Our words are powerful

In a lecture a Rabbi asked his audience if they could go 24 hours without saying anything unkind to or about someone. Some admitted they could not. He explained that if he had asked if they could go 24 without drinking alcohol and they could not they would have to admit they were an alcoholic. If they cannot go that long without speaking unkindly about others then they need to admit they cannot control their tongue.

The same is true when we are speaking to ourselves. In fact, some say that the most impactful conversations we have each day are the ones we have with ourselves. When we speak negatively to ourselves about ourselves we begin to believe that those things are true. If you frequently tell yourself that you are a failure, or that you are stupid, or that you can't do anything right or that you don't deserve to be loved, you are going to believe those things about yourselves, and it will be very difficult to rise above those beliefs.

Sometimes we say those things to ourselves because others have spoken them into us. People who were raised in a family that kept saying negative and hurtful things to them grow up often believing such things. They continue replaying that audio loop they were raised with and return to that every time things don't work out the way they had hoped. In time, they may even quit trying to rise above those negative beliefs they have about themselves.

If you are someone who struggles with negative self-talk I encourage you to begin today speaking positive things into your spirit. An excellent place to begin is with Scripture. The Bible tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made. It reminds us that nothing can separate us from the love of God. We read in Scripture that we are a people chosen by God. There are hundreds of positive affirmations in Scripture that apply to each one of us. Search out those affirmations, and as you read them substitute your name in the Scripture. For instance, "Nothing can separate Dennis from the love of God." Begin each day speaking these biblically positive comments to yourself. Write them on index cards to review during the day, especially when things may not be going well.

If you will do this it can turn your life around and fill you with renewed hope and confidence.

What gives a person value?

  When we talk about the value of something there are two terms we need to keep in mind. One is extrinsic value. Something with extrinsic value has value only outside itself. For example, a hammer has extrinsic value because it can be used to do something.

Intrinsic value is the other term. Something has intrinsic value just by its existence. Its value is not dependent upon circumstances or the opinions of others. Christians believe that humans have both intrinsic and extrinsic value. We have intrinsic value because we have been created in the image of God. That alone gives us value. Furthermore, we have extrinsic value because we were created for a purpose. In contrast, atheism and secular humanism, in their rejection of the concept of God can only assign extrinsic value to people. In other words, unless others outside ourselves assign value to us, we have no value.

But what happens if value is not assigned to a group of people? Nazi Germany saw no value in Jews, Gypsies and others and tried to eliminate them from the face of the earth. For many years some in America saw no intrinsic value in slaves, and still today there are many who see no intrinsic value in people of color. In 1973 the Supreme Court decided unborn babies had no intrinsic value and made abortions legal. Today, some argue that parents should be allowed to end the life of their children up to one month of age if it is believed that the child might be a burden. These individuals contend that infants lack self-awareness and are unable to place value on themselves.

When a person believes that he or she lacks value it becomes easy to decide to take one's life. Suicide rates increased 33 percent between 1999 and 2019. A study conducted by the CDC found that one in four young adults had seriously considered suicide during the pandemic. When depression and anxiety are added to a feeling that one has no intrinsic value suicide can seem like the easy way to escape the pain.

The Bible makes clear that all persons have intrinsic value. It tells us that are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God with value and purpose. We do not have value because someone has given it to us. Our value comes to us from God who created us and loves us unconditionally. We are not the product of chance and circumstance but are fearfully and wonderfully made by God.

If you are struggling with the feeling that you don't matter, that your life is meaningless I encourage you to talk to a pastor. Begin reading the Bible. Contact me and let me help you address those feelings. You are precious in God's sight. He truly does love you and sees great value in you.

Don't believe the lie

 Truth has taken a beating in recent years. For the past few years we've heard more about fake news than any of us would want to hear. We've seen both political parties attack each other with outlandish claims. Postmodernism has denied the existence of absolute truth. We now call good evil and evil good because we can no longer tell the difference. However, these outward lies are not the focus of this post. Today, I am more interested in the lies we tell ourselves.

Many of us, including Christians, have a very low opinion of ourselves. We feel we don't measure up, that we are not good enough. I grew up in a time when we had a lot of choose-up baseball games. Two people would be named captain, and they would pick the players for their teams. The same kids were usually chosen last. I doubt that did anything for their self-esteem. For some, it might begin in high school as we doubt that anyone will go to the prom with us. Perhaps we begin to question our worth and our abilities when we see and hear how talented our brothers and sisters are and people start to question if we are really from the same gene pool.

