The permission giving church

For too long there has been a disconnect in many churches regarding ministry. It has long been thought that the ordained minister in the church is the minister. Every ministry was done by the trained professional while the congregation watched, took notes and made sure the minister knew when he or she had failed. However, that is not the biblical understanding of ministry. Ephesians 4 makes it clear that the congregation is called to do ministry, and the ministerial staff's role is to equip them to do ministry. For this to occur, the congregation must be given permission to do ministry.

Here is how this would work in the ideal church. A member of the church would feel that a specific ministry was needed. Perhaps it would be a ministry to unwed mothers, or single mothers or to those caught up in addictions. In a permission giving church, this member would discuss this with the pastor or staff who would then help that member begin such a ministry. Maybe this specific ministry has never been done in the church before, but that doesn't matter. If the person presenting the ministry has the spiritual gifts and the passion for the ministry, then he or she must be given permission to begin that ministry. The pastor's role then, according to Eph. 4, is to equip and resource this individual.

Think of the impact this mindset could have on the church. New ministries could begin in the church that are lay-led by people who feel a passion for the ministry. How might this impact the growth of the church? More importantly, how might this impact the growth of the Kingdom of God?

One of our responsibilities as pastors is to help people identify their spiritual giftedness. Many believers cannot tell you how God has gifted them for ministry. There are many resources that can be used to help them identify their gifts. Once those gifts have been identified, the next question has to do with their passions. What would they like to do in ministry? What gets them excited? When the giftedness and passion match needs in the community, they can be encouraged to begin their ministries.

Some pastors will feel threatened by this. Having been trained in seminary that they are the minister, some pastors will not want to give up ministry to untrained lay-people. Perhaps they will make mistakes. So what? I don't know any pastor who has done everything perfectly in his or her ministry, so why not give permission to our laypeople to make mistakes as well. My guess is that they will make fewer mistakes if we are faithful in our equipping roles.

I encourage every pastor reading this post to begin challenging your people to pray about how they can best serve God. I like to remind people that their baptism was their ordination to ministry. Let's quit simply asking people to serve on various committees in the church and begin asking them to consider how God has gifted them for ministry and what they feel passionate about. Let's encourage them to work in those areas of giftedness and passion. 

Realistic expectations for pastoral ministry

2020 was a year of tremendous stress for everyone. It was certainly a challenging time for churches and their leadership. Many had to learn new technologies and new ways of doing church. Even prior to the pandemic, pastoral ministry has been considered one of the most stressful of all occupations. Much of that stress is due to the unrealistic expectations some churches have for their pastors and pastors have for themselves. If you are a pastor reading this, see if you have any of these expectations for yourself, and if you are a layperson in a church, ask yourself if your church have these expectations for the pastor.

While serving as a denominational minister I was at a dinner sitting next to the chair of a pastor search committee. She said, with what I felt was some pride in her voice, that they had been looking for a new pastor for three years without finding the right person. I responded that they needed to quit looking for someone who walks on water. Pastors are people just like anyone else. We have certain gifts and skills that God has given us, and when we work in those areas we are reasonably effective. Many of the tasks often assigned to pastors are outside of that gift-set. Although we try to fulfill those tasks we face criticism when we do not perform them well. Not only do we encounter push-back from some in the congregation for that, we can begin to feel like failures ourselves. No one can do everything well. I tell pastors to work as much as possible in the areas of your strengths and try to manage your weaknesses. Often, that management will consist of trying to delegate those tasks to others who are more gifted in those areas that the pastor is. As a side-note, the pastor they did call only stayed there 18 months. He could not live up to the expectations of the congregation.

A common complaint heard from pastor's spouses is that they feel they live in a glass fishbowl. They feel everyone is watching them and expecting them to be the perfect family. A pastor friend of mine was fired when the church learned his unmarried daughter became pregnant. The church leadership informed him of his termination while he was in the hospital recovering from an illness. Pastor's families are no different than other families. We have good times and we go through rough patches just like everyone else. Just like other families in the church, we can even have arguments on the way to the worship service. Unfortunately, our humanity does not change the expectations some in the church have that the pastor's family should be the model family for everyone else to follow. I know of one church that became upset when the pastor's young son acted up during a children's choir rehearsal. It was the topic of conversation for weeks in the church. I've said more than once that the reason pastor's kids misbehave is because they play with the deacon's kids! Most pastor's families have enough stress without having to live up to the unrealistic expectations of others.

Because of the pandemic many churches are facing financial challenges that have resulted in some pastors either having to leave the ministry to provide for their families or pursuing a bivocational role in the church. Even before the pandemic, most pastors were earning less than other professionals with similar education. I can remember when our local theater let pastors and their families attend movies free and other stores gave pastors a discount on their purchases. Those days are mostly gone. Pastors pay the same for the goods and services they buy but often with less money. For too long, some churches have subsidized their own lack of stewardship with the low salaries they paid their pastors. This needs to stop. It is unfair to the pastors and their families to expect them to live with an inadequate income that does not reflect their education and the work they do. 

All the blame for these unrealistic expectations do not fall on the church. Sometimes pastors are our own worst enemies. As Dr. Phil often says, we teach people how to treat us. Not wanting to rock the boat, or in an effort to be a people-pleaser we often do not advocate for fair treatment. We accept the criticism for things we do not do well and strive harder to them better in the future. We let people hold our families to a higher expectation than they have for other families. We let churches dictate our salaries and benefits without informing them of what we and our families need. As mature Christians we should be able to have conversations about these things.

As we begin a new year, take time to look at the expectations you have of your pastor, and pastors take a look at your own expectations. Let's develop healthier expectations and enjoy a more rewarding ministry.

Define yourself in the face of criticism

Anyone in pastoral ministry for very long will face critics. Some of that criticism may be valid. A pastor once asked me at a conference I was leading why pastors get stabbed in the back so often, and I replied that I wasn't sure we got stabbed in the back as often as we shot ourselves in the foot. Sometimes we in the ministry can do some really dumb things for which we should be criticized.

