Life-Long learning

 In a survey I did in 2004 among bivocational pastors in the American Baptist Churches, USA I learned that there were a variety of educational backgrounds. Some had a college education, usually in the secular field in which they worked, a few had master's degrees and even fewer had doctorates. Many had no education beyond high school. That was my category when I began as a bivocational pastor.

Every so often in this blog I have an article about life-long learning because I believe it is essential for bivocational and fully-funded pastors as well. Even though I now have a masters degree and a doctorate, I do not necessarily believe they are required for ministry. But, even with such degrees I am convinced that every minister must be committed to life-long ministry.

Our world is constantly changing, and if a minister does not keep up with those changes he or she will soon find themselves irrelevant to the culture they are trying to reach. Exegeting Scripture is important, but so is exegeting our culture. I began my pastoral ministry in 1981, but if I was to try to repeat what I did then now my ministry would be mostly ineffective. Our world has changed, and our ministries must change as well if we hope to reach this current culture.

Please don't misunderstand. Our message does not change, but our methods must change. Some churches and denominations have decided they must become "woke" if they are going to be relevant to our culture. These churches and denominations are rapidly shrinking in size because they have abandoned the Word of God and substitutes the accepted politically correct views found in today's culture. I predict they will continue to decline until they no longer exist. God will write "Ichabod" (the glory of God has departed), and they will one day fade from existence.

Our methods of sharing the gospel must change. There was a time in my ministry when it was acceptable to go door to door inviting people to church. People today consider that an interruption. Quite honestly, so do I. I don't like people I don't know ringing my doorbell trying to sell me something I don't want. There was a time when churches held one or two revivals every year. The problem was few people after the 1960s ever got "revived." Churches still had their revival meetings because that was all they knew to do. Today, most churches understand such meetings are largely ineffective.

I could go on about the changes that have taken place since I began my ministry, but if we don't learn what doesn't work we will keep doing things that are not productive. Life-long learning is essential if we are to understand our generation.

I urge each reader to commit to being a life-long learner. Attend conferences. Read books. Find a mentor or coach who can help challenge you and answer your questions. Believe me, it will make a difference in your ministry.

Current reading list

Every once in a while people ask what I'm currently reading, so occasionally I like to post my current reading list. I don't mind doing this because I'm often curious about what other leaders are reading. A few years ago one leader I appreciate posted a rather long list of books he had read the previous year, and I made it a point to read as many of them as I could. If you find this list helpful then I'm glad to provide it. I do want you to know that if you click on the link to the book I will receive a small percentage of the book's cost. You should also know that I have no plans to quit my day job over the amount I might get!

For my devotional reading right now I am reading Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical by Timothy Keller. This book will probably be my favorite read of 2016. I am late to the game of reading Keller, and I'm trying to catch up. Everything of his that I've read has been excellent, and this is his best one IMHO.

It has been years since I read The Great Evangelical Disaster by Francis Schaeffer, but I am currently re-reading it now. Published in 1984 it is as current today as it was when it first hit the stands. Schaeffer understood better than most what the result would be if Evangelical churches began to turn away from the authority of the Scriptures as the liberal churches had already done. The chaos he predicted is what we see on the news every night. The book provides a much needed warning to those churches and denominations who still hold a high view of Scripture to not accommodate those who would challenge and attack that view.

The third book I am currently reading is The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Earlier this year I read The Hobbit and the first two books of the Lord of the Ring series by Tolkien. I'm now finishing the series and enjoying it immensely. I will have to say that I enjoyed the movies more, but the books have helped fill in some gaps that I missed in the movies.

Some other books I've recently read include Connect: How to Double Your Number of Volunteers by Nelson Searcy, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church by Kara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad Griffin, and The Relationship Principles of Jesus by Tom Holladay.

Sitting on my shelf patiently waiting their turn is Walking with God through Pain and Suffering by Timothy Keller and Why Christian Faith Still Makes Sense: A Response to Contemporary Challenges (Acadia Studies in Bible and Theology) by C. Stephen Evans.

I really thought when I retired in 2015 that my reading would slow down, but that hasn't been the case. I was certain I would read more non-fiction, but that hasn't happened either. Being a life-long learner demands that I continue reading good books that touch on those aspects of ministry and leadership that I continue to do. As a Christian and a leader I hope you feel the same way and are investing in good books to help you on your journey.

My top 7 books for 2014

For the past few years I've posted my top favorite books of the year.  Usually, I'll list my top 10, but quite frankly I didn't have ten this year to recommend.  My list consists of seven books this year.  I read a number of others that were good, but only seven of them really touched me.  The list is in no particular order.

Why Suffering?: Finding Meaning and Comfort When Life Doesn't Make Sense by Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale examines one of the primary questions non-Christians have about the Christian faith.  If God is truly all loving and all powerful why is there so much suffering in the world?  It's a fair question and one that many Christians find difficult to answer.  This book does an excellent job of providing answers to the question.

A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders by Reggie McNeal looks at how God shaped the hearts of four biblical leaders: Moses, David, Jesus, and Paul.  McNeal then shows how God is using the same influences to shape the hearts of religious leaders today.  I found this book to be inspiring and humbling as it demonstrated how God works so personally in the lives of those he calls.

Hacking Leadership: The 11 Gaps Every Business Needs to Close and the Secrets to Closing Them Quickly is written by Mike Myatt for leaders who feel their performance falls short and wants to understand why.  Written primarily for business leaders its principles are applicable for ministry leaders as well.  For instance, when he writes, "Show me people who never change their minds, and I'll show you static thinkers who have sentenced their minds to a prison of mediocrity and wasted potential.  If the world is constantly changing, if the marketplace is always evolving, if the minds of others are continuously developing, how can you attempt to be unchanging and still be relevant" his words are as applicable to ministry leaders as they are to anyone else.  I found the book to be full of such challenging statements.

Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive is a wonderful little book by Thom Rainer.  As Rainer examined churches that died he found several common issues that led to their demise.  Many of these issues may be in your church.  The good news is that there are ways to reverse each of these problems and turn a church from one that is dying to one that becomes vibrant once again. This is a book every pastor needs to read and use to periodically evaluate his or her church.

Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God is the first John Piper book I've read.  Some will be shocked by that admission, but it is the truth.  It won't be the last.  Piper clearly states the purpose of the book is "a plea to embrace serious thinking as a means of loving God and people.  It is a plea to reject either-or thinking when it comes to head and heart, thinking and feeling, reason and faith, theology and doxology, mental labor and the ministry of love.  It is a plea to see thinking as a necessary, God-ordained means of knowing God."  The book certainly challenged me and has changed the way I plan to read and study in the up-coming year.

There's Hope for Your Church: First Steps to Restoring Health and Growth is another excellent book by Gary McIntosh.  It's easy to become discouraged when you pastor a church that is shrinking in numbers and showing little spiritual growth.  However, the first thing that is needed is hope and the ability to see the potential that exists in the church.  This is where McIntosh begins and from there shows practical steps that can be taken to turn your church around.

Good Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership is by John Maxwell.  Regular readers of this blog knew that one of Maxwell's books would be on this list.  This is his latest (I think!) and one of his best.  He lists several reasons why leaders should always be asking questions and then shares the top ten questions people have asked him that had a positive impact on his life.  He then shares questions a leader needs to ask himself or herself and then the questions he or she should be asking others.  My copy is filled with underlines, highlights, and comments written in the margins.

I hope you will make reading a priority in 2015.  Tomorrow I will list the books I'm currently reading and those sitting on my shelf waiting their turn.

God gave us a mind to use

In yesterday's post I discussed a little about my recent Church Relations Council meeting at Campbellsville University.  Our guest speaker for this event was Dr.Charles T. Carter from Beeson Divinity School at Samford University.  He is a powerful preacher who delivered a great message on both days.  His first message had to do with our minds and our responsibility to nourish them and use them.

Some people believe that Christians are mindless sheep who are willing to accept anything their leaders tell them.  While that is far from the truth, it's easy to see why some would believe that.  It is embarrassing to read some of the posts on Facebook and other social media from Christians who continue to repeat wild accusations that were proven false years ago.  It is even more embarrassing to read some of the replies that Christians make to people who disagree with them.  Some people find it easier to yell louder than to present facts that might prove their point.

Although it has always been true, we now live in a time where it is more important than ever that we can not only tell people what we believe but why we believe it.  I've met too many Christians who cannot do that.  Some of their theology may be sound, but they would struggle to defend it, and some of their beliefs are simply not biblical but they hold them because it is what they've always been taught.  We need to be like the Bereans who Luke said, "received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (Acts 17: 11)"   In Paul's final message to young Timothy he wrote, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (2 Tim. 2: 15)"  Do you see the connection?  God's approval was linked to Timothy's proper handling of Scripture.  That required study on Timothy's part, and on us as well.

In 2001 I resigned as a pastor to accept a ministry in our judicatory.  For the last few years I served as pastor I was very concerned with the Sunday school material we used.  I felt it had been "dumbed down" to the point that it had very little content.  I taught the Young Adult class in our small church and decided to develop my own Sunday school material for our class.  I wanted our young adults to be exposed to something that would be more challenging than I was seeing in our material.  We cannot expect to raise up Christian leaders who are growing in their faith if we do not expose them to sound doctrine and encourage them to think about what they are learning.

One of the things that often bothers me when I visit the offices of bivocational pastors, and even some fully-funded pastors, is their libraries.  It is difficult to do sermon preparation well week after week, and without a well-stocked library it is even more difficult.  I realize that some pastors today use Bible study software on their computers, but I know that many of the ones I visit do not.  I have to say that I worry about the quality of their messages and what they are feeding their people based upon what I see on their bookshelves.

In Dr. Carter's message he noted his belief that the reason many pastors leave their churches every 2-3 years is because that is all the sermons they have, and they are too lazy to study and prepare new ones.  They take their sermon barrel to the next church and start over again.  If you are a long time reader of this blog you will recognize that as a statement I have made here a few times as well.  Timothy was challenged to study and handle the Scriptures well if he wanted God's approval on his ministry, and you and I have the same challenge if we have been called to the ministry.

I want to encourage you to develop a reading program that will expose you to some of the great Christian thinkers and writers, both new and old.  Right now for my devotional reading I am re-reading The Sermon on the Mount: An Exposition by James Montgomery Boice.  Some years for my devotional reading I have read through several commentaries on one book of the Bible such as Romans.  There is a big difference between reading these books in order to prepare a sermon and reading them for your own personal enrichment and growth.  One year much of my devotional reading focused on apologetics.

God gave you a mind to develop and use.  If he called you to a place of leadership within the church he also gave you the responsibility to help others develop their minds as well.  Let's use our minds for the glory of God and always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us.

Reading is essential for anyone in leadership

A couple of weeks ago I was telling a group that it was time for me to start downsizing my library.  My bookshelves are packed, and I refuse to buy any more.  Besides, seven bookshelves are all that will fit in my study.  I am at a stage in my life and ministry that I really need to decide what to do with my books, and especially those that really don't fit in that well with my current ministry.  Of course, every time I decide to get rid of some I begin to think but I might need that book one of these days!  Of course, I'm not sure how serious I am about wanting to downsize my library anyway...I went to the bookstore and bought five more books this week to add to the stack of unread books.  I can't help myself!  I...must...have...books! 

Very early in life I developed a love for reading.  We only went to town about once a week when I was growing up, but nearly every trip included a visit to the library for me to pick up a couple of books to read.  My passion for reading has served me well through the years especially after I became a pastor.  As I've written in previous posts on this blog, leaders are readers, and I cannot see how I could possibly have served in the leadership roles I've had without the reading I've done that has given me the insights I've needed to be successful in these roles.

One book I am currently reading is Hacking Leadership: The 11 Gaps Every Business Needs to Close and the Secrets to Closing Them Quickly by Mike Myatt.  Although it is written primarily for business leaders, much of what he writes is applicable to ministry leaders as well.  In one section he discusses some interesting facts about the reading of books.  Some of what he writes is

• The average American reads only one book a year, and 60 percent of average Americans only get through the first chapter.
• CEOs of Fortune 500 companies read an average of four to five books a month.
• Active readers are likely to have annual incomes more than five times greater that those who spend little or no time reading.
• Until a few years ago Rick Warren read a book every single day, and Teddy Roosevelt was rumored to have read two books a day.  This is not uncommon among some of the most effective leaders throughout history.

