The long-term pastor

 One of the best statements about pastoral ministry I've heard or read came from H. B. London, Jr. He wrote that if you are serving in a good, strong church it's because someone stayed there and made the church that way. If you are serving in a church that is not so good or strong, perhaps God is calling you "for such a time as this." He has you there that you might build it into a better church. I believe there is much wisdom in those words.

I served my first church for 20 years before accepting a call to our Region staff. Before I went to the church, the average pastoral tenure over several years was 12 months. That was the average! The church was not healthy when I went there. I was told later than the church had considered closing but decided to try one more pastor. Perhaps if I had known that before I went I would have reconsidered going there, but I'm glad I didn't because those 20 years were some of the best years of my life.

Virtually every study done on strong churches find that they have had long-term pastoral leadership. The pastor had planted roots in the church and community. People came to trust his leadership. He or she had built relationships with members of the congregation. The pastor and congregation truly loved one another, shared a common vision and worked together to fulfill that vision.

This does not happen in churches with revolving-door pastorates. When a church has pastors who leave every 2-3 years they begin to wonder what's wrong with them. A low self-esteem can begin which limits what the church believes it can do. It doesn't take long before a new pastor picks up on that belief causing him or her to begin searching for another church. Nothing changes until a pastor decides to stay and move the church out of the negative rut they are in. It will be a slow process, and many pastors will decide it's not worth the trouble. But, those who stay and begin to rebuild the church will find that all the trouble and pain was well worth it.

Some pastors will retire after a 40 year ministry, but when they look back they will find they didn't have a 40 year ministry; they had 10 four year ministries and never really accomplished very much. How much better it might be if they had invested those 40 years in just one or two churches. 

The impact of a long-term pastor

A number of years ago a church went through another major conflict. Denominational people had to be called in to resolve the conflict. When things returned somewhat to normal one of the deacons addressed the congregation and stated, "We can never do this again."

One of the reasons for the problems this church had was they had a series of short-term student pastors from a nearby seminary. These pastors seldom stayed longer than 2-3 years which meant they were never leaders in the church. The real leaders came from the four primary families who made up the majority of that church. A member of each family had to be represented on every board and committee in the church. Unfortunately, these families were often at odds with one another. Sometimes there was turmoil within a family which also spilled out into the church. The pastors were helpless to address any of this and could only watch, and run, when conflicts rose up. To say the church was unhealthy would be an understatement.

The church finally called a pastor who was not a student. He accepted the role of full time pastor of the church. He was able to build relationships with each of the families. The people liked him and trusted him. More importantly, he stayed and eventually became the leader of the church. Each of the families were still actively involved in the church, but with a long-term pastor there was no longer a leadership void to fill. When problems occurred, as they will in any church, they were able to work through them because of the influence of their pastor. He has now served this church for over 30 years, and it is a much healthier church with a good ministry.

George Barna reported years ago that it takes a pastor between 3-11 years to develop an effective ministry in a church. I've stated elsewhere that it took me seven years in my church. It also had a revolving-door of student pastors who stayed for an average of 12 months. There was a huge leadership void in the church which resulted in many problems. After my 7th year as pastor, it began a significant turn-around and begin to enjoy a much more effective ministry. 

Pastors are called to lead churches, but, except in the larger churches, they are not going to be given the authority to lead until the congregation knows they can be trusted. A congregation must first know their pastor loves them, and, secondly, that they can be trusted. Depending on a number of factors, that can happen within a short period of time or a much longer period of time. I can tell you that once a pastor crosses that trust threshold, ministry become much more enjoyable.

The problem is that pastors today stay at a church for an average of only four years. That number can fluctuate a little according to whose studies you read. But, if Barna's findings are correct that means that most pastors never stay long enough to earn the trust they need to lead the church. The pastor moves on, usually to a larger church, and the church is left wondering what is wrong with them that no one wants to stay and lead them.

I can hear someone now saying that some churches won't let a pastor lead, and I agree with that. There are a lot of toxic churches out there that do not deserve a pastor. When I served as a resource minister in our denomination there were a couple of churches in my area that I refused to help find a new pastor. I told them I would work with them to become a healthier church, but I would not sacrifice another good pastor on the altar of their dysfunction. Neither of them took me up on my offer to help them become healthier.

While there are toxic churches out there, there are also a lot of good churches truly seeking someone to come and love them and lead them. Once you earn their trust, you will be amazed at how they will allow you to lead them into the next phase of ministry. Yes, you can go to a larger church that someone else has grown, or you can have the satisfaction of seeing the church you now serve grow to become a larger church.