There will also be those criticisms that are not valid but instead reflect the preferences or expectations of the person making the criticism. What do we do then?

The first thing we should do is to listen carefully to determine if the criticism is valid. It might be pointing out some blind spots in our lives and/or ministries about which we've not noticed. In such cases, the criticism can be very helpful to our personal and ministerial growth. 

Perhaps one of the most important things we can do is to make sure we define ourselves in the face of criticism. If we do not define ourselves others will define us. I know who I am and what I believe God has called me to do, and I will not allow others to determine that for me. If I am criticized for something outside that sphere I will explain that what the person is wanting is not something I'm going to provide. Like Popeye used to say, "I yam what I am."

Too many pastors allow others to shape them into the molds of their expectations and wants. I believe that is one of the reasons we see so many pastors leaving the ministry. They are tired of trying to be something they are not. One can only play a role he or she is not gifted to play for so long. God called us into the ministry because of what we would bring to that role, not so we could become a clone of someone else.

When I left the church I had pastored for 20 years I told the congregation not to look for another pastor who preached like I did, who visited like I did and who ministered like I did. If God had wanted another me there He would have left me there. So many churches have a favorite pastor of the past, and they want to shape their new pastor into the image of that person. It never works, and when it doesn't work it will lead to criticism. "Why don't you do such-and-such like Rev. _____ did when he was here?" Because I am not Rev. _____.

Criticism can help the minister grow, but it can also help the critic grow when you take the time to define who you are and what you bring to the table as the minister. When the critic learns that he or she cannot define you it can be a breakthrough for the whole church.

In an earlier post I encouraged the reader to "Know thyself." You first have to know who you are and what you are called to do, and then you can begin to help others know the same things about you. This can lead to a much healthier ministry for you and the church.

Effective or just busy?

As I pastor I enjoyed using this time of the year to look back at the previous months. As I looked back I could tell if our church had been effective or if we had just been busy. There is a difference. Lots of churches have full calendars with plenty of activities to keep everyone busy. However, when they look at the results of all that activity they may find that nothing has really changed. The church hasn't grown. Few people came to faith in Christ. Church members continue to struggle with the same issues they've had since they became Christians. In fact, for some churches they only things that has changed is their ruts became even deeper.

We often equate busyness with effectiveness, but the two have little in common. Some of the busiest people I know accomplish little while others accomplish a great deal with what seems like minimal effort. The difference is the ones who are effective are focused on doing the things they need to be doing rather than allowing their calendars to fill up with busy work.

When I began the ministry I wanted to please everyone and do whatever I was asked. That is a dangerous approach to take as a bivocational minister. It took me awhile, but eventually I learned that I could not continue doing that. One of the four Spiritual Laws is that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. I learned that some have changed that to say God loves you and everybody has a wonderful plan for your life. I found out that if I tried to do everything people asked me to do I would not have time to do the things I needed to do. One of the greatest days in my life was when I learned it was OK to say no.

How does one know when to say yes and when to say no? It begins with a God-given vision. What is God's vision for your ministry or that of your church? Once you know that you can say yes to those things that will help bring that vision to fruition and no to those things that will detract from it.

It also helps to know your areas of giftedness. I want to work as much as possible in the areas where God has gifted me because that is where I am going to be most effective. I need to manage around the areas of ministry in which I am not gifted, and this often entails delegating those tasks to others. For example, nobody would want me to lead the music in a worship service! It is best to have someone with some musical talent take on that role, and that would not describe me!

We hear a lot about minister burnout. I am convinced much of that is self-inflicted. We try to do too much that we have no business doing because we don't want to say no to people. Some think having a full calendar is a sign of spirituality. It's probably more a sign of being dependent upon the approval of others. Spend time discerning God's vision for your ministry and learning the areas of ministry in which you are gifted and focus as much of your ministry in those areas as possible. You'll find at the end of 2019 your ministry was much more effective, and you'll probably feel less stressed as well.

What should a layperson do?

Almost every church has a job description for the pastor, but few have one for its lay people. Maybe this is why many lay people really don't know what their job is. A few years ago I read an excellent book by Randy Pope titled The Intentional Church: Moving From Church Success to Community Transformation. I'm in the process of reading it again and am finding it as helpful as it was the first time I read it.

Pope suggests that a biblically-based job description for lay people should include

1. To discover and develop their spiritual gifts. Although there are many tools available to help a Christian understand his or her spiritual gifts, many Christians have no idea what their gift(s) might be.
2. To view themselves as the primary ministers of the church. I often say that the church must move from a pastoral care model to a congregational care model.
3. To spend the time needed to be equipped adequately to use their spiritual gifts. The pastor's job is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry (Eph. 4). The layperson's job is to be equipped, and that takes time.
4. To commit the time necessary to use their gifts in ministry. There is little value in knowing one's spiritual gifts and be equipped to properly use them if one doesn't take the time to do so. (Page 132)

This a far more challenging job description than it might first appear. For one thing, it does demand time from a lay person, and time is a precious commodity in our day. It takes time to identify our gifts, it takes more time to be equipped to use those gifts, and it requires even more time to actually use those gifts in ministry.

This job description also flies in the face of how many Christians view the roles of pastor and lay person. Many believers have adopted an entitlement mindset. They expect the pastor to serve their needs, to entertain them, and to provide a worship experience that will meet their preferences. As one lady told a pastor friend of mine one Sunday, "That's what we pay you for." (He resigned a few weeks later.)

But, think of what would happen if your church members began to view themselves as gifted ministers. Instead of having one minister your church would have numerous ministers involved in many different ministries throughout the community. This will allow your church to have a much greater impact on the community which will also make it more likely that your church will grow.