For many years I have averaged reading one book a week.  Very few of those were fiction.  Most were books on some aspect of ministry, leadership, or business.   Each year there are usually a few books on political issues or historical events added to the mix, and last year I added a couple of military history books that looked interesting.   I am an active reader, and what I mean by that is I mark up the books I read, I write in the margins, and the material that is highlighted is filed away on my computer for future reference.

Reading is not optional for the leader.  It is not something you do when you're bored or can't find anything else to do.  Reading is so important that leaders set aside time to read.  When I was working on my doctorate I sat aside chunks of time on my calendar for reading and writing, and leaders must do that if they want to stay current with their reading.  All of us make time for the things that are really important, and I believe reading is that important.

Myatt states in the book, "If you're not learning, you have no business leading."  He then asks, "How can you possibly be expected to grow an organization if you're not growing yourself?"  I think it's a great question.

Investing in yourself

One of my core values is to be a life-long learner.  That is the reason I pursued a master's and doctoral degree at an age when many people are thinking about retirement.  It is also the reason I try to read so many books and blogs.  I cannot understand why so many high school and college graduates never read a book once they graduate from school and why so many people are not interested in personal growth.  We have been told for years that the average person uses only about 10 percent of his or her abilities.  What could change in a person's life if he or she decided to tap into some of that remaining 90 percent?  Most of us will go to great lengths to plan a one-week vacation and yet many will spend virtually no time developing a plan for personal growth.

Investing in ourselves is the one investment that can not be taken from us.  Financial investments can be lost overnight if the market changes or if someone cheats us through some fraudulent act.  We can spend years at a job only to see it moved to another country or eliminated because of technology or a takeover from another company.  Virtually everything that people try to accumulate can be gone in moments, but the one thing that can never be taken from us is any investment we've made in ourselves.

If you are a minister reading this post there are so many things that one can learn about ministry.  I would love to have the opportunity to relive the twenty years I spent as the pastor at Hebron Baptist Church with the knowledge I have now about ministry that I did not have back when I was the pastor there.  My ministry would look so much different, and I know it would have a positive impact on the life and ministry of the church.  If you are a leader in any organization, there is so much new information on leadership that if you are not growing personally your organization is operating far short of its capacity.  Even if you are not currently a leader, an investment in yourself is the way that you can create and enjoy a better life for yourself and your family.

In my opinion, one of the most important books John Maxwell has written recently is The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential.  Again, this is only my opinion, but I believe out of all the books he has written (and I have most of them) this is his second most important book only behind The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You (10th Anniversary Edition).  The reason I feel so strongly about his book on the 15 laws of growth is because he describes so clearly what one must do in order to grow as an individual.

One of the laws he discusses is the Law of the Rubber Band.  He notes that rubber bands are useful only when they are stretched.  Pursuing personal growth will always stretch us, but it is only when we are stretched that we become useful.  Too many of us are satisfied with the status quo.  We are satisfied with being average.  In the chapter Maxwell provides a description of average, and one of the items in that description says, ""Average is the top of the bottom, the best of the worst, the bottom of the top, the worst of the best.  Which of these are you?"  Looking at it this way, average doesn't seem so great after all, does it?

Yet, we shy away from being stretched.  Our churches claim they want to grow, but they don't want to be stretched.  Businesses talk about wanting to grow, but they are often averse to doing anything that might stretch them and take them away from their comfort zone.  As leaders, we should want to be growing if we want to lead growing organizations, but many of us avoid anything that would stretch us.  We won't take a class or read a book or meet with a mentor or do anything that might be uncomfortable even if it would promote personal growth.

This is the second time I've read this book, and I found new insights that I had missed in my first reading.  I made several new highlights in the book during my second reading.  For any leader serious about wanting to grow I think this is a must read.  At the very least it will give you some specific areas in which each of us should grow and some direction for how growth can occur in those areas.  As leaders, we must invest in ourselves if we want to effectively lead our churches and other organizations.

What books do you need to read in 2014?

As we entered the new year a host of blog writers shared their top reads of 2013.  Regular readers of this blog know that I was among those who shared such a list.  I enjoy reading those lists because they often expose me to books I did not know was written.  After reading one such list I bought three of the books on the list for my Kindle.

My hope is you are a reader, and that you have a list of books you're planning to read this year.  The reason I hope that is because few things will shape you and your ministry more than the books you read.  As I've written before, leaders are readers, and if you read this blog you are likely a leader.

While I will select some books to read on a whim, much of my reading is intentional.  Many of the books I choose are books that speak to specific topics I might be interested in.  When I was a pastor I spent each summer preaching through a book of the Bible, so at the start of the year I would buy various commentaries and other study helps that focused on the biblical book I had chosen to preach through that year and begin to read them.  One year I decided to focus my devotional reading on books written by apologists so I purchased several books of that genre.  Because so much of my interest is in the areas of bivocational ministry and leadership I look for books on those topics to read.  This year I plan to re-read a number of books in my library I found to be great reads because I know I can learn even more from those books by re-reading them.

I would recommend you develop an intentional reading plan if you do not already have one.  What goals have you set for your church, your personal life, and your family?  Do you need to read some books to acquire the knowledge you'll need to achieve that goal?  Is there a hobby you're interested in pursuing but aren't sure what all it might entail?  A good book or two could be a great help.  Are there some theological issues you struggle with?  Reading can help you find the answers to those challenges.  Maybe you need to develop some new knowledge or skills to advance in your job.  Instead of wishing you had that knowledge or those skills begin to study to acquire them and go after that promotion.

Let me share what I've read so far this year and why.

The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow by Mark Miller is an excellent book on developing as a leader.  He points out in his easy-to-read book that the most important leadership tool we have is our heart.  When we have the heart of a leader we will find that people want to follow us.  As I stated above, one of my primary focuses is on leadership so I try to read several books on that subject each year.  The next such book I plan to read is Hacking Leadership: The 11 Gaps Every Business Needs to Close and the Secrets to Closing Them Quickly by Mike Myatt.  I will begin this book this week.

Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions is written by Gregory Koukl.  This is one of the books that I discovered from one of the "favorite reads" post by another blogger.  Koukl is an apologist who provides his readers with clear and effective ways to address the questions and concerns people have about Christianity.  I believe this book will help me be a more effective evangelist.

A few weeks ago I purchased a box of books at an auction, and in the box found a copy of Payne Hollow: Life on the Fringe of Society by Harlan Hubbard.  Harlan and his wife Anna started out as shantyboaters on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers before finding a spot on the river known as Payne Hollow.  This spot was just a few miles down river from where I live.  In the early 1950s they built a house there and lived a simple life largely self-sufficient from the conveniences of the modern world.  I seem to remember seeing them once or twice when they came into town to purchase the few things they could not provide for themselves.  Hubbard was a very well-known artist in this area, and his paintings today sells very well.  They often hosted college students, professors, and others who wanted to know more about their lives, and I have spoken with some who had visited them in their home.  I've wanted to read about his life for some time, and when I found the book in that box I knew now was the time.  It was such a fascinating read of a man and woman who determined to live a simple life that I completed the book in two days.

For my devotional reading right now I am re-reading The Cross of Christ by John R. W. Stott.  I first read this book in the late 1980s or early 1990s and felt led to re-read it now.  It has not disappointed.  After one has been a Christian for some time and hears (and preaches) so many sermons related to the cross of Jesus Christ it becomes easy to lose some of the awe and appreciation for all that it means.  Much of my devotional reading this year will be theological books that have some real substance to them, and this has been a great start to that reading.

As you can see, I have reasons for selecting most of the books I read, and I encourage you to also become intentional about your reading.  Your reading will shape you in so many ways so read well this year.

What I'm reading

People sometimes ask me what books I'm reading, so occasionally I like to mention the books I've recently read as well as the ones I'm currently reading.  Some of these were read on the Kindle app on my I-Pad and I found them at a greatly reduced price.  For the most part I still prefer reading real books, but when the price is right I have no problem downloading them on Kindle.  I enjoyed these books and learned a lot from them.  I think you might as well.

One of the most important things a leader needs is credibility.  Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner was a great read as it clearly demonstrated the need for credibility for anyone who wishes to be a leader and how to obtain and maintain that credibility.  Although my book is filled with highlighted sections, this one paragraph was worth the cost of the book.  "It is the credibility of the leadership that determines whether people will volunteer a little more of their time, talent, energy, experience, intelligence, creativity, and support in order to achieve significant improvement levels.  Managers can threaten people with the loss of jobs if they don't get with the program, but threats, power, and position do not earn commitment.  They earn compliance.  And compliance produces adequacy - not greatness.  Only credibility earns commitment.  And only commitment will get people to work beyond their job descriptions and to their fullest capacity so that businesses, communities, and economies can be greatly regenerated."  The same could be said for churches!

Get Off Your Donkey!: Help Somebody and Help Yourself by Reggie McNeal was a fun book to read.  McNeal bases this book on the story of the Good Samaritan and calls the church to get involved in ministering to the people in our communities instead of focusing so much of our attention on ourselves.  He insists that the church is not the major mission of God.  His mission is "the redemptive restoration of everything that sin has tarnished and broken."  That should also be the church's mission.  However, McNeal does sound a warning to church leaders that if they begin to shift the ministry of their church to those outside the church they should expect significant pushback from the religious crowd.  This book was a good reminder of what the church must be about if we want to significantly impact our communities.

One of my favorite reads so far this year has been The Ascent of a Leader: How Ordinary Relationships Develop Extraordinary Character and Influence by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and Ken McElrath.  Leadership is impacted by the character of the leader and the relationships he or she has.  I knew I would enjoy this book when on page 9 I read this, "Sometimes the deeper issues of a leader's life can have the same effect on her organization as removing the rudder from a ship: the leader and the organization may move very fast on the surface, but in no particular direction.  It is amazing how such drifting can be covered up by focusing on numbers, reorganizing reporting structures, and creating new programs."  A few pages later the authors point out that "too many leaders spend their energies trying to appear more consistent in a superficial way, rather than becoming more consistent in a heartfelt, genuine way.  They share that there are two ladders leaders can climb.  The first ladder is the Capacity Ladder.  It is based entirely on a leader's title and skill level.  It can only take a leader (and his or her organization) so far.  While this ladder is important and needed, a second ladder, the Character Ladder, must also be climbed if the leader wants to ascend to a higher level of leadership and take his or her organization to a higher level as well.  This book will make you think.

I initially wanted to read Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money by Rabbi Daniel Lapin because it is one of the books Dave Ramsey highly recommends.  I found the book to be a fascinating look at why the Jewish people are often very successful in whatever they pursue.  Rabbi Lapin is an Orthodox Jew who has done much research into the qualities and principles that has led to that success.  Interestingly enough, most of these are things that historically people believed in but have abandoned in more recent times.  Here I'm talking about such principles as sacrificing present pleasures for future benefits, respecting the value of education,  believing in the dignity and morality of business, networking, treating people fairly and with respect, understanding the value of money, and a host of others.  The book was an interesting look into the traditions of teaching of the Jewish people and one that I plan to read again next year.

As part of my devotional reading this year I read through the New Testament again.  I just finished and, as always, found some more nuggets of truth I had overlooked in previous readings.  Reading through the Bible or just the New Testament during the year is a discipline I do often, and I'm always blessed when I do it.

These are just a few of the better books I've read so far in 2013.  Currently, I am reading Prodigal Christianity: 10 Signposts into the Missional Frontier (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) by David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw, Gospel Coach: Shepherding Leaders to Glorify God by Scott Thomas and Tom Wood, and Resilient Ministry: What Pastors Told Us About Surviving and Thriving by Bob Burns, Tasha Chapman, and Donald Guthrie.  Maybe I'll review them next time.