One of the mantras I've adopted in life is "It's always too soon to quit." I apply this to everything I do. I encourage you to consider this as you consider your next phase of ministry.

 

The long-term pastor

 Last week I had to laugh at an email I received. Our Regional Minister sent an email to all of his pastors reminding them of a pastor event being sponsored by our Region. The speaker was going to talk about "How to Stay in Your Church for Thirty Years." My first thought was, "I'm 75 years old. Maybe I should go and see if he knows something I don't know!"

All joking aside, regular readers of this blog know that I am a big advocate of long-term pastorates. One major reason most of our churches struggle today is because the average pastoral tenure is around four years. Research has found that the average pastor's best ministry doesn't begin until he has been at a church for 3-11 years. The smaller the church, the more frequent the pastoral turnover has been, the longer it takes. For me, when I went to Hebron, it took 7 years before I earned the trust of the congregation enough that I was allowed to provide leadership. Do you see the problem with an average of 4 year pastorates?

I spent 20 years serving that rural church as their bivocational pastor. During that time we did things that churches that size shouldn't be able to do. We made mistakes, but we also enjoyed some wonderful times in ministry. When I left there to join the staff in our Region I joked that my greatest fear was that they would now learn that they really hadn't needed me for years. I've told people that my greatest contribution to their success was that I hung around. That stability gave them the confidence to take risks and do ministry.

Let me be very blunt. I do not believe God is so confused that He does not know where His ministers are supposed to serve. How many times have you heard a pastor say, "God has called me to this place," and four years (or less) later announce that "God has called me to accept a call to ________ church." Maybe it's just me, but that sounds like a very confused God. Does God call ministers to serve elsewhere at times? Yes, He does, but for some pastors their ministries are like revolving doors.

Too many ministers never unpack all their boxes. They leave things boxed up because they know they're going to be leaving soon anyway. As a judicatory minister I had pastors call me before their first anniversary in their church asking for my assistance in helping them move. This was not due to problems in the church. They simply wanted to move on to a larger church. I never helped any of them move to another church.

A book that greatly influenced my ministry was The Heart of a Great Pastor by H. B. London, Jr. and Neil Wiseman. I had the privilege of meeting H. B. at a leadership conference where we were both speaking after the book came out. One of the things I've heard H. B. say is if you are serving in a great church it is because someone stayed there to make it a great church, and if you are not serving in a great church perhaps God has called you there for such a time as this to stay and make it a great church. I believe there is a lot of truth in that.

Many pastors will retire after 30 years in ministry, look back and realize they never had a 30-year ministry, they had ten 3-year ministries, none of which accomplished much. What a sad realization that will be. We often hear, bloom where you are planted. I think this is good advice for those of us called to ministry.

Taking the long view in ministry

 I made a mistake a couple of years ago. (I know that's hard to believe!) In an effort to remove a few books from my library I sent my copy of The Clock of the Long Now to the Salvation Army. In case you are not familiar with this clock, it is a clock designed to keep time for 10,000 years. You can read about the clock online, but the book builds on this clock in an effort to help people see the value of a long-time perspective in all they do. I wish I still had the book because I feel the need to re-read it.

We live in a hurry-up world where speed is of the essence. I will admit to the reader that I am not a person with great patience. I often joke that I believe microwaves are much too slow. I prefer everything to move at light speed. My early ministry reflected that mindset which caused me a lot of frustration. One of the blessings I received by spending 20 years as pastor of Hebron Baptist Church was that it taught me that anything worthwhile would take longer than I thought it should. I doubt that those pastors whose pastoral tenure lasts more than 3-4 years ever learn that.

In his classic Your God is too Small, J. B. Phillips writes, "It is refreshing, and salutary, to study the poise and quietness of Christ. His task and responsibility might well have driven a man out of his mind. But He was never in a hurry, never impressed by numbers, never a slave of the clock. He was acting, He said, as he observed God to act - never in a hurry."

Phillips is right. God is never in a hurry. Our Lord Jesus Christ had such a short time to accomplish all He was given to accomplish, yet we never find Him in a hurry. He always found time to address the needs He encountered, and He still accomplished the purpose for which He came to earth to fulfill.

I am not advocating that we in the ministry waste time, but it is also time that we step back and recognize that God does not move at our pace. So many times I felt frustrated because the congregation didn't understand the vision I tried to share with them. I forgot that it takes time for God to reveal that to them as He had revealed it to me. Yes, I will even admit that there were times I was frustrated with God that He wasn't moving as quickly as I would prefer! (I can't say enough about how wrong that is!)