An added benefit is how this job description impacts the lay people in a church. We all want to feel that our lives make a difference in the lives of others, and living into this job description makes it far more likely that we will have a positive impact on other people.

Finally, this job description gives permission to lay people to do ministry. Some seldom do much ministry because no one has asked them to. Lay people do not need the pastor or others in church leadership to ask them to become engaged in ministry. God has already called every lay person to do ministry. We are all ordained at our baptism to fulfill the ministries that He has gifted us to do. No one has to wait on another person to ask them to do something. Find a need and meet it.

Your church likely does not have a written job description for its lay people. That's fine. Create your own job description using this as a model. If enough people in your church does this you will be amazed at the difference it will make in the church and in those your church is serving.

A missionary mindset

In yesterday's post I addressed the entitlement mindset that runs rampant in today's society. We also looked at how that same mindset impacts our churches in a negative way and prevents us from fulfilling our mission in the world. Today, I want to look at the mindset that should be seen in our churches.

We spend a lot of time focusing on church membership. Churches are concerned that people are not willing to join their churches as members. This is really the wrong thing to worry about.

Church membership is all about rights and privileges. If I am a member of the country club I can go there and play golf or use their pool or tennis courts. I can attend dinners and parties there because I am a member, and with membership comes privileges.

As a church member I am entitled to certain privileges. I may get free weddings for my children or a free funeral when I die. I can pick out the styles of music we'll have in our services and when those services will begin. I get to vote on things that happen in the church because I'm a member, and with membership comes privileges.

Is it not time to stop seeing ourselves a merely church members and begin to see ourselves as missionaries? Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit has given gifts to every believer to be used in ministry, but many church members are not involved in any ministry that uses their gifts.

No matter how gifted your pastor is, he or she can only be in one place at one time doing one thing. What if your church had 50 people who saw themselves as ministers? Now, you would have 50 people in 50 places doing 50 things. Would you rather grow your church by addition (1+1) or by multiplication (50X1)? I am full agreement with the individual who said that our baptism was our ordination into ministry. It's time that every Christian develop a missionary mindset and abandon the entitlement mindset.

Along with that, we need to stop seeing our churches as merely churches and begin seeing them as mission stations that have been placed in the midst of a rapidly emerging pagan culture. Our society is rapidly growing worse as it abandons the biblical foundations upon which it was founded. The church has been called to be salt and light in the midst of darkness, and we now live in a very dark time that is only going to get darker. If we are going to ever have an impact on the 21st century we are going to have to become missional in our thinking, and that is going to be a much different mindset that many of our churches now have.

I believe God is now raising up an body of believers and churches that will have this missionary mindset. Those who want to continue in their entitlement thinking will fade away into insignificance until finally "Ichabod" is written above their door. Each of us can choose which mindset we will have.

Work mostly in the areas of your giftedness and talents

Last year I read Rabbi Daniel Lapin's book Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money. It was a very well written book on personal finance from a Jewish perspective. Rabbi Lapin pulled from the Old Testament, the Torah, and other Jewish writings to make the case for personal responsibility, avoiding debt, wise investing, and making wise decisions that lead to financial security.

I enjoyed that book so much I am currently reading Business Secrets from the Bible: Spiritual Success Strategies for Financial Abundance also written by Rabbi Lapin. Don't let the titles fool you. These are not "get rich quick" books that might be touted by prosperity preachers. Both books address taking responsibility for your life, living lives of moderation, developing relationships with other people, and other aspects of a successful and rewarding life written from the perspective of Jewish wisdom.

Some of what he writes would be criticized in our PC-dominated world if they didn't come from a Jewish rabbi. For instance, in the introduction to the second book he mentions the power of specialization and exchange.  He writes, "This is why you will almost never find Jews tinkering with their cars in their driveways on weekend afternoons. In the Jewish neighborhoods of most cities, you'll almost never find Jews mowing their laws. Why? Because we understand the power of specialization." He goes on to say that if he pays a mechanic to maintain his car and someone else to mow his lawn he can focus more time and energy on doing the work he does best. The mechanic wins, the lawn mowing service wins, he wins, and those he serves wins.

This sounds to me like the Pareto Principle in practice. This principle teaches that we achieve 80 percent of our results from 20 percent of our work. If we have more time to focus on those areas that produce the greatest results, we can be even more productive and effective. If we spend too much time on the 80 percent of what we do that only produces 20 percent results we seriously dampen our effectiveness and those we serve are harmed by our reduced productivity.

As I write this, my car is in the shop getting the oil changed and having an issue repaired. My mechanics can do in one hour what it would take me a half-day (or longer) to do. In that half-day I can accomplish a lot of work that I am more gifted to do. My mechanic will receive payment for his work, I will get some work done that I need to do, and the people I serve today will (hopefully) benefit from the time I'll be able to give them.

Bivocational and fully-funded pastors both often complain about the lack of time they have to accomplish everything that is expected of them. One of the reasons for that lack of time is that we often refuse to delegate some tasks to others. There are lay people in our churches who could do some of the things we do better than we can, but we never give them the opportunity.

Each of us are given certain gifts by God for the purpose of ministry. None of us have all the gifts which means we are not going to be good at everything. While we may be responsible for certain things to be done, that does not mean that we have to do them. We should assign responsibility for some tasks to others who are more gifted in those areas than we are. We are responsible to see that those things are done, but we can allow others to do them while we focus on those areas of ministry in which we are more gifted.

This will allow them to serve in the areas where they are gifted, and it will allow us additional time to work in the areas of our own giftedness. Everyone wins in such a scenario.

As I finished writing this article, my mechanic called to say my car is ready to be picked up. Win-win!

Transitioning into bivocational ministry

This week I received a question from a reader of this blog who senses that he will soon transition into bivocational ministry after spending years as a fully-funded pastor.  One of his primary concerns is what he will do to supplement his ministerial salary.  It is a question I receive with increasing regularity.