Building up your library

I've spent a little time this evening looking at the shelves of books that line two+ walls of my study.  There are hundreds of books on these shelves plus I have more on my NOOK and Kindle devices.  As I was looking at the shelves of books I was reminded of when I began my pastoral ministry in 1981.  I had one three-shelf bookshelf that that had books on one shelf.  I found it very difficult to prepare proper sermons and do the study I needed to do on various topics of pastoral ministry.  Two or three times a month I would visit a nearby college library to use their commentaries and other religious books.  While that helped I dreamed of developing a library of my own.

I now have the opportunity to visit numerous pastors in their churches, and one of the troubling things I find in many of their studies is the lack of good books.  Sometimes this is true of fully-funded pastors, and it is often true for the bivocational ministers I visit.  As one who has always believed that leaders are readers, I wonder what they are doing to grow their leadership and communication skills.  Perhaps, like me in my earlier years of ministry, they make use of public and college libraries, but this has its limitations.  It takes time to go to the library, and the resource you need may not be available when you need it.  My recommendation for ministers is to build up a library of the resources that you need to be effective in ministry.

Books are expensive so most ministers will need to build their library slowly.  The good news is there are many ways to save substantial dollars on the books you want.  For several years I attended the annual book sale our local public library held each fall.  I became a member of the library so I got access to the sale the day before it opened to the public.  That cost me $10.00 a year.  When the doors opened I went straight to the religious section.  Most years I left there with at least one sack of ministry-related books.  My best find was the two-volume Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament which sells for around $100.00 which I bought for $2.00.

Many of the books I purchased were ordered through CBD which offers Christian books at very good prices.   I also had some success visiting a used Christian bookstore near the seminary when I was a student where I found books at greatly reduced prices.  It's also amazing what one can find at yard sales and at the Goodwill stores.  A pastor friend of mine who has thousands of books in his library regularly visits Goodwill stores looking for books.

Some publishers look for persons to review their books.  A few years ago I began reviewing books for one such publisher.  From a list of books I could select one that I thought I would enjoy, they would send me the book free of charge (which I got to keep), and when my review was published I could select another free book as payment for my review.  I did this for a few years and added several books to my library at no cost to me.

Although many e-books are nearly as expensive as printed ones, both NOOK and Kindle do offer some great prices on quality e-books.  Just last night I purchased a book for my Kindle that normally sells for $16.99 for the printed version for $2.99.  That kind of savings can really help your book budget.

Speaking of book budgets, your church should have in its budget a line item that will reimburse you for the books and other resources you purchase.  Our small church provided me with a $400.00 per year book allowance.  They saw it as an investment in their future, and so should your church.  If your church does not offer the pastor a book allowance ask for one.

Because books are so expensive one needs to purchase them carefully.  Early in my ministry I spent quite a bit of money on two commentary sets that proved to not be very helpful.  That was money I could not afford to lose, but I did learn a valuable lesson about being sure the books I bought would actually be helpful to my ministry.

The books you buy are an investment in your ministry.  They will shape you and the way you think.  They will help you as you prepare your messages and as you lead your congregation.  They will give you new tools you will use as you minister to people.  They will also help expand your thinking and challenge some of the preconceptions you may have about various issues and doctrines.  I would not be the person and the minister I am today if I had not read the books I've read.  Invest in yourself and build you a library that will serve your ministry well.

We don't know what we don't know

Last Saturday I taught a class for our Church Leadership Institute.  During a break one of my students, a retired gentleman, came to me and said that the more classes he takes the more that he realizes he doesn't know.  I laughed and said that was the reason every person should commit to being a life-long learner.  None of us knows what we don't know, and an important part of an educational program is to open us up to new areas of knowledge.

In the secular world continuing education is part of the expectation for many jobs.  Professionals such as doctors and nurses, accountants, lawyers, educators, and others are required to have a certain number of continuing education hours during a specific time period.  Even many blue collar jobs require continuing education.  Many states require an air conditioning service tech to be licensed and require continuing education to maintain that license.  Before my auctioneer license can be renewed I will have to have completed sixteen hours of continuing education.

It is sad that no such requirement exists for those of us in ministry positions.  We are responsible before God for the eternal souls of men and women, and yet there is no requirement that we pursue continuing education as ministers.  At least, in the denominations with which I'm more familiar there is no such requirement.  I believe there should be.

Too many ministers are still trying to minister as they were taught to do so in the 1980s and wonder why their ministries are no longer successful.  Society has changed much since the 1980s, and what was effective then may not be today.  Much has been learned about Christian education, worship, effective preaching styles, the importance of hospitality, and other aspects of ministry that persons who have never pursued continuing education may not be aware of.  The needs of persons today have changed as have their expectations of church, and if those current needs and expectations are not addressed those persons may well be lost to our churches.  Associated with this is the need to understand generational differences and how to address those differences to more effectively communicate the gospel.  While referring to the gospel, anyone who thinks he or she understands everything written in the Bible is seriously deluded.  Every person can learn much more about the Bible as he or she continues to study it.  But, in each of the aspects of ministry mentioned here, we don't know what we don't know, and the only way to learn what we don't know is to avail ourselves of regular continuing education events.

Maybe you've attended some events in the past and went away feeling like you didn't learn much.  I've gone to some like that, but I can't think of a single one I didn't come away with something I didn't know before.  Every class I've ever taken, every workshop I've ever attended, I've left there with at least one nugget of information I didn't have before or one more tool to add to my ministry toolbox.  Sometimes I've left with a bag full of such nuggets.  If you went into a gold mine to find gold would you feel like it was a wasted effort if you only found one gold nugget?  I doubt it, and my experience has been that even the most disappointing workshops gave me at least one nugget of helpful information.

As you prepared your fall calendar look over the announcements of various workshops that now cross your desk and select one or two that you believe will be helpful to your personal and ministerial growth.  If it doesn't, ask your church to set aside money in next year's budget to pay for you to attend two or three continuing education events and to allow you time away to do that.  The work of ministry is too important to fail to take advantage of those opportunities to grow and to learn new ways of doing the work God has called you to do.