Sometimes I wish ministers would be called to a church where they would spend their entire lives serving that congregation and community. Yet, I also know that there are times when God calls us elsewhere to use our gifts in a different setting. I will say that I doubt that happens every 3-4 years, but I suppose that's my opinion. Long-term ministries help us see the value in taking a long-term perspective in what we are doing. It would also help us see all that God had done in our churches and in our own lives during that period of time.

I want to encourage those in ministry to commit to the place where you are serving. Don't leave just because things are difficult. Don't leave because it's hard to get people to understand your vision. You might leave just as God is getting ready to make a break-through in that church. H. B. London, Jr. once reminded us that if we are serving in a great church it was because someone stayed there long enough to make it a great church, and if we are serving in a place that wasn't so good it might be that God was calling us to stay there until we made it a great place. 

Bloom where you are planted

One of my ministry heroes was H. B. London, Jr. H. B. was a cousin of James Dobson, and after retiring from active pastoral ministry became the director of a division in Focus on the Family addressing needs of pastors. I had the privilege of sharing the stage with him in a leadership conference back in the early 2000s and having lunch with him during that conference. He wrote a number of excellent books in the 1990s which I still have in my library.

H. B. believed that pastors needed to sink roots down in the place where they were serving. Like me, I think he believed that too many pastors are too anxious to move to larger places of service the first opportunity they get to do so. As a result, their ministries and that of the churches they serve never experience the positive benefits that come from long-term pastoral leadership.

He understood the pressures of ministry and how difficult some churches can be, but he also understood that abandoning such places does nothing to improve them. One of the things he wrote in one book was that if you are serving in a good place it is because someone stayed there long enough to make it a good place. And, if you are serving in a difficult place perhaps God has placed you there to make it a good place, and that will take time.

This really resonates with me. I went to a small, rural church that had voted whether to close its doors or try one more pastor, a fact that was not told to me until after I had gone there. Things were not easy those first few years. Their average pastoral tenure prior to me was 12 months, and it had been that way for many years. I had been there about six months when I heard people were already wondering when I would leave them. I stayed 20 years and we saw many wonderful things happen during that time. We accomplished things many people said we could never do. When I left I reminded the congregation of many of the things we had accomplished and explained that my main contribution to any of that was that I hung around.

God can do amazing things even in difficult places, but it's hard to do much when the leader keeps disappearing. If you had a family in your church whose husband and father kept leaving every 2-3 years you would say that family was dysfunctional. It would also be a family carrying a lot of pain. I doubt that any of us realize the amount of pain some churches feel because of the frequency with which their pastors abandon them.

If you want to have a better church to serve, then remain where you are and make it better. Instead of asking God to move you somewhere else, bloom where you are planted. Maybe your difficulties are what God wants to use to change you, and if you keep running from those difficulties He will never be able to make the changes in your life He wants to make.

I encourage you to fall in love with the congregation God has given you. Pour yourself into those people and provide servant-leadership to them. A person who truly loves his or her spouse doesn't spend time looking over the shoulder to see if there is someone better. A pastor who loves his or her congregation isn't going to be checking out open churches to see if there might be a better one.

Churches can change if....

One of the most common misconceptions about churches is that they are opposed to change. While it's true that many churches are change-resistant it is not true that they will not change. There are many reasons for their resistance, and if the pastor and other leaders understand these reasons they are more likely to lead their churches in significant change.

Churches are resistant to change when they do not trust their leaders to lead that change. One of the primary reasons for this lack of trust, especially in smaller churches, is the rapid pastoral turnover many of them experience. Why allow a pastor to lead a change effort when he or she is unlikely to remain there for more than 2-4 years? As an Resource Minister in our region who worked with many pastor church committees I was often frustrated by the large number of pastor profiles and resumes I received that showed a track record of changing churches every 2-4 years. It was no wonder these pastors seldom accomplished anything of significance in their ministries.

If you want to successfully lead change in your church you must be willing to commit to being there for an extended period of time. It can take up to five years for a change to become part of a church's DNA, and if you aren't willing to commit to seeing that happen it is unlikely you will lead that church in any significant change.

Another common reason leaders are unsuccessful in leading change is that they fail to create a sense of urgency for the change. John Kotter, in his excellent book Leading Change, was the first to highlight that for me. Without that sense of urgency people are not interested in changing as they see so real value or need for the change.

The first thing a leader must do is to demonstrate what is likely to happen if the change does not occur and the advantages the church can experience if the change does occur. Until the rewards for the change surpass the costs of the change, they are going to be resistant to any suggested change.