The concern goes something like this.  An individual graduated from college and seminary and went directly into pastoral ministry.  Other than summer jobs he or she has never really done anything except ministry.  Now it appears that he or she will need to become bivocational or find another church to serve.  The minister really doesn't want to change churches, but at the same time isn't certain what kind of skills he or she has that will be marketable outside the church.  

When this issue is raised there are some questions I like to ask as I coach them through this transitional challenge.

• What kinds of jobs have you had outside of ministry?  Maybe these were summer jobs, but they gave you work experience in the secular world.  Did you find these jobs enjoyable, and is this something you can do again as a bivocational minister?
• Did you always know you were called into the ministry or did your sense of purpose change as you were going through college?  One pastor replied to this question that he actually planned on going into teaching after college, but before graduating realized that God was calling him into pastoral ministry.  As we discussed this he became excited that he could fulfill his earlier desire to teach while serving as a bivocational minister.
• What was your major in college?  This is a close cousin to the previous question in that it reveals a previous interest in a potential career.  It also shows the minister that he or she has some education in a career other than ministry.  It opens up possible options for them.
• What pastoral gifts do you have that might be transferable into other careers?  A pastor who is naturally gifted in counseling may consider pursuing a career in counseling alongside his or her pastoral ministry.  One who is gifted in the area of administration might find work as a leader in an organization.  I know one bivocational pastor who was asked to head up a local organization that works with families and youth.  It is a perfect match for his gifts and passion.  You may have to take some courses before being certified in some field, but this could be a great investment in yourself as you transition into bivocational ministry.

As you begin to answer these questions it will quickly become apparent that you have many marketable skills that are needed in the secular workplace.  It then becomes a matter of seeking out the right position that will be a good match for those gifts and that will be a good match for your ministry.

Transitioning from being fully-funded to becoming a bivocational minister is often difficult, but it's not impossible.  Spend some time with a good coach, work through these questions, pray, discuss things with your spouse and church leadership, and then begin looking for the right opportunities.  If God is calling you to make this transition you can trust him to open doors that will make it possible.

Your church will accomplish more by doing less

A common complaint in many smaller churches is the lack of commitment people have, but in reality I find that most such churches are actually over-committed.  They are structured for a time when they were probably a much larger congregation and have far more committees and boards than they need.  These churches often find it difficult to fill all their teaching and leadership slots and can only do so by having people volunteer for four or five positions.  If you want, you can argue that if more people would accept these positions then the few who are willing to work wouldn't have to have so many responsibilities.  However, the reality is that the Pareto Principle is alive and well in the church.  Twenty percent of the people are going to do eighty percent of the work.  Stop fighting that, accept it as reality, and adjust your workload accordingly.

When I meet with churches having this problem I assure them that if half of their committees and boards never met again, no one would be able to tell the difference.  Yes, some of these are needed in the church, but ask yourself how much real value do most of these add to your church.  How has your church been significantly impacted by the work of most of your committees?  The only reason some of them are still in existence is because they were created years (decades) ago to meet a real need, and no one has had the courage to suggest they are no longer needed.

Along the same line, many small churches try to offer too many programs and ministries for the resources they have available.  They do this thinking they must compete with the larger church in town.  That is like a Mom and Pop store thinking they have to compete with Wal-Mart on price.  It's not going to happen!  Mom and Pop, if they are to stay in business, have to find something that sets them apart from Wal-Mart and compete in that niche.  Small churches are the same way.  You cannot offer the same ministries the largest churches in your community offer because you do not have the manpower and finances to do so.  Attempting this will result in doing many things mediocre, and you cannot build a ministry around mediocre.

A much better ministry strategy is to identify the giftedness of your people, find out what they are passionate about, and then prayerfully begin to discern how God would have you use that to meet ministry needs in your community.  Believe me, there are many such needs going unmet where you live.  I am convinced that many smaller churches are uniquely positioned to meet those needs, and it is there where those churches are going to thrive.

However, you won't be able to do this if you insist on continuing to ask your twenty percenters to do more and more maintenance-type work.  They only have so much time to invest in church work so you want to use that time wisely.  Eliminate the tasks that add little if any value to the church and free people up to do ministry that will make a difference.  Then begin the task of discerning how to have the greatest impact on your community for the Kingdom of God.

What should smaller churches look for in a new pastor?

For the past 14 years I have served as a Resource Minister with the American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky.  One primary responsibility I have is to assist our churches when they seek new pastors.  Over the years I have worked with dozens of churches during their search, many of them smaller churches. A question I always ask these committees is what they are seeking in their new pastor.  After they give me their answers I then ask them what the vision of their church is.  Despite having worked with many churches, not one has ever been able to tell me the vision that drives the ministry of their church.  I explain that until they have a sense of where God is leading their church it will be difficult for them to call the right pastor.

I know many smaller churches believe that they need a pastor who can grow their church or one who can attract young people to their church, but that is not always the case.  What is God's vision for your church?  It may not be to have a great youth group or even to grow numerically into a large church.  God's vision may be for your church to offer a specific ministry to your community that no other church offers, but that ministry may not lead to great numbers of people attending your church.

One small church is located in a small community that enjoyed a country music hall that attracted some of the top names in country music.  A church was started in the community with a specific ministry to the people who visited the community each weekend to hear the entertainers who came to that hall to perform.  Services were held at a time that permitted visitors to the community to attend church and have time to return to their hotel room before check-out time.  The music in the worship services reflected the same style of music the people had heard the night before.  Over the years thousands of visitors from all over the world attended that little church and signed their visitor book.  Some of them found Christ while visiting that small church and returned to their homes changed people with a message that could change the lives of others.  This church may never grow to be a big church, but that doesn't appear to be God's vision for the church.  His vision is for this little church to have a world-wide ministry by reaching out to a specific group of people.