Our thought life will determine the direction our lives will take. If we regularly struggle with negative thoughts about ourselves it will be hard to live a life of abundance and victory. It's hard to believe that God has a purpose for our lives when we see little value in ourselves. A healthy self-esteem is essential if we want to fulfill our purpose in life.

Satan knows this, and this is why he will work hard to fill our minds with negative thoughts. He wants us to doubt our worth and value to God. He wants us to question our abilities so as to limit what we attempt to do. The Bible is clear that his purpose is to "steal, kill and destroy," and he will use every weapon in his arsenal to achieve that. One of his most effective weapons is to control our minds and the thoughts we have about ourselves.

Some of us need to spend time reading the Scriptures to learn what God thinks about us. His Word says we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." It tells us that we are "heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ." The Scriptures remind us that even before we were formed in the womb that God had a purpose for our lives. It tells us that we "more than overcomers" and "have the mind of Christ." I could go on and on, but this should be enough to get you started thinking more positive thoughts about yourself.

I want you to see yourself as God sees you, not as the devil wants you to see yourself. You are so valuable that God sent His Son to the cross to die for your sins. God desires to adopt you into His family so you can spend all eternity with Him in heaven. You are not a loser, a mistake, an accident, a misfit. Stop giving the devil access into your mind and reject every attempt he makes to fill your mind with poisonous lies. Accept what God says about you and believe it. Doing so will change your life.

You will always find what you are looking for

As part of my devotional time each morning I am currently re-reading Craig Groeschel's book Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World. Let me share a paragraph that really touched me this morning.

You will always find what you are looking for. Think about the difference between two birds: a vulture and a hummingbird. Vultures soar high in the sky, looking and searching. What does a vulture find? Dead things. The ugly oversized bird doesn't stop until he finds lifeless, rotting road kill. Contrast the vulture to the tiny hummingbird. With wings flapping twenty beats a second, what does this small bird find? Not dead things and disgusting rancid meat, but instead, sweet, life-giving nectar. Daily each bird finds what he is looking for.

The same is true of each of us. We can always find thing to complain about, things that are negative in life, and things that don't go the way we wanted. Some people dwell on finding such things. Zig Ziglar used to say that some people go around looking for the bad as if there was a reward for finding it. Any of us can get locked into such negative thinking which can never help us live life as it was meant to be.

How does this happen? One way people get locked into negative thinking is by spending more time listening to the news than they spend reading the Bible. "If it bleeds, it leads" is the mantra of the news profession. Like vultures they fly through the sky seeking the ugly things in life to report. Yes, we are battling a pandemic that needs reporting. Yes, there are shootings and murders and ugly things out there. But, there are also many positive things happening in the world that never get covered. We don't hear about them because they are not considered newsworthy. If such things receive any mention at all it's in the last minute of the newscast after our minds have been filled with the other stories.

Another way this seeking the negative occurs is through the self-talk we do every day. Growing up we may have been given the seeds of negativity that were planted in our minds. Perhaps you were told you would never amount to anything, that you were dumb or unattractive. Maybe you were bullied by others. People who were supposed to protect you harmed you instead. Such seeds of negativity can be planted deep within a person. They produce thoughts in our minds that never seem to go away until we finally begin to believe them ourselves. We're not surprised when something doesn't go our way because we've convinced ourselves through our self-talk that we don't deserve good things to happen to us.

There's not space to cover any of what I'm about to say in detail, but let me make three suggestions.

1. Spend as much time reading the Scriptures as you do listening to the news. Yes, bad things do happen in the world, but remind yourself that God is still in charge. Read Philippians 4:7 every time you begin to feel overwhelmed by what is happening in the world.
2. Take control of your self-talk. Be aware of the negative things you speak into your own spirit and refuse to accept them. Again, the Bible has much to say about how God views you. Fill your mind with His words.
3. Pastors, this is not the time to preach a series through Lamentations. People are concerned and some are scared. They need to be reminded that God is with them, and those who do not know the Lord may be looking for something, or Someone, to become an anchor for their lives. Preach the Gospel, the greatest message of hope ever known to mankind! Help people find what they are really looking for in life.

Ministry challenges in the 21st century for bivocational ministers

"Bivocational ministers have the same responsibilities as fully-funded ministers.  There are sermons to prepare each week, people who seek counsel, conflicts that arise in the church, administrative tasks, meetings to coordinate and attend, congregants who need to be visited, and the various other general expectations people have of ministers, regardless of church size.