I would encourage every pastor and church leader to read Kotter's book as he lists several more things that need to happen for effective change to occur. In the meantime, commit to remaining at your church for an extended period of time and identify ways to create a sense of urgency around the change. You are likely to find your church more willing to implement that change.

Are you sure God is calling you to another church?

As many of you know, I served my church as pastor for 20 years before leaving to accept a new ministry with our judicatory. This is one reason I am supportive of long pastorates. Another reason is that research consistently finds it takes 3-11 years for a pastor to effectively lead his or her church. Few small churches enjoy those kinds of pastorates, and that is one reason many of them struggle. It's hard to be a healthy, growing church when you're looking for a new pastor every couple of years.

In a 2004 survey I did of bivocational pastors I found the average tenure was slightly over four years for these pastors. That's still not long enough. It took me about seven years to earn the trust of our congregation before I was able to become a leader in that church. I have found that the smaller the church and the more frequent pastor turn-over they have, the longer it takes for a pastor to become a leader in that church

In my judicatory ministry of 14 years there were churches I helped find pastors 2-3 times. This was frustrating to the church and very demoralizing to their self-esteem. They couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with them that no pastor would stay. In some cases, the church was as fault, and in two of those situations I refused to help the church search for another pastor until they addressed the problems in their church. However, in most of these situations the church was not dysfunctional and was calling pastors who were always looking for the next open church that was a little bigger and offered better salaries.

These pastors always began their new ministries claiming God had brought them to these churches, and then 2-3 years later, when they announced they were resigning to accept another church they again claimed God was leading them. I'm sorry, but I don't believe God is that confused! I really question whether God leads people to jump from church to church every time a larger church becomes available. I wish these pastors would stop with the religious speak and just admit they want to move to a larger church. Stop blaming God for your decisions!

Certainly, God does call people to new ministries. There are times when a pastor is serving in a situation that is so toxic that the pastor needs to get out of there. There are also times when a pastor has done all he or she can do in a church and needs to step aside so a new pastor with different gifts and skill-sets can come in. However, this will seldom happen in 2-3 years.

Don't leave a church because things aren't going your way. Don't leave because some people oppose what you're trying to do. Learn to work with them. You need to know that whereever you go you will find people who will oppose new ideas. These people have family members in every church! I've read that the average pastor leaves a church because of seven people in the church who do not like the pastor or what he or she is trying to accomplish. This is regardlesss of how many other support the pastor. Don't let seven people control your ministry.

Smaller churches need long-term pastorates who will help them pursue God's vision for their church. If you will commit to being that pastor you will reap tremendous blessings.

Is your church a great place to serve?

I'm always saddened when I talk with a pastor who has little good to say about his or her church. After serving in denominational ministry for several years I know there are some very dysfunctional churches out there. Some go beyond dysfunctional into the category of mean. Others are not dysfunctional or mean; they are just scared. They are so frightened that they might close that they become very resistant to new ideas. This frustrates the pastor who wants to lead them to a better place.

On the other hand, it is a joy to talk with a pastor who cannot say enough good things about his or her church. This past week I was speaking with a pastor who told me that last year the church set a record for giving and saw a large growth in membership. A few years ago this church allowed him to become bivocational, and it is working well for both the church and for him and his family.

A few weeks earlier I was talking with a pastor of a small church who told me they had baptized eight people that morning. Their little, rural church, led by a bivocational pastor, is having a great season of ministry.

Around the same time I was talking to someone who told me about the ministry of another church. This small church had an average attendance of about three dozen people a few years ago when they called a bivocational pastor. Today, they average well over 100 people every Sunday. They have developed an exciting youth ministry and are heavily involved in ministry to their community. They have expanded their parking and their facility.

These three churches all share a few commonalities.  One, they are served by bivocational pastors. Two, they were all much smaller churches prior to their current pastor's arrival. Three, all of these pastors are serving in their first pastorate. Fourth, these pastors have all been in their churches for several years.

Several years ago I read a book that had a great impact on my life and ministry,The Heart of a Great Pastor: How to Grow Stronger and Thrive Wherever God Has Planted You by H. B. London, Jr. and Neil Wiseman.  They wrote, "Most desirable places were difficult until a previous pastor loved the church into greatness. Face it - few Camelots exist in the ministry."

Elsewhere in the book they wrote, "Every assignment is holy ground because Jesus gave Himself for the people who live there. Every place is important because God wants you to accomplish something supernatural there. Every situation is special because ministry is needed there. Like Queen Esther, you have come to the Kingdom for a time like this."