This church needs a pastor who can buy into this vision and minister within it.  They probably don't need a pastor who can reach youth because that is not the audience they are serving.  They don't need a pastor who feels called to pastor a megachurch because this church will never be a megachurch.  They minister in a small community primarily to people who are visiting their community for a short period of time for a specific purpose.  They don't need a pastor with great gifts in administration as there is not a lot of administration needed in the church.  They need a pastor who can relate to country music fans, who can share the Gospel with unchurched people from various cultures, and who has an appreciation for small communities.  Now, if God's vision for the church changes then what they will need in a pastor will change as well.

If your church is looking for a pastor you need to begin by understanding God's vision for your church and then looking for a pastor who have the gifts and a passion for that vision.  If you are a pastor looking for a church you should begin by seeing if your gifts and ministry passions match what the church has identified as God's vision for their future.

Focus your ministry efforts for greater effectiveness

One of the things I've been telling those who attend my workshops and conferences is that the smaller church will often accomplish more by doing less.  Sometimes a smaller church feels it must compete with the larger churches in the community to attract people.  This is always a mistake because the smaller church simply does not have the resources to offer the same ministries as a larger church.  Such a shotgun approach to ministry also misses another fact: God has a unique vision for your church.  Our churches are not called to duplicate the ministries of other churches but to discern the vision God has for each church and begin to fulfill that vision.

Several years ago a leader of a smaller church called saying their church was going to launch a youth ministry and wanted my advice on how best to do that.  My advice was to not do it.  The reason was that in that community there were several much larger churches with youth ministries that attracted hundreds of young people every week.  As I said to the caller, "Your church has three kids.  How will you compete with what the other churches are doing?"  He understood and clarified my comments by asking, "So you are saying we should look for another ministry to offer the community?"  Yes.

There is certainly nothing wrong with a church having a youth ministry, but in many cases the reason smaller churches want a youth ministry is they see it as the way to preserve the future of their church.  Trying to start a youth ministry is a problem if the church has no youth for a base group and no one in the church is gifted and passionate about doing youth ministry.  It is much better to build a ministry in your church by identifying and using the gifts of your members, helping them find what ministries they are passionate about doing, and seeing if that will meet a need in the community.

This takes us back to the vision discernment comment.  God will not give your church a vision for ministry if there is no one in your church with the spiritual gifts to make that happen; he will not give your church a vision for ministry if no one in the church is passionate about doing that ministry; and he will not give your church a vision for ministry if it does not meet needs in your community.  Where these three things come together is where you will find your God-given vision.

In most churches there is usually a lot of activity, but at the end of the year what advancements have actually been made?  I think back to my own pastoral ministry.  There were some years we could look back over the preceding months and see positive things that had been accomplished.  Other years we were just as busy but had no real results at the end of the year.  We had done a lot in those years but accomplished very little of lasting value to the Kingdom of God.  Just staying busy is no guarantee of a successful ministry.  We need to focus on the things that will really make a difference in people's lives and on fulfilling what we believe to be God's vision for our church.

I often say to church leaders that if their churches stopped doing 80 percent of what they are now doing, no one would ever know the difference.  That percentage may vary between churches, but the fact is that much of what we do really matters very little.  Let's begin to focus our resources and efforts on the things that really will make a difference to the people in our communities, and in December, when we look back over the year, I think you'll see a big difference in what you accomplished.

Maybe it's time to eliminate sign-up sheets in church

I was recently visiting a church when the pastor held up a sign-up sheet for some activity the church was having a few weeks later.  He made the comment that if enough people didn't sign up for whatever they needed the church office would have to call folks.  I had the sense that people did not respond to the sign-up sheets very well in this church.

When I pastored in the 80s and 90s we used sign-up sheets a lot to recruit volunteers for the various activities in our church.  Most of the time our folks were willing to volunteer, but towards the end of my pastorate I found that fewer and fewer people would sign up on the sign-up sheet.  They needed to be asked directly to help with the activity.  I think this is even more true today which is why I believe we need to eliminate the sign-up sheets for most activities.

Yesterday, I read an article that promoted the idea that the church needs to cut back on their volunteers and become more intentional about developing leaders.  There was a lot in that article that resonated with me.  Especially in our smaller churches we are always looking for volunteers to do the various tasks in our churches, and those volunteers are getting harder to come by.  Whether it is due to time constraints, a lack of interest in the particular activity, a lack of commitment to church activities, or some other reason, people are less willing to step forward to volunteer today.  They hope someone else will volunteer for the task, and they won't need to.  This can get very frustrating to the few who are willing to volunteer as it seems they are expected to do all the work in the church.

How much better would it be if our churches became more intentional about developing leaders in their churches rather than depending on volunteers?  This about this scenario for a minute.  A small church needs a director for their Vacation Bible School.  About three weeks before the scheduled VBS someone finally volunteers to be the director.  In a short period of time he or she must become familiar with the material, coordinate and train the other workers, make sure the needed supplies are available, plan the promotion, and handle all the other administrative tasks that needs to happen for this to be successful.  Is it any wonder this person is not interested in being the director the following year?

Instead of asking for someone to volunteer to be the VBS director, what might happen if the church leadership sought a person who had the spiritual gifts for the position, had a passion for VBS, and believed in the possibilities that VBS offers?  Such a person could be intentionally approached months ahead of time and asked to serve in that position and then provided the training he or she would need to be prepared.  This would provide them with plenty of time to obtain the material and study it.  They would then be responsible to recruit and train the various workers and teachers they would need for VBS.  Which scenario is likely to result in a better Vacation Bible School experience?

Apply this same thinking to the other ministries your church offers, and I believe in almost every case to intentionally recruit and train leaders to lead these ministries will be far superior to putting a sign-up sheet on the back bulletin board hoping to get enough volunteers.  Not only will this result in better ministries, it will also raise the level of leadership in the church which will have far- reaching benefits for the church for decades to come.