"There are also challenges associated with living in the 21st century.  It's not easy to be a minister today.  The way people think and believe is rapidly changing.  Expectations are higher today than ever before, and if people can't get their expectations met, they will simply move on to another church.  Denominational affiliation matters little in the 21st century.  If people have to attend two or three different churches to have their expectations met, they will do so.  In the past, it was enough for ministers to be able to exegete the Scriptures in order to preach to people.  Today it is just as important to exegete the culture to understand how best to reach it, but when we do so, we begin to see just how difficult it is to minister to this postmodern, pre-Christian society in which we live."

This is an excerpt from my latest book The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide.  In the book I go on to discuss several of the reasons it is so difficult to minister today.  I will just list them here.

• Rejection of Absolute Truth - It is very difficult to proclaim Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life and the only way to God to a culture that sees all truth as relative.  With the rejection of absolute truth also comes a rejection of absolute morality so we find ourselves living in a society in which everyone does what seems right in their own eyes.
• Generational Differences - It can be a challenge to develop a worship service that will be meaningful to four and even, in some churches, five generations.  Preparing a message that will speak to each generation at the same time will also be difficult.
• Membership Issues - We live in a time in which people have little interest in joining organizations but are very interested in being involved in things they find meaningful.  Many churches will need to revisit their membership requirements or risk losing talented people.
• Rapid Cultural Changes - Society is changing at a much quicker pace than most churches to the point that the church is always playing catch-up.

In addition there are some challenges unique to bivocational ministers that are also addressed in the book.  These include

• Time Constraints
• Self-esteem Issues
• Lack of Support
• Challenges of Serving in Smaller Churches

The book does more than just identify the challenges.  It uses real-life examples of individuals I have coached who were wrestling with many of these problems and shows how we were able to help them overcome their challenges.  This is an excellent book for bivocational ministers, for denominational leaders who work with pastors, and with lay leaders of bivocational churches.  It will help you coach yourself through some of the challenges you face, give you some tools you can use to assist others, and encourage you as you read the stories of others who overcame the same obstacles you face.

What will determine the future of your church?

Several times I had the privilege of hearing Zig Ziglar speak.  He was one of the best motivational speakers I've ever heard.  He often began his lectures by asking two questions.

1. How many of you believe that regardless of how bad your personal, family, and business lives are at this moment there are still some things you could do that would make them even worse?
2. How many of you believe that regardless of how good your personal, family, and business lives are, there are still some things you could do to improve them?

He asked those questions to help his listeners understand that they were responsible for their own futures.  While outside forces can have some impact on our lives, ultimately we are responsible for our own future.  What we will be, what we will have, and where we are five, ten, and twenty years down the road is largely dependent upon the choices we make now.  This is true of our personal lives, our family lives, and our business lives.  It is also true of our churches.

In my own workshops I often include this message, and many times someone in my audience will want to push back.  That person will insist that their church wants to grow, wants to have a greater impact on its community, and wants to be a more vibrant church, but they also insist that some outside force prevents that from happening.  A few times I have made those persons unhappy by insisting just as strongly that, while they are saying the right things, they are not willing to do what it takes to achieve them.  While most organizations, including churches, will face challenges to accomplishing their goals, the successful ones achieve them anyway.  Here is an important fact we must never forget: If you really want to achieve something, you will find a way; if you aren't committed to achieving something, you will find an excuse.  Life will provide us with many things to blame, but ultimately the final results we experience in life are due to the choices we make.

There will always be roadblocks to a successful ministry, but none of these are greater than the forces and the power available to the believer in Christ.  Romans 8: 35-39 tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God.  Isaiah 54: 17 reminds us that no weapon formed against us shall prosper.  Jesus says in Matthew 16: 18 that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the church.  We could refer to more Scripture, but these three alone are enough to demonstrate the forces are work within the church and the believer.  To accuse outside forces of being able to prevent our churches from fulfilling God's vision for their ministry is to discount the truth of these passages.  The fact is the only thing that can limit the ministry, and the future, of our churches is our own limited thinking. 

As I work with smaller churches I frequently hear the same complaints.  We are an older congregation.  Our people are on fixed income.  We can't attract younger families with children.  We have few resources and can't compete with the larger churches in our communities.  It's hard to find good pastors willing to serve in a church like ours.  The denomination doesn't care anything about us.  Younger people just don't have the commitment that we did at that age.

