taking an aspirin for a headache or insulin for diabetes. There is no difference. Physical and emotional illnesses are just that...illnesses. Along with prayer we should avail ourselves of everything that can help us overcome any illness we might encounter. I'm thankful that I could see a Christian counselor who could help me understand what was happening to me and a doctor who prescribed the best medicine for my condition. Both helped speed my recovery and perhaps prevented something worse.
As a judicatory minister serving a number of churches I met pastors I was convinced were clinically depressed. I always pointed out my concern to them and encouraged them to see a doctor. I'm not sure any of them did. With one pastor's permission I shared my concern with his wife. With tears running down her face she nodded her head in agreement. She knew he was depressed. So did he. The last I knew he had done nothing about it. I think I know his reasons. None of them are valid.
The ministry can be a lonely place. It can become even lonelier when we are battling emotional and mental illnesses. It is during such times that we cannot afford to cut ourselves off from those who can help us. We need someone to talk to, someone who will love us despite what is going on inside us. We need people we can call when our thoughts threaten to overwhelm us.
We also need to talk about this from the pulpit. Struggling with emotional and mental illnesses doesn't make one less of a Christian. It doesn't demonstrate a lack of faith. There is nothing evil about seeking help from counselors or doctors for these kinds of problems. Rather than judging someone struggling with these issues this is a time for the church to gather around the individual to help love him or her back to health.
It's also a time for the church to gather around the family. This is a rough time for them as well as for the one struggling with the problem. I know my depression brought a lot of difficult times for my family. They struggled to understand what was happening to me and my year-long recovery had numerous setbacks that were difficult for everyone. The church needs to walk through this valley with the family to assure them that they are not alone in this.
Sometimes people think that ministers are immune from the challenges that affects others. We're not. We struggle with the same physical and emotional problems that others battle. Too often we keep these battles private afraid or ashamed to share them openly in fear that people will think less of us. Sometimes that leads to preventable tragedy.
From news accounts I've read Wilson did not keep his battle with depression private. He was open about his struggles in his books, his sermons and on social media.
I've shared my own battle with depression in this blog, in my books, in pastor conferences I've led and in sermons. Unlike some others, my depression did not include thoughts of suicide, but it did take me into some dark times. I can't recall a time when I was open about my struggle with depression that someone didn't come to me thanking me for the hope I gave them. I pray I will never go through such a time like that again, but I am thankful that my experience has brought hope to others who were going through it.
For a year I met weekly with a Christian counselor and took medication for depression. Some Christians still believe that counseling and medication for emotional issues show a sign of weakness or a lack of faith. These same people think nothing of taking an aspirin for a headache or insulin for diabetes. There is no difference. Physical and emotional illnesses are just that...illnesses. Along with prayer we should avail ourselves of everything that can help us overcome any illness we might encounter. I'm thankful that I could see a Christian counselor who could help me understand what was happening to me and a doctor who prescribed the best medicine for my condition. Both helped speed my recovery and perhaps prevented something worse.
As a judicatory minister serving a number of churches I met pastors I was convinced were clinically depressed. I always pointed out my concern to them and encouraged them to see a doctor. I'm not sure any of them did. With one pastor's permission I shared my concern with his wife. With tears running down her face she nodded her head in agreement. She knew he was depressed. So did he. The last I knew he had done nothing about it. I think I know his reasons. None of them are valid.
The ministry can be a lonely place. It can become even lonelier when we are battling emotional and mental illnesses. It is during such times that we cannot afford to cut ourselves off from those who can help us. We need someone to talk to, someone who will love us despite what is going on inside us. We need people we can call when our thoughts threaten to overwhelm us.
We also need to talk about this from the pulpit. Struggling with emotional and mental illnesses doesn't make one less of a Christian. It doesn't demonstrate a lack of faith. There is nothing evil about seeking help from counselors or doctors for these kinds of problems. Rather than judging someone struggling with these issues this is a time for the church to gather around the individual to help love him or her back to health.
It's also a time for the church to gather around the family. This is a rough time for them as well as for the one struggling with the problem. I know my depression brought a lot of difficult times for my family. They struggled to understand what was happening to me and my year-long recovery had numerous setbacks that were difficult for everyone. The church needs to walk through this valley with the family to assure them that they are not alone in this.
Monday, September 9, 2019
Truth in a world of untruth
I understand why many people have abandoned their telephone landlines. I would guess that 90 percent of the calls I get on our home phone are from telemarketers. Most of these are recorded messages so I don't even get the enjoyment of messing with them. The same is true of the majority of emails I get. Most of them are scams. I used to have most of them go immediately in my deleted folder, but when I had to get a new computer a couple of months ago I've had to start over again marking the junk. Since Apple doesn't care about scam emails and does not give a means to automatically mark them, even the ones I avoid on my computer show up on my I-Pad, and I have to delete them again. When I got a new phone a few months ago that is one reason I didn't get another I-Phone. Most of the junk emails I get do not show up on my Samsung.