Chances are your small church would have to make changes in its by-laws before this can happen.  Many of these volunteer positions are likely to be assigned to a nominating committee to recruit, but in my opinion, nominating committees are much like sign-up sheets.  Both served a purpose at one time in church history, but that time has passed.  Let's stop depending on volunteers and become more intentional about recruiting and training leaders in our churches.  The benefits of doing so are likely to be impressive.

There is more to being a pastor than preaching.

Before you read this article you need to read this excellent post by Joe McKeever.

As a judicatory leader I have grown weary of the churches who decide to call someone to be their pastor because the person "preaches a good sermon."  Often, they know nothing else about the candidate...not their theology, not their spiritual gifts and passions, not their moral values, not their educational background, not their character, not their previous ministerial experience, not their view of ministry, and not their leadership capability.  Despite not knowing anything at all about the individual they are willing to put the future of their church in that person's hands because they have preached two or three good sermons.  The end results are often not pretty.

Elsewhere I have written about the important role of the pulpit in a bivocational church.  It's also true for fully-funded churches, but in the bivocational church that Sunday morning message will reach more people connected with your church than anything else the pastor does.  That is the primary opportunity the bivocational pastor will have to shape the theological beliefs of the congregation, promote the vision and ministry of the church, and minister to the physical and spiritual well-being of those in attendance.  However, as important as it is that the bivocational minister be a good communicator from the pulpit, there is more to pastoring the church than preaching.

As McKeever points out, many churches have been stuck for years (decades).  Is this a failure of the preaching ability of pastor after pastor, or has something else happened in these churches?  My belief is that it is something else, specifically a lack of leadership on the part of the pastor and congregation.  Everything rises and falls on leadership.  I would much rather have an average preacher who has great leadership gifts than to have someone who has a dynamic pulpit ministry but couldn't lead a two-car funeral procession.  And I've known both.

I love to attend high energy worship services and hear a message that is biblically sound and practical.  Who wouldn't?  But, I've spent time with a few churches that were filled with happy, clappy, slappy people who raved about the wonderful messages that come from their pastor who haven't impacted their communities for the Kingdom of God in years.  Something is wrong.  Something is missing, and it's leadership.

Pastor search committees need to learn that almost anyone who has been in ministry even for a short time has a handful of great sermons he or she can use as a trial sermon.  Yes, the messages need to be evaluated for proper doctrine, etc., but these committees need to learn to look beyond the sermon to the total package the individual brings to the position.  Everything in the first paragraph, including his or her leadership abilities, must be evaluated before considering calling that person to become the next pastor of the church.  This takes time, a lot of hard work, and a lot of prayerful consideration, but this is time well-spent.

My heart is heavy for those pastors who are struggling

It seems like a lot of my time recently has been spent with pastors who are hurting, confused, and about ready to give up.    In recent weeks I've talked with pastors who have resigned their churches due to the pressures they were feeling and a pastor who admitted he was near burnout and wanted to talk about how to ask his church for a sabbatical.  The good news in his case is the church did grant him the time away he needed.  I've talked with other pastors who are frustrated with the ministry in general.  Some have said they would leave ministry completely if they had training in any other field.  Some of the saddest pastors are those who have given up and are just going through the motions hoping to endure to retirement.

Church consultant and coach Eddie Hammett has written a number of recent articles on this problem because he is seeing more of it in his work.  I read another article last week saying that there is an increase in clergy depression that is quite troubling to denominational leaders.  The problem for all of us is that no one seems to know a solution to the problem.

I can identify some of the causes, but I struggle knowing how to resolve them.  Some of the causes I've seen are

• People have not been adequately prepared by their seminary training for ministry in the real world.  As I've written before, too many are trained to be research theologians, not pastors, so when they arrive at their first church they are not prepared for what will be expected of them.
• Churches and clergy may not be a good fit.  I've seen many good churches and good pastors find out they were not good for one another.  When the expectations of the church and pastor are at variance with one another, and the pastor does not have the gift mix to meet the expectations of the church, problems are sure to occur.
• Too many ministers and churches have not learned how to properly deal with conflict.  When conflict is on-going it takes a toll on everyone.  Clergy and churches need to learn how to address conflict and be willing to bring in outside assistance early in the conflict.
• Many clergy have unrealistic expectations of what ministry will be.  Ministry is often messy work that doesn't normally occur within the safe surroundings of the pastor's study.  There can be a lot of drama in ministry, and healthy ministers need to quickly learn how to deal with that drama or it will begin to eat at them.
• Many churches have unrealistic expectations of their pastor.  One pastor asked his board to list what they believed his primary tasks in the church were and how much time he should spend on each task.  When their lists were compiled the hours that were listed totaled over 100 hours and did not include family time, meals, sleep, or any other personal activity.  He used that to point out to them the need for the church to begin to develop more realistic expectations of his role in the church.
• Clergy often underestimate how difficult introducing change into a church will be.  Most all church systems prefer the status quo and will resist change.  My experience has been that it takes much longer to bring about change in a church than I would have originally thought when I began the process.  Systems tend to always try to revert back to what was familiar, and that struggle can be very tiring on the minister.
• Some churches are dysfunctional.  They are led by controlling lay leaders who are simply mean-spirited.  One thing denominational leaders can do in such cases is to refuse to assist them in pastor searches until they are willing to become healthier.
• Some pastors are dysfunctional.  I've known a few pastors who were also controllers who felt it was their call to beat the sheep, not feed them.  However, not all dysfunctional ministers are abusive.  Some are manipulative, and they abuse their congregations through manipulative means to get what they want.  Again, denominational leaders have a means to address this.  We should feel no obligation to assist such people as they search for a new ministry position.
• Some pastors should have never gone into the ministry.  They lack the giftedness and the calling to serve as ministers.  The reason such pastors struggle so much is that they are out of their element.  The individuals should be helped to recognize this and encouraged to find other employment outside of ministry.  Such persons may find that they will be excellent lay leaders in a church, but they are not the right person to pastor a church.