Over the next few days I'm going to challenge each of these statements in this blog.  Any of them may be true, but that does not mean they have to be limiting.  In fact, everyone of them, and any others you want to raise, can be overcome if you really want to do so.  Or, they can be a convenient excuse for you and your church to do nothing.  Either way, you will decide which it will be for you.

Be sure to check this blog tomorrow to read my response to the first complaint: we are an older congregation.  To be sure you don't miss it you may want to join the other followers of this blog.  You may also want to read my book Intentional Ministry in a Not-So-Mega Church: Becoming a Missional Community that addresses how smaller churches can have a more productive ministry in their communities.

Breaking News...Pastor accepts call to a smaller church

That's not a headline you see very often.  Most pastors nearly always are called to a larger church than the one they are leaving.  Yesterday, I had lunch with one who accepted a call to a much smaller church than he has now pastored for the past fifteen years.  In fact, it's almost a tenth of the size of his present church.  No, he's not planning to retire and just serve this church to supplement his retirement income.  He plans to bring leadership and health to this church so that it can once again begin to minister to the community God has given it.  It's also not the case that his present church is struggling or having problems.  In fact, it is probably one of the healthiest churches I know and has just experienced a significant growth in its facilities and the number of people who attend there.  There is absolutely no reason for my friend to leave his present church except one...God has called him to this other church.

He and I have had more than one discussion about this move.  Mostly, I just listened as he tried to sort out the various reasons why he believed God was calling him to a new place of service.  I would occasionally ask questions or offer ideas for him to consider, but mostly I listened.  After the first discussion we had I felt certain he would make the move, and I was not surprised when he called a few weeks later to let me know he was going there for a candidating weekend.  I was expecting that call because during that initial discussion it was clear at least to me that this was God's doing.  I had little doubt that God was calling him to this new place of ministry.

As we ate lunch yesterday it was obvious that he was feeling great sorrow at leaving the people he had ministered with for the past decade and a half.  There was some heaviness at our table as each of us knew this may well be the last time we'll share a lunch this side of heaven.  He's moving several states away and is unlikely to be back in this area any time soon.  But, as he talked about the new church he will soon be serving there was much excitement in his voice.  He talked about the ministry opportunities in the city where he will soon live and minister.  The potential for growth is almost unlimited, and the church facilities are capable of serving many more people than they currently have.  I sensed he feels that God is calling him to that church to lead that growth.

I wondered what his new church thinks about his coming.  They are well aware of the wonderful church he is leaving so that has to excite the members of this new church.  When so many smaller churches struggle with self-esteem issues this has to make them feel that both God and this new pastor they are getting must love them very much for him to accept the call to their church.  I would think their hope level has been significantly raised in the weeks since he accepted their call.

You see, there is a difference between accepting a call to a smaller church because that's the only church that contacted you and accepting that call because God is leading you there.  It makes a difference to both the minister and the church, and both can often sense which situation best describes the minister.  Our smaller churches want so much to have a pastor who will love them and be excited to serve as their pastor.  When that happens those churches also begin to believe once again that God is not done with their church but still has a purpose for them.  I have to believe the church my friend will soon serve feels both of these are true for them, and I predict some great ministry will soon begin to happen in that church.

I will admit that some smaller churches are so far down the life-cycle and so dysfunctional that they are unlikely to ever turn around, but I also know that there are many smaller churches that are just praying that someone will come to lead them who believes in them.  When such a person accepts the call to serve those churches good things will happen.  Please don't automatically discount a call to a church that is the smaller than the one you now serve.  You could be missing out on an incredible ministry opportunity.

The pain that exists in small churches

Much of my ministry is done with smaller churches that have a big heart for God and ministry, but after working for years with these churches I've found that many of them carry a tremendous amount of pain.  Some of that pain is associated with the rapid turn-over of pastors common in smaller churches.  When I began my pastoral ministry in a small, rural church their average pastoral tenure for many years had been twelve months.  Some pastors had stayed only six months while a few lasted longer, but one year was the average stay for the pastors of that church.  Can you imagine how a family would feel if the father and husband of that family left every 12 months?  Churches feel that same sense of pain.

I had been the pastor of that church for about six months when a deacon in our church commented in a Sunday school class that their pastor would soon be leaving them for a better church.  I never heard him complete his thought because I was stunned.  Some of the leadership were already expecting me to announce I was leaving, and for what...a better church.  At that time I had no education beyond high school and the only ministerial experience I had was in that church, and yet they did not feel they were a good enough church to keep me as pastor.  Previous pastors had created that sense of expectation in that church and had also left them with a lot of pain.