A dangerous tendency for bivocational churches

For much of my ministry bivocational churches and their pastors were largely ignored by denominations and judicatories which focused much of their attention on their larger churches.  Suddenly, these organizations realized one day that a significant percentage of their churches were made up of smaller churches, many of which were led by bivocational ministers.  As they looked closer they found in some cases these churches were supportive of the denomination, gave a high percentage of their income to denominational mission work, and were active in their local association or district.  They then realized something they had not noticed before, the numbers of these churches were growing throughout their denomination.  One of the joys of my life has been to see denominational and judicatory leaders begin to reach out to their bivocational churches and pastors and offer them support and resources.  I've been blessed to have had the opportunity to lead numerous workshops and conferences for the bivocational leaders across numerous denominations and provide some of the resources they are using to help train them.

However, I am hearing a common concern expressed by many denominational leaders.  Their bivocational ministers are not taking advantage of the support now being offered.  My initial response to denominational leaders was to remind them that for many years they had not offered these leaders any assistance so they had grown used to being ignored by the larger organization.  They had sought out their own resources and developed their own fellowships with other bivocational ministers.  That initial response is losing traction because these resources now have been available in many judicatories for a number of years, and their bivocational churches and leaders are still not taking advantage of them.  If a denomination or judicatory plan an event specifically for bivocational ministers they are often more than mildly disappointed at the turn-out. 

One judicatory developed a two-year ministry to assist their smaller churches in seven primary areas of church life that most smaller churches frequently request help.  They intentionally kept the costs low so it would be affordable for any church.  The sessions were scheduled throughout their district to make travel easier for each church.  Less than one percent of their eligible churches enrolled in the program.  Coaches were provided for each pastor of the registered churches, but few of these pastors have ever contacted their coach despite being asked repeatedly to do so.  Although judicatory leaders report to me that it is too early to tell, it appears that some of the registered churches are doing very little with the material they've been given so far.  Unfortunately, this is too descriptive of other attempts by other denominational bodies' efforts to assist their smaller churches, and my fear is that these denominational groups who have made the effort to reach out to their small churches and had this type of response will decide to go back to ignoring these churches.

I've been involved in bivocational ministry for over 30 years so I know how difficult it is to do everything that one needs to do.  For most of those years I didn't have to worry about attending training events geared specifically for me and my church because they didn't exist.  I tried to seek out those that I felt addressed the ministry areas in which I needed to grow and then try to adapt what I learned to my small church situation.  Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.  Today, many of you now have learning opportunities I didn't have during most of my ministry.  Events are being specifically designed with the smaller church in mind, but if more bivocational ministers do not start taking advantage of these training opportunities they will soon disappear. 

Let me speak bluntly.  If you are too busy to grow as a leader, you are not a leader, and it won't be too long before you won't have anything to lead.  If you believe you know all you need to know to pastor your church, you are doing your congregation a disservice.  (I decided to avoid the use of the word arrogant in that statement.)  God has called you to a place of service and has gifted you with the tools you need to fulfill that call, but it is up to you to keep those tools sharp.  There are more opportunities today to sharpen those tools than ever before, but you have to take advantage of those opportunities.  Our bivocational churches and pastors have a tendency to ignore the training opportunities now being offered by their denominational and para-church groups, and if that continues much longer I am afraid we will soon see those opportunities disappear and possibly never return. 

What training opportunities will you seek out in 2013?

Cleaning out the study

For the past couple of weeks I've been cleaning out my bookshelves.  I don't have enough shelf space now for my books, and some were just so outdated that they really were of little value.  Some have been hard to pitch; some I really don't remember why I bought them in the first place.  This past weekend I began working on my Leadership journals.  I began my pastoral ministry in 1981, and one of the first resources I discovered was Leadership.  I devoured every issue, and I have to admit that it's been a little difficult to put them in the recycle bin.  Before doing so I am going through them and cutting out some of the best cartoons!  As I leaf through each issue I am reminded of various articles that were so helpful to me in my earlier years of ministry.  Many of them were highlighted or underlined making it easy for me to remember how much these old journals helped a young, inexperienced pastor. Looking through these old journals I have also been reminded of some of the haircut and suit styles that were popular back then, and I've chuckled as I've seen some that were similar to some of mine during that time.  These issues bring back a lot of memories, but it's time they are gone to make room for new material that is more pertinent to ministry today.

I meet a lot of pastors my age, and many younger ones too, who refuse to recognize that we are living and ministering in a different time.  Our message is timeless, but our methods are not.  I grew up attending church in the 1950s and 60s and remember many of the things we did in church then that will not work in our age.  That was a time of two-week Vacation Bible Schools and two-week revivals.  Many churches now struggle to offer even a one-week VBS, and I know of a couple that have gone to a weekend VBS.  Churches that still have revival meetings now usually offer them three or four nights, and even then it's hard to get people to attend.  That was a time when every young person in our church looked forward to going to church camp, and most camp sessions were filled to capacity.  Now, with the various activities available to young people and changing school schedules many denominations are closing their camps, and the ones that are open are struggling to draw enough young people to pay the bills.  That was also a time when Sunday night and mid-week services drew many people back to the church.  More and more churches no longer have a mid-week service and even more of them have eliminated the Sunday evening service.

That was a time of objective truth, a sense of right and wrong, and respect for the teaching of the Christian faith even by those who were not living according to those teachings.  Of course, that is not the case today.  In our postmodern society each person decides for himself or herself what is true for them, it is considered politically incorrect to say that lifestyle choices are right and wrong, and nearly everyone's religious beliefs are respected except for those of the Christian.

When I began my pastoral ministry in 1981 things in the church had not changed much from when I was growing up, but by the time I resigned the church in 2001 to accept a ministry position with our judicatory ministry had changed greatly.  Ministry had become much tougher during those twenty years as people began to look elsewhere for the answers to their spiritual questions.  The public's expectations for pastors and churches changed as well.  When I began it was common for me and others in our church to go door to door meeting people and inviting them to church activities, but by the time I resigned from the church I seldom visited even a member of our church without an appointment.  Most church growth when I began my ministry occurred through the front door as people would visit the church.  Today a growing church needs a lot of side door ministries that help connect people to the church before they ever attend a worship service.  These only scratch the surface of the changes that have occurred in the church, but they serve to make the point that we cannot depend on the strategies that were effective in an earlier time to be effective today.  Churches and pastors that refuse to adjust will see their churches continue to decline in numbers and influence.