Is your church a great place to serve? If so, it is because someone before you helped it become such a place. If not, then perhaps God has called you there to make it a great place. If that is the case, put down roots and plan to stay there until it becomes a great place of ministry. Outlive your critics and church controllers. Love your people and pray for them. Keep your eyes upon the One Who called you to this place and His vision for what this church can become. Do these things, and one day something supernatural will occur. The church will experience a spiritual breakthrough and wonderful things will begin to happen in and through the ministry of the church you serve.

Ministry for the long haul

We often read that half of recent seminary graduates will leave the ministry within five years after graduation. Going into ministry used to be considered a life-long calling, but we see increasing numbers of people leaving the ministry well before retirement. There are many reasons for this, which we will not explore in this post, but what can a person do to make it more likely that he or she will remain in the ministry for an extended period of time? There are several things that can help.

• Commit to being a life-long learner. Anyone who believes that his or her education ends at graduation doesn't understand the realities of the 21st century. We must continually sharpen the tools God has given us if we want to serve new generations. It doesn't take long to become irrelevant or out of touch so it's imperative that we continue to expand our knowledge base.
• Set reasonable boundaries. Many ministers are people pleasers, and it's difficult to tell someone no. You can easily find yourself working 60-70 hour weeks just trying to meet the various requests people make of you, but such a schedule is not sustainable over the long-haul. There will be times when such workloads are necessary, but you will find yourself getting into trouble if they become normal for you.
• Develop a prayer team. One of the best things that happened to me when I was a pastor was when a group of leaders came to ask if we could meet each week for a time of prayer. Prior to our Sunday evening service we met. Each person present would begin to pray for me, my wife, and our church. It was one of the turning points in the life of our congregation, and it was a tremendous blessing to my wife and me.
• Have the support of your family. As a judicatory minister I have seen clergy families separate and even divorce because the minister's spouse became fed up with ministry life. Sometimes this was due to a sense of feeling neglected for the ministry. One pastor's wife told a counselor that if her husband was cheating on her with another woman, she could address that, but what can she do when his mistress was the church? There are other times when the minister isn't doing anything wrong, but the spouse decides that living in a ministry fish bowl is no longer tolerable. We all have also heard stories of pastor's kids getting into trouble and rebelling against the church. It's important for ministers and their families to have regular discussions about any issues that ministry may be creating in the family and address those issues immediately.
• Request a fair salary and benefit package. It is not uncommon for family issues to revolve around finances. Scripture is clear that believers are to provide for their families, and there is no exception for those in ministry. More than a few pastors have left the ministry in order to provide for their family financially. I realize this can be a difficult subject for many pastors to address with their churches, but we must learn to advocate for ourselves. Each minister's family must decide what is needed for them to live comfortably, and that information then needs to be shared with the appropriate people. Sometimes the church just needs to have that information and is quite willing to meet that need. Sometimes they cannot afford to do so. At this point some discussion needs to occur about the possibility of going bivocational, or you may need to find another place of service that can meet the financial needs of your family. Ignoring the financial aspect of ministry and family will eventually cause the minister to leave the ministry.
• Develop friendships and interests outside the ministry. For several years I owned a bass boat and enjoyed fishing. My wife and I would even fish in some local tournaments. I have owned a motorcycle which we would ride just to get away. One year we even rode it 2700 miles on vacation. I still enjoy golfing and going to the beach on vacation. I enjoy going to auctions, and, as many of you know, two years ago got my auctioneer license and started an auction business. The ministry is serious business and deserves our best efforts, but if that is all we do it will soon eat us up. Having interests outside the ministry helps being balance into our lives and keeps us fresh.

There are many more things that could be added, but these should suffice for now. It's important that we make a commitment to the ministry to which God has called us, see it as a life-long calling, and then identify the things we can do to help make that a reality.

Pastoral transitions

One of the toughest decisions a minister must make is knowing if it is time to leave his or her present place of ministry for another.  Of course, sometimes the church makes that decision for the minister eliminating any confusion on the part of the minister.  But, most of us will struggle with this decision at times in our ministerial lives, and it has been well said that it is the loneliest decision a minister must make.

Some ministers do not seem to struggle too much with deciding to move.  They do it so often that they never unpack most of their belongings and have a discount plan with their moving company.  You can count on these individuals changing churches about every 2-3 years or whenever they find an open church that appears to be a move up the ministerial ladder of success.  I consider these persons to be hirelings, not pastors, and nothing I say in this post is likely to influence them.

For many of us, it is a struggle.  We don't want to leave too soon and miss out on something God is planning for our church, and yet we don't want to stay when we have nothing more to offer.  In yesterday's post I mentioned John Maxwell's book Good Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership.  As I was reading it today I came across a chapter that addresses this very