A second area that causes a lot of pain in these churches is their inability to grow.  Some of the older members remember a time when the sanctuary was full and the church was a beehive of activity.  Today they look at a sanctuary that is a quarter full and a church calendar that is nearly empty of activity.  They have watched their young people leave their church and never return except for special events such as homecomings.  They see a new church on the edge of town start and soon begin building a new sanctuary and other facilities to hold their growing membership while their small church continues to shrink.

Both issues raise the same questions for these smaller churches.  What is wrong with us that pastors won't stay and we can't attract new people?  Has God abandoned us because of some sin in the church?  Is there any hope for our church?

Various authors have addressed the poor self-esteem issue in smaller churches with some calling it the greatest problem facing these churches.  I think this is especially true for those small churches that used to be much larger.  Until churches can begin to recognize that while they cannot recapture the past they will struggle to move forward, and that is the only direction that offers them any hope.

Politicians often like to say that a nation's best days are ahead of it, and, of course, their policies will make that possible.  In the case of many of our small churches I do believe that their best days are ahead of them.  Maybe they will never see the numbers of people sitting in their pews that they had in the 1950s and 60s, but that doesn't mean that they cannot enjoy a healthy and productive ministry in their communities.  Maybe they won't be able to attract the distinguished PhD fresh out of seminary for their pastorate, but that doesn't mean there is not someone out there that God has prepared to lead their church into the future that He has prepared for them.  I far surpassed the six months some had thought I would remain in that church staying twenty years, and our small church enjoyed a very productive ministry together.

To overcome the pain smaller churches need to take their focus off past events and begin to look forward.   They need to dream again of what could be.  They need to prayerfully seek what new doors of ministry opportunities God wants to open for them.   They need to determine if there are barriers that have been created over the years that keep people out of the church and away from God and find ways to tear them down.  (BTW - every church does have some barriers.)  They need to focus again on God and find their hope and future in Him.  As they begin to do these things they will find the pain begin to subside and hope once again begin to rise within them, and then they will be ready to return to Kingdom work.

What you have in your heart becomes your experience

The title of this post comes from Paul Yonggi Cho, pastor of the world's largest church: what you have in your heart becomes your experience.  As I came across those words in my reading this past weekend I had to stop and consider how true this is in every area of our lives.  The righteous person focuses this or her thoughts upon God.  The heart of the unrighteous focuses upon the evil.  What is in our hearts comes out through our words.    Jesus said in Matthew 12: 34, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."  It comes out through our actions.  If greed or lust or pride or anger or hatred or prejudice fills out hearts those things will direct our actions.  If one focuses upon his or her failures in life it can quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Such a person may soon find it difficult to succeed in anything.  However, if we have a healthy image of our abilities and our personal worth before God we often find that positive things continue to happen in our lives.  It is critically important that we filter what we allow to enter our minds and hearts.

No doubt this is true of ministry as well.  The parishioner who is filled with negativity towards life will seldom be excited about any new ministry opportunity that may be presented to the church.  He or she will have a long list of reasons why nothing will ever work, and as long as the church listens to and believes that list the church will continue to be held back from moving forward.  Those in our churches who get excited about following a fresh vision from God will embrace that vision and often see amazing things happen through the ministry of their church.

As pastors and church leaders we must be careful about what enters the heart and what we allow to remain there.  At this point I'm not even talking about the evil thoughts that want our attention.  Instead, I'm referring to our focus on ministry.  What concrete goals have you set for your life and ministry?  Where do you want to be in five years as a minister?  As a spouse?  As a parent?  As an employee or employer?  Where do you want your church in five years?  What goals have you set that will enable you to achieve that five-year vision?  How much do these goals consume your thoughts and direct your steps?  You will be five years from now what you decide today you are going to be.

As I paused in my reading I had another thought as well.  As ministers who speak to our people each week we have the opportunity to impact what goes into their hearts as well.  I know pastors whose messages are filled with so much negativity one has to wonder if they've ever heard of the gospel as being good news.  Some good friends of mine told me they had to leave the church they had attended for over two decades because their new pastor beat them up every week.  I visited that church a few weeks later and had to fight the urge to walk out.  I honestly think that pastor believes that he is called to beat the flock into submission.  I believe that as ministers we must challenge our people with the truth and preach the whole counsel of God, but I learned that I can approach any topic in the Bible from a positive perspective or a negative one.  I've also learned that most people respond better to the positive approach.  If that positive message enters their hearts that will be the message that will become a reality in their lives.