This means that pastors and other church leaders can never stop being lifelong learners.  One important step in learning new information is un-learning old information that is no longer applicable.  That is a primary reason I am discarding some of the old books and journals that address ministry from a different perspective than exists today.  It is a way that I am symbolically un-learning information that used to be relevant but is not so today.  As I remove the old material I am also making room in my bookshelves and in my thinking for the new material I need as my ministry continues.  It's turned out to be a little bit painful process but one that is necessary to my own personal growth. 

I'm not advocating that you discard part of your library as I am, but I would challenge you to ask yourself what do you need to un-learn as you prepare for ministry in 2013 and beyond.  What old traditions are you holding onto that you know deep down are no longer effective but you are afraid to give up?  What new knowledge and/or skills do you need to learn that will help you better serve your congregation and the community your church has been called to reach?

How a congregation learns part 7

This is my final post on this topic.  Tim Shapiro, president of the Indianapolis Center for Congregations, wrote an article entitled "How Your Congregation Learns" for Congregations magazine, a publication by The Alban Institute.  This series of posts came from that article.  In this installment we will look at Congregations learn well when they say "no" and say "yes."  Shapiro believes that in many cases when a congregation says yes to an initiative they also need to be saying no to something they've been doing.

For the past few years I've told church leaders at my workshops that most smaller churches could accomplish more by doing less.  Too many smaller churches are trying to compete with larger churches in their communities by offering ministries and programs for which they really don't have the resources.  As a result, they wear out their congregations and often end up providing something that is of average quality at best.  By focusing on doing fewer things they can begin to do them with excellence which will have a much greater impact.  Quality beats quantity every time.

Of course, this will not be easy.  Many of the things smaller churches do have taken on the quality of a sacred cow.  For instance, trying to eliminate a mid-week prayer meeting that is attended by five people on a good night will seem to some as heresy.  You can probably identify sacred cows in your church as well.  It's not that there is usually anything wrong with them; it's just that there's not enough right with them to continue doing them, especially if there are better things a church could be doing with that time.  Anyone familiar with the Pareto Principle knows that it teaches that we get 80% of our success from 20% of our efforts.  The trick for a learning congregation is to identify what 20% gives us our greatest return.  A tougher trick is to remember that at some point that 20% will eventually become the 80% that is no longer effective and will need to be replaced by something else.

Here's a challenge for church leaders.  As your congregation begins to discern a fresh vision for new ministries ask them what they will be willing to set aside to make the resources available for the new ministries.  It will probably be very uncomfortable at first, but as they begin to make those exchanges it will become easier, and you will begin to eliminate some of the activities that are no longer productive.

How a congregation learns part 6

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Before I left for a few days vacation I was posting a series on how congregations learn that is taken from an article in Congregations, a publication of The Alban Institute.  The article was written by Tim Shapiro, the president of the Indianapolis Center for Congregations.  In this post we will look at Congregations learn well when they slow things down.  Learning anything takes time, and trying to rush the learning cycle often produces less than desirable results.

Church leaders sometimes forget this.  We may examine an idea for weeks or even months before we're ready to propose making a change.  Then we are surprised when the congregation seems less than thrilled with our new idea.  We forget that we have spent a good amount of time exploring and thinking about our idea, and the people we finally share it with are hearing it for the first time.  They need as much time to process it as we had.

A number of years ago the church I pastored at the time recognized it needed to update its church constitution.  It had been two decades since its last update, and there were some things in it that were outdated.  Some of the things we were no longer doing, and there were some new things we were doing that probably needed to be added.  One of our problems was that there was only one person in our congregation who had been involved in developing the old constitution, and no one else in the church had ever worked on one.  At our first meeting we decided to move slowly, try to understand why something was in the constitution in the first place before we tried to remove or modify it.  We also decided that rather than wait until we had rewritten the entire constitution, we would present what we had completed for church approval at each of our quarterly business meetings.  These decisions took away any need for speed in rewriting our church constitution.  In fact, the process took us an entire year, but when we finished the committee that rewrote the document and our entire church had a much better understanding of our church constitution, and we ended with a document that was useful to today's ministry.

I talk with many pastors who recognize their churches need to update their constitutions, but they are reluctant to say anything because they believe it will lead to dissension in the church and create more problems than it solves.  I explain the process we used and describe the learnings that took place in our congregation because of that process.  Because of how we went about it there was very little controversy.  Because we only presented the work we had completed during the previous quarter if there were questions or concerns we could easily address them, make needed corrections, and then go on to the next section.  I only remember having to revisit an article of our constitution once or twice after our committee made their recommendations.  It was always a quick fix, and then we were on to work on the next article.

The next time your congregation is facing a steep learning curve due to a new ministry taking place or a new way of doing some old things, take your time.   Slow everything down.  Chances are the new learning doesn't have to occur tonight, so take your time.  Give people in the congregation some time to adjust to what you are proposing and then give them even more time to learn the new things that will go along with this change.  Doing this will probably lead to your congregation enjoying the new learning that is taking place and will make them more willing to consider even more new things in the future.

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.

How a congregation learns part 4

This is the fourth post in this series that is based on the article "How Your Congregation Learns" by Tim Shapiro in The Alban Institute's magazine Congregations.  The focus for this post is Congregations learn learn well when clergy and laity learn together. 

One of the things I suggest to pastors is that they should never attend a training event by themselves.  I've done this myself and I've seen it happen to other pastors.  I would attend some training event and learn new information that I wanted to take back to our church.  The material would be presented with great excitement and anticipation, but it often was met with much less excitement than I anticipated.  For a long time I didn't understand that and would blame the congregation's apathy, but that wasn't the problem.  The problem was that they had not been exposed to this material the same as I was.  They had not had the time to process what they were hearing as I had.  Few people are excited about anything when they first hear it.  I may have had the opportunity to hear directly from the person who designed or used this information while they are getting it second-hand through my filters.