There are many more reasons that could be listed, but these are enough to illustrate that the solution to this problem is not a simple one.  I do think the problem is serious enough that denominations and seminaries need to become quite intentional about addressing it.  I also believe that we need to spend much time in prayer for these hurting ministers.  I have done that today.  We also need to let them know that it is OK to talk to others about their pain and their questions.  Every pastor needs a coach or counselor with whom he or she can openly and honestly share their fears, their frustrations, and their doubts.

Working in your strength zone

Throughout my ministry I have taken a number of spiritual gift assessments.  My primary spiritual gifts have been the same on each of these assessments: preaching, teaching, and leadership.  I have to say that I agree with the assessments, not only because these gifts show up consistently on each assessment I've done but because I am the most comfortable and effective when I am engaged in these activities.  No matter how I may feel physically once I step on a stage I am energized and ready to deliver my message.  While some people find it frightening to think about speaking to a group of people, it is one of the most exciting things I do.

On the other hand, I need to fill out some reports to send into our region office.  None of them would take more than ten minutes to complete, but the very thought of doing them bores me to tears.  (The truth is I should probably be doing them now instead of writing this post, but I enjoy doing this because it goes out to leaders who hopefully will find it helpful.)  There are few things I dislike more than doing administrative work, and I am very glad I have an administrative assistant who does much of it, but there are still some administrative things that only I can do.  I'm just thankful I don't have to do too much of that kind of work.

The Pareto Principle teaches us that 80 percent of our effectiveness will be found in 20 percent of what we do.  When we are able to identify that 20 percent of our activity that provides the greatest return on our efforts and spend more time doing those things we will find that we can increase our effectiveness.  I believe most of that 20 percent will be found in the areas in which God has gifted us.  I want to spend as much time as possible working in the areas of preaching, teaching, and leadership because I am convinced that I can make my greatest impact in those three areas.  If I had to spend enormous amounts of time doing administration or working in some other area in which I am not especially gifted my work would quickly become drudgery and mostly ineffective.  So how do we handle that 80 percent of our work that isn't especially productive for us? 

There are two things we can do.  One, there are some things we just have to do because they are a part of our jobs.  I call them pay-the-rent activities.  They may not be the most productive things you could be doing, but they are necessary to your job so you do them.  I usually try to group such activities as close together and do them all at once.  I'll set aside an hour or so and fill out the forms, send them into the office, and then get back to doing something I believe is a better use of my time.

The second thing we can do is to manage around those areas in which we are weaker.  We delegate those activities to others who are more gifted in those areas than we are.  We don't do that because we want to get out of doing them but because there are other people who will do them much better than we will.  It allows them to use the areas of giftedness God has given them and it allows us to spend more time in the areas of our own giftedness.

This is important for anyone in a leadership position to do, but it is especially important for a bivocational minister.  If you are such a minister and you are feeling overwhelmed by all the demands on your time it may be because you are spending too much time doing things other people could do better.  If you sense you are about to burnout it may be because you are working in areas in which you are not gifted too much of your time.  You need to look around and see if there are some tasks you can delegate to others.  As you begin to unburden yourself from some of the responsibilities that have been given to you there will be a sense of relief.  Doing this will enable you to have more time to focus on the work for which you are gifted and will begin to re-energize you for the work God has called you to do.

Equipping the saints to do ministry

I apologize for not posting for a few days, but we've been visiting our son and his family in Pennsylvania and just returned home yesterday evening.  We had a great time with him and our grandchildren, but all good things must end so we had to return home and to work.

One of the positives about bivocational ministry is that people in bivocational churches often understand the pastor is not always available.  These people are often willing to take on more ministry responsibilities simply because they know their pastor has another job that prevents him or her from doing ministry at certain times.  However, just because they are willing doesn't mean they will step in and do things if they haven't been trained to do them.  That was a mistake I made early in my pastorate and one I had to correct if we wanted to see more of our members involved in ministry.  I see many pastors making the same mistake.  We may fuss about the lack of ministry involvement by the people in the churches we serve, but if we have never trained them we shouldn't expect them to be involved.

Actually, regardless of whether one serves in a bivocational church or is fully-funded, the biblical model is that the pastor is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry (Eph.4).  The failure of many churches to follow that model is one reason so many churches are not living up to their ministry potential.  We have separated the roles of clergy and laity to the point that too many clergy persons do not trust the laity with ministry responsibilities, and many lay persons do not feel confident or called to do ministry.  We forget that Scripture teaches that the Spirit of God has given every believer at least one spiritual gift that is to be used for ministry and that one of the responsibilities God has given pastors is to train the people entrusted to him or her how to use those gifts.  If we could recapture that message we would soon find our churches serving in ways far beyond what we often see today.

The good news is that many churches are taking the Ephesians 4 model of ministry seriously and intentionally raising up disciples who are equipped to do ministry.  Greg Ogden, in his book Unfinished Business: Returning the Ministry to the People of God, notes that the first Reformation gave the Bible to the people, and the second Reformation will give the ministry to the people. This Reformation will not be easy for some churches because it will represent a major paradigm shift for both pastors and congregations.  It will require some pastors to learn new skills because many were never taught in seminary how to equip their church members for ministry.  It will also require a much higher level of discipleship that many people in some churches have ever known.  It will require a major restructuring of how churches are structured.  We cannot expect people to sit on a half-dozen boards and committees and also be engaged in ministry outside the church.  It will require pastors to learn how to delegate and trust others to do the ministry that they've often done themselves.  I'll stop here, but I hope you can see it will require a lot to make this change, but I cannot overemphasize how critical it is that this change happens in our churches.