Friends, guard your hearts and focus on those things that will bring life and joy to your life and ministry, and help those who depend upon you for spiritual nourishment to fill their hearts with the life-giving water that comes only through Jesus Christ.  As we focus upon who we are in Christ and His call upon our lives we will see Him do wonderful things in and through us.

Expectations for the pastor

Meeting expectations is always a tough thing for many pastors to do.  Although many churches have official job descriptions for the pastoral position, that only tells part of the story.  In a church of 50 people there will be 50 different job descriptions in people's minds.  If someone comes to a church from another church they will likely expect their pastor to operate much like the ones they knew in their previous church.  Even if people are still attending the church they grew up in it is likely at some point in their life there was a pastor who had a significant impact on their lives, and they will compare other pastors to that person.  Some in the church have their own agenda for what the church should be and do, and they fully expect the pastor to sign up for their agenda.  That becomes a problem when there are competing agendas in the church.

Perhaps worse that trying to meet the expectations of the members, many of us in ministry struggle to meet the expectations we place on ourselves.  The pastor who grew up in a home where he or she was told they are only as good as what they do will spend a lifetime trying to prove to their parents they were worthy of their love.  Pastors who bought into the seminary professor's insistence they must spend X number of hours in sermon preparation or they will be a disappointment to their congregation and to God will surely struggle on those weeks when those numbers of hours simply weren't available.  More than one pastor has confided to me their disappointment in their own prayer life.  Many go into the ministry believing they will be able to change the world only to find out most weeks the only thing that gets changed is the color of the suit.

I am convinced trying to meet unrealistic expectations, either imposed by others or by ourselves, is a major reason many abandon the ministry within a few years after completing seminary.  What can a minister do to reduce the stress of such expectations?  Let me simply list a few.

1. Ministers must know their areas of giftedness and strengths and work within those areas as much as possible.  While it is not possible to avoid working in areas of weakness all the time, most ministers will find ministry much more enjoyable when working in the areas where God has uniquely equipped them.  As often as possible, delegate your weaker areas to others who are better able to do them.
2. Communicate those areas of strengths and weaknesses to others, especially to your congregation, so they can assist.  I tend to not be a great detail person, and I was very fortunate to have lay people in the church I served who were. 
3. Work on your own expectations.  If you struggle with poor self-esteem it will show itself in the expectations you place on yourself.  Many times, ministers are their own worst enemy.  Ministers who need to be needed will find it hard to say no to anyone, except their own families, and that can cause a multitude of problems.

I discuss these in more detail in my book The Healthy Pastor: Easing the Pressures of Ministry.  You may want to read this book to learn more about how to deal with unrealistic expectations as well as several other stresses common to ministry.

When a church needs a bivocational pastor

Many denominational leaders are reporting the same trend: a number of their previously fully-funded churches find they must go to a bivocational pastor.  Often, the change is due to decreasing finances or rising insurance costs.  One church I serve in our judicatory made that move in 2011 and told me they could afford to pay a good salary, but they could no longer afford to provide medical insurance.  So far, the shift has worked fairly well in that church, but that is not always the case.

About a year ago I was asked to speak to a congregation that had told their pastor he would need to become bivocational or seek another place to serve.  I was to address the changes the church should expect as they made the transition.  A large number of the congregation attended the meeting and asked good questions.  The pastor had found other employment and decided to remain at the church in a bivocational role.  For several months the transition went well, but recently things are not going so well at the church.  I'll explain why in a moment.

There are at least two things that congregations must address when transitioning from having a fully-funded pastor to a bivocational pastor.  One is self-esteem.  It is not uncommon for a church to wonder what they have done wrong or why God has seemingly abandoned them when they can no longer have a fully-funded pastor.  I once spoke at a church out west whose sanctuary seated 600 people.  They now had 60 in attendance, and the morale in that church was at rock bottom.  Many in the church saw themselves as failures and could do little but speak of "the good old days."

I try to encourage churches to not see themselves as failures or to believe God has abandoned them.  God uses small churches to accomplish great things.  Rather than focusing on what they have lost these churches would do much better to focus on the new opportunities they now have.  Instead of spending the bulk of their offerings on pastoral salary and benefits these churches now often have additional money that can be used for ministry.   More resources for ministry means that more people outside the congregation can be touched and introduced to the Kingdom of God.  At every workshop I lead for bivocational ministers I remind them that the call to bivocational ministry is not a lesser nor a greater call to ministry; it is the call God has placed on their lives and is equal to every other call.  I would say the same to churches that are moving from being fully-funded to bivocational.  Your church is not less important to God and His Kingdom and becoming bivocational may mean that new ministry opportunities are about to open up.  Look for them.