Add to this the dishonesty we see in the media. During the last presidential campaign Trump kept pointing out the dishonesty in the press. Few people had the courage to say the things he kept saying, but as people began watching the news they soon could see the way news stories were being spun to reflect the liberal bias many in the news organizations had. The same could be said of conservative news organizations. The American public were not being given the news; we were being given the slant on the stories the news media wanted to present. This is not a recent phenomenon that began in the last presidential election. In 1996 James Fallows, then editor of U.S. News and World Report, wrote a fascinating book titled Breaking The News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy in which he showed how the media doesn't report the news; it makes the news by deciding what's newsworthy and what's not. Doing this controls the information the American public receives and what it never hears about. This is not a book written by some conspiracy buff but one written by a person who has had the inside seat in national news reporting for many years. It's a book I highly recommend.
We all know the dishonesty that exists in advertising. All you have to do is watch an advertisement for any fast food place and compare the sandwiches you see in the ad with the ones you actually get when you eat there!
We are bombarded with dishonesty and untruth every day. It's no wonder why many people wonder if what they hear from the church and its leadership is true or not. We have created a culture of disbelief, and that culture exists even within the church. Many people look at sermons the same way they look at advertisements. They assume we are spinning the message to make our brand look good, and many are not buying it.
As preachers of the Gospel we have to speak with absolute integrity and honesty. It's essential that we begin our messages upon the foundation of the infallibility of the Word of God. In a world that spins every message we cannot begin our message by casting doubt on what the Scripture says. I shudder every time I hear a so-called Christian leader say that we have advanced beyond what was known in biblical times, and our messages need to change to reflect that advanced understanding. These false prophets only THINK they have advanced. The Bible we hold in our hands came to us from God, and no one has advanced beyond Him! His words are eternally true.
When I began as the Transitional Pastor at one church about two years ago I told the congregation in my first message that every sermon they would hear from me would be based on the belief that the Bible was the infallible Word of God. If I don't believe that then I have nothing to preach because my opinions are no more valid than anyone else's. It's only when I stand upon the integrity of God's Word that I have anything of value to say.
In a world of spin, in a world in which we are surrounded by untruth, it is imperative that the preacher boldly proclaim the Word of God as truth. It is only when we do that can the Holy Spirit take those words and begin to change the hearts of people.
Add to this the dishonesty we see in the media. During the last presidential campaign Trump kept pointing out the dishonesty in the press. Few people had the courage to say the things he kept saying, but as people began watching the news they soon could see the way news stories were being spun to reflect the liberal bias many in the news organizations had. The same could be said of conservative news organizations. The American public were not being given the news; we were being given the slant on the stories the news media wanted to present. This is not a recent phenomenon that began in the last presidential election. In 1996 James Fallows, then editor of U.S. News and World Report, wrote a fascinating book titled Breaking The News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy in which he showed how the media doesn't report the news; it makes the news by deciding what's newsworthy and what's not. Doing this controls the information the American public receives and what it never hears about. This is not a book written by some conspiracy buff but one written by a person who has had the inside seat in national news reporting for many years. It's a book I highly recommend.
We all know the dishonesty that exists in advertising. All you have to do is watch an advertisement for any fast food place and compare the sandwiches you see in the ad with the ones you actually get when you eat there!
We are bombarded with dishonesty and untruth every day. It's no wonder why many people wonder if what they hear from the church and its leadership is true or not. We have created a culture of disbelief, and that culture exists even within the church. Many people look at sermons the same way they look at advertisements. They assume we are spinning the message to make our brand look good, and many are not buying it.
As preachers of the Gospel we have to speak with absolute integrity and honesty. It's essential that we begin our messages upon the foundation of the infallibility of the Word of God. In a world that spins every message we cannot begin our message by casting doubt on what the Scripture says. I shudder every time I hear a so-called Christian leader say that we have advanced beyond what was known in biblical times, and our messages need to change to reflect that advanced understanding. These false prophets only THINK they have advanced. The Bible we hold in our hands came to us from God, and no one has advanced beyond Him! His words are eternally true.
When I began as the Transitional Pastor at one church about two years ago I told the congregation in my first message that every sermon they would hear from me would be based on the belief that the Bible was the infallible Word of God. If I don't believe that then I have nothing to preach because my opinions are no more valid than anyone else's. It's only when I stand upon the integrity of God's Word that I have anything of value to say.
In a world of spin, in a world in which we are surrounded by untruth, it is imperative that the preacher boldly proclaim the Word of God as truth. It is only when we do that can the Holy Spirit take those words and begin to change the hearts of people.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Bivocational ministers have more opportunities for education
Check out this article I wrote for EthicsDaily on the educational opportunities available for bivocational ministers. https://ethicsdaily.com/bivocational-ministers-have-more-options-for-seminary-education/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)