I devote an entire chapter on this subject in my book The Healthy Community: Moving Your Church Beyond Tunnel Vision and encourage you to read it as well as Ogden's book mentioned above.  When the church I pastored became serious about developing our lay people for ministry it revolutionized our church.  I believe it will do the same for your congregation.

A church's vision and structure

I recently received an e-mail from a lay leader in a church outside the United States who was concerned about some changes occurring in his church.  He explained that the church was trying to seek a vision and was changing the way it's boards and committees were structured.  One of the proposed changes was the reason he was contacting me as he wanted my opinion on the change.  I responded to the question, but then said that I would also respond to a question he didn't ask.  One does not discern God's vision for a church by changing the structure of a church.

A number of churches and denominational groups are making this same mistake.  They are changing their boards and committees and other aspects of their structure thinking that these changes will enhance their ministries.  Let me say up front that most smaller churches need to make major changes in the way they are structured.  Most are highly over-structured for their size and to simplify their structure makes a lot of sense.  But, this is not done until after they have spent some time discerning a fresh vision from God for their future ministry.  Once such a vision is determined the church can then create a structure that will enable the church to achieve that vision.

Changing the structure first is like re-arranging the deck furniture on the Titanic.  Doing so creates a sense of involvement and keeps people occupied, but the ship is still sinking.  I see churches that have painted everything that can be painted, they've remodeled everything in sight, they've bought new hymnals, installed computers, video projectors, and screens.  They started calling their committees teams and formed a church council and introduced some praise music into their worship services, and once they have done everything they can think of to do they step back and realize nothing important has actually changed.  I see judicatories and denominations making the same mistake.  Does structure need to be changed?  Often, the answer is yes, but not until the organization has clearly identified a fresh vision from God for its future.  Why is this so important?  Because without a vision the people perish, and we have a lot of churches and denominational groups that are perishing despite all the structural changes they are making.

Vision discernment is messy work and can take time.  Many of us in American churches like microwave solutions to our problems.  We want the quick fix.  Give us three steps to take, an opportunity to vote on the proposal, and we're good to go.  Vision normally doesn't come easy, and it's not something a church can vote on.  Because the only vision that matters is God's vision, it can only come as God's people pray and do the work that can lead to such discernment.

A church's vision for its future must be congruent with its core values and bedrock beliefs so time must be spent identifying what those are. This can be difficult because churches have a tendency to list the ones they think they should have.  (I once led a church through a process to identify its core values, and one they identified was cliques.  Someone said that cliques must be a core value of their church since they had so many of them.  At least the person was honest!)  The vision must also be congruent with the spiritual gifts of the membership and their passions for ministry so a church must spend time identifying those as well.  Only when all these things are identified can a church begin the process of discerning God's vision.  It's easy to see how this can be time consuming, but when the work is done the church will have a clear sense of purpose and direction for ministry, and in most cases will see their ministry become much more productive.

Matching the pastor and the church

One of the frustrations I have in my work with churches is the number of times that problems occur because the church and pastor are not good matches for one another.  Although this should seldom occur, it happens all too frequently.  When a good church and a good pastor are not good matches for one another both pay a price.  The church loses ministry opportunities it could have enjoyed if it had not been spending so much time trying to make a bad match work, and the pastor usually ends up leaving the church feeling as if he or she has failed in ministry.  The reason it is so frustrating to me is that in most cases it could be avoided if both parties really understood God's vision for their ministries.

In my first meeting with pastor search committees I always ask them to tell me the vision of the church.  The best response I usually get is someone reads a vision statement from a piece of paper they had in a file.  Most of the time I get blank stares until someone finally admits they don't have one.  My next question then is, "If you don't know where God is leading you as a church how do you know what ministry gifts your new pastor will need to help you get there?"  More times than I can count someone will respond that they are waiting for a new pastor to come and lead them.  Guess what?  Quite often that pastor tries to lead them where they don't want to go, and that's when denominational leaders receive a call saying the church is having problems with its pastor.  If the church has a clear understanding of the ministry God is leading them to embrace, and they share that with the candidates the potential pastors can then compare that to their ministry strengths and determine if they will be a good fit.

That often does not happen.  Too many churches can't stand to go long without a pastor and they call the first one who seems to have a good personality and can preach a decent trial sermon.  Too many pastors are so desperate to find a place to serve they are willing to take the first one that keeps them close to family, or offers a better financial package, or fits them culturally.  The church and pastor both announce to the world that God has brought them together to do ministry, and three years later it appears that God has changed His mind because they are now trying to separate from one another as quickly as possible.  And we wonder why the church in America is in the trouble it's in.

Let me conclude this post with two quotes.  The first one comes from the Bible: Without a vision the people perish.  Approximately 5,000 churches in America close their doors every year, and it is safe to say that none of them probably had any sense of vision other than survival.  God has a plan for every church.  He has a vision for every church, and a church that identifies that vision and seeks to live it out will not just survive but thrive.  That vision will engage the congregation, bring hope to people who have lost hope, and expand the Kingdom of God in ways many churches cannot imagine.  When the gifts and passions of the people are in alignment with God's vision great things will happen.  When a pastor's ministry gifts and skills are a match for that vision he or she and the church will usually enjoy a long, fruitful ministry together.

The second quote is associated with John Maxwell: Everything rises and falls on leadership.  If the pastor is not a good match for the church it is almost a certainty that the church will wander around in the wilderness confused and unable to enter into the ministry God has for it.  If the pastor is trying to lead the church one way that is in alignment with his or her gifts, and the church has a different destination in mind, there will soon be a parting of the ways.  Ministry opportunities will be lost, some forever.  It is essential that before a church begins the process of seeking a new pastor that it goes through some type of discernment process, and much prayer, to clearly identify a vision that unifies the congregation and captures the commitment of everyone in the church, and that it seeks only those persons whose spiritual giftedness and skills sets will be a good match for that vision.