The second issue deals with expectations.  Churches sometimes find it easier to move to a bivocational salary than to shift their expectations of the pastor.  It is not fair to ask the pastor to find another job to supplement his or her salary and then continue to expect the same work from the pastor.  This is the problem that occurred in the church mentioned above.  For the first few months the congregation picked up several of the responsibilities the pastor had been doing, but as the months went by that started happening less and less.  That was one of the things I cautioned the church about, and I thought they understood that when I left, but they evidently forgot.  The pastor and his wife told me the church was now expecting him to do almost everything he was doing when he was fully-funded.  I doubt he will remain at that church must longer.

One of the strengths of bivocational ministry is that church members often become more personally involved in ministry.  They understand the pastor has a job just like they do and is not available 24/7, so many of them step in and fill more ministry roles.  Actually, this is a scriptural way for the church to operate.  Eph. 4 tells us the role of the pastor is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry, and when this model is followed good things often happen.  Bivocational churches must move from a pastoral care model to a congregational care model.  The pastor may not always be available to minister to someone in need, but there is usually someone in the congregation who can do that if they understand they are called to do so just as much as the pastor.

For more on this and other aspects of bivocational ministry you may want to read The Bivocational Pastor: Two Jobs, One Ministry.

Long-term pastorates

I have yet to read any study that did not find that one of the keys to a healthy, growing church was a long-term pastor.  For many smaller churches the likelihood of having a pastor stay for an extended time is rather small.  The church I served as pastor had an average pastor tenure of about 12 months before I went there.  Most of its pastors were students from a nearby seminary who either left when they graduated or chose for one reason or another to not remain at the church while they completed their studies.  After I had been there for only six months one of our deacons told a Sunday school class that he expected I would soon be leaving for a better church.  Spend a few minutes thinking through his comments and you will soon recognize the image this church had of itself and the amount of pain it felt after being abandoned every 6-18 months by yet another pastor who previously announced he believed "God has called me to serve this church."  I'm sorry if I sound a little cynical, but I just never thought God was so confused that He changed His mind so often about who should serve as the pastor of a church!

Certainly, there are legitimate reasons for a pastor to seek a new place to serve, but too often pastors leave for the wrong reasons.  I know one pastor who flees every time there is a problem in the church he is serving.  He has grown every church he has served, but there will never be growth in a church without some level of conflict.  When that conflict gets a little intense he announces God is leading him to another place of service, and within a short period of time what growth the church experienced under his ministry disappears.  He will never enjoy a great ministry if he doesn't learn how to manage conflict.

Other pastors leave their smaller churches because they are looking for the perfect church to serve.  The grass always looks greener around other churches.  Such pastors never unpack all their shipping boxes when they move into the parsonage because they know they will be packing everything up again in a couple of years.  The truth is they look for a great place to serve because they are not capable of making their current ministry a great place.  As one former seminary president once said, "The minister who is unable to make a place great is too weak to hold a great one."

Our small church was able to accomplish some pretty remarkable things during my pastorate, and I will quickly tell anyone that had nothing to do with me.  As I told the congregation one Sunday while I was listing some of the things we had done, "My primary contribution was to hang around long enough for you to realize what you were capable of doing."  I brought stability and encouragement to the congregation; I challenged them to dare to attempt great things for God; and I frequently reminded them that I believed in them more than they believed in themselves. 

One of the most important things a pastor can do is to demonstrate his or her commitment to the church being served.  When the congregation knows the pastor is committed to their church it makes them more willing to take greater risks.  When they know their pastor loves them and truly believes in them good things begin to happen.  Now, this takes time, especially in a church that has been trained to expect the pastor to leave after only a few months.  Trust isn't earned overnight.  In my case, the pastoral turnover had been so frequent it took about seven years before some of our folks finally decided that I wouldn't abandon them the first time a pastor search committee came calling.  They knew that they were more than just a rung on my climb up the ministerial ladder.

To remain at a smaller church for an extended period of time isn't always easy.  It requires that the pastor is committed to personal growth, and it requires a number of intentional actions the pastor needs to take.  This issue of long-term pastorates is so important I dedicated an entire chapter to it in The Bivocational Pastor: Two Jobs, One Ministry.