Contrast that with another learning opportunity our church had.  I planned to attend a leadership conference led by John Maxwell one year and decided to invite our church leaders to attend with me.  We spent the entire day together hearing Maxwell present some material that we thought would help our church.  We talked about it over the lunch break and decided to purchase it.  After lunch Maxwell spent more time describing how best to use the material.  When we returned home with the material and a plan for how to use it we had about a dozen people telling others how much this material would benefit our church.  When it was presented to the congregation they immediately approved making some changes that would enable us to use this material in the way it was intended.  I have no doubt that having other people there hearing the same things I was hearing at the same time I heard them was a primary reason why our church so quickly agreed to using the material.  I also have no doubt that the process we used to present the material made a huge difference in the life of our church.

Not only did our church leaders and I learn together about this material and how to use it, the congregation and I learned the material together as well.  It was a great growth opportunity for each of us that led to more respect and trust on both sides.  That learning continued to shape the life of our church for the duration of my time there.

What are you learning together?

How a congregation learns part 2

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Today we will continue our discussion of how a congregation learns taken from an article in Congregations published by The Alban Institute.  The article was written by Tim Shapiro, president of the Indianapolis Center for Congregations.  As in yesterday's post, I will briefly share Shapiro's thoughts on the subject and then add my own thoughts.  The second element that permits a congregation to learn is that Congregations that learn well live within a worldview of theological coherence.

These are congregations that have a clear theological foundation for all they say and do.  You will find this theological coherence in their mission statements, their education and discipleship programs, conversations in the hallways and hospital rooms, and even in their business meetings.  Members of such congregations have spent time thinking through their theological beliefs and they are not reluctant to share those beliefs with others.

For me, this begins with the view one has of Scripture.  Is the Bible the revealed Word of God or is it a book written by men in an attempt to explain their views of God?  Is it authoritative or does it merely make suggestions about how one lives his or her life?  Do the Scriptures have the last word on any topic that it addresses or can man change what the Bible says to fit present day circumstances?  If the Bible is not the revealed Word of God, if it is not authoritative, and if it does not have the last word in any topic it addresses, then it will provide a very shaky foundation for anyone's theological beliefs.  It will be shaky because it can be changed at any time by a majority of people advocating a particular stance.  We see this happening in recent years as denominations have voted on particular issues that are addressed in Scripture to determine whether or not the majority of people still agree with the interpretations that have stood the test of centuries.  What arrogance to believe that man can vote on God's declarations as if they are nothing more than the color of carpet we prefer for our sanctuaries!

I experienced this personally last week when I became involved in a Facebook discussion on an issue that divides Christians.  My position was one that can be defended from Scripture; others chose a different position.  My view of biblical authority would not allow me to have a different position.  I cannot say what their view of biblical authority is because it did not come up in the discussion.  I made two mistakes in that discussion.  The first was that I should have never entered into it on Facebook because that is hardly the forum for an in depth discussion on any serious topic, and after two or three posts I announced I was done posting on the issue for that reason.  The second was that before responding to what was being said I should have questioned where these persons stood on biblical authority (another topic not really suited for Facebook!).  If two parties engage in a discussion on theological issues and each of them are coming to that discussion with opposing views on biblical authority, there is really little use in having the discussion.  There is not common ground for such a discussion in such circumstances.  As it turned out, they gave their talking points, I gave mine, but no learning occurred because we did not have a coherent theological worldview from which we could debate.

Tim Shapiro is absolutely correct when he notes that such coherence is necessary for a congregation to learn.  This presents a number of challenges to the pastor who serves a church that lacks theological coherence.  One, he or she should expect a higher number of conflicts and disagreements between the membership.  The members are operating from different theological perspectives.  Two, he or she may need to spend some time teaching the congregation how to think theologically.  Three, he or she may need to begin teaching the basics of theological beliefs if it is determined that the church has not been taught these in the past or if they have been taught a theology that does not agree with biblical teaching.

The question then for church leaders who want to introduce new learning into their congregation is how ready theologically is that congregation for such learning?  How would you answer that question for your church?  Do you think it is even a question that needs to be asked?

How a congregation learns

I recently read the latest edition of Congregations, a magazine published by The Alban Institute, that contained an excellent article on "How Your Congregation Learns" written by Tim Shapiro.  Shapiro was a pastor for 18 years before becoming the president of the Indianapolis Center for Congregations.  I felt the article was excellent and wanted to share it with the readers of this blog.  Each day I want to take one element that is addressed in the article and add some of my own thoughts to it.  As you read these think about how they might apply to your congregation and what changes they might make in how your church addresses whatever challenges it may have.  The first element Shapiro lists is Congregations that learn will find and use outside resources.  He correctly notes that an outside resource provides a new perspective to a congregation. 

Sometimes a church becomes stuck in its thinking because it can't find a new way to think about its existing challenges.  When any group has been together for some time certain thinking patterns take root.  When old issues arise again it's always tempting to deal with them in the same ways we did before.  We really have little choice because it's the only way we know to approach them.

Bringing in an outside resource gives us a new set of eyes to look at those old issues.  This resource may be a judicatory leader who has seen how other churches have approached the issue.  It may be a coach who can lead persons to begin to think differently about the issue.  It may be an author or consultant who has spent signficant time studying the issue and who has learned a number of ways to approach it.  Regardless of whom this resource is he or she will bring new ways of thinking to the challenge.  The congregation then can take their new learnings and adapt them to their context.

So far, my comments have focused primarily on bringing someone in to the church, but it's not always necessary to incur that expense for outside resources.  Every year there are numerous workshops and seminars made available to churches to provide them with those resources.  Churches need to take advantage of these opportunities, and yet few do, and then they complain that they can't seem to get unstuck.  Some of these are offered by the church's denomination at little or no cost.  Few workshops and conferences I've seen offered to churches are beyond any church's budget and should be seen as an investment in the future of the congregation.  These opportunities offer a great way to expose your church leaders to some of the best thinking on virtually any challenge that your church may be facing.

Whether you use someone specific to your congregation or take a group of leaders to an upcoming conference, find some resources outside your church to help you look at your challenges through different eyes and who can offer new solutions that can enable your church to move past whatever barriers may be holding them back.  Stay tuned tomorrow for the next factor that helps congregations learn.