How a congregation learns part 5

For the past few days we have been looking at how congregations best learn.  These posts have been based upon an article in Congregations, a publication from The Alban Institute.  The article entitled "How Your Congregation Learns" was written by Tim Shapiro, the president of the Indianapolis Center for Congregations.  The fifth element of a learning congregation is that Congregations learn well by attending to rites of passage.  Shapiro believes that when a congregation is in the process of learning new things it is very important that they do not neglect the tender moments of life that bind a congregation together.  These moments would include such things as births and deaths, marriages and divorces, graduation, illnesses, and the other events that shape the lives of people within the congregation.

This honors the importance of relationships in the church, especially the smaller church.  So much of what we do is dependent upon the relationships that exist in our churches.  If a proposed change might have an impact on the existing relationships in the church it will likely face great opposition until those concerns are addressed.  I was asked to speak to a church about a process our judicatory was offering to help churches transform.  During the Q&A time an older woman told me that if what we wanted to do might cause some people to leave she was against it without even knowing what we were offering to do.  In her words, "There's nobody here I'm willing to give up."  The church decided to not invite me back to begin the process.

However, if a church can be very intentional about ensuring that special life's events in the lives of its members are not missed or overlooked, it become easier to learn some new things.  One of the important things a pastor can do when recommending that the church learn some new ways of ministering is to announce some new steps the church is taking to serve well those persons going through transitional times in their own lives.  Knowing that the rites of passage in their lives will be recognized and celebrated makes it easier to learn ways of ministering to others.

The lies we believe

Some bivocational ministers are hampered by lies they have come to believe about themselves and their ministries.  Sometimes, we hear these said by other people often enough that we start to believe them ourselves, or, at least, we begin to wonder if they might be true.  Some examples of such lies are:

• If I were really called by God to pastor, he would call me to another (usually larger) church.
• If I were a real pastor, we would have seen growth in the church by now.
• I must not be doing something right.  People's lives are not being affected by anything I say or do.

Can you see how limiting such thinking is?  When a leader begins to think like this it impacts everything he or she does.  I doubt there is a bivocational minister who hasn't had at least a brief period of time when such thoughts clouded his or her thinking.  I know I allowed such thinking to sidetrack me once or twice during my twenty year pastorate, and every time I did my ministry and that of the church suffered.  Feeding us such lies is a great way for the enemy to encourage us to have a pity party for ourselves and stop any momentum that may exist in our ministries.  As Zig Ziglar says, the problem with pity parties is hardly no one comes, and those who do never bring good gifts.

How do we counteract such negative thinking?  The first thing is to relive the call of God on our lives.  Anytime I struggled with negative thinking about my ministry the way I overcame it was to remind myself of the ministry to which God had called me.  I reminded myself of how our pastor talked to me one day and challenged me to prayerfully consider whether God might be calling me to pastor a church.  I would remember how God opened up a small, struggling church in our county that needed a bivocational pastor at the time I was ready to serve one.  I would think about the many doors He opened that permitted me to be called to serve that church.  I'm convinced that reminding ourselves of God's call on our lives is essential when we begin to question our ministries, and this is true for both bivocational and fully-funded pastors.

The second thing that we need to do is take a long-term view of our ministries.  Some writers describe this as going up on the balcony so you can see the overall impact of your ministry.  Few bivocational ministers are going to see 100 people come to Christ in one weekend because of a major event in their churches.  More common is we might see two or three a year.  Most of us won't see a hundred couples come to a marriage enrichment conference in our churches led by a nationally known speaker.  We're more apt to spend three months helping Joe and Sue find solutions to a problem in their family.  Sometimes these small miracles get lost in the course of a year's worth of ministry, and it becomes easy to forget the differences our ministries have made in people's lives.  That's why we need to back up once in a while and look at the overall impact of our ministry.

A final thing I would mention in this post is that we need to fill ourselves with positive affirmations about what we do and who we are.  When self-doubt comes creeping in or when others begin to question our value to the Kingdom of God, we need to counteract that with the many verses in the Bible that affirm our value before God.  We need to be reading other books that reinforce a positive image of ourselves.  We need to surround ourselves with people who affirm our ministries and our own personal self-worth.  I try to keep the negative thinkers at arm's length and people who encourage me much closer.  Now, I sometimes need to hear the negative thinkers, but I don't need to hear them all the time. 

As we overcome the lies that would limit our ministries and challenge our self-worth we will find that our ministries will become much more productive, our relationships with family and others will become better, and we will approach everything we do with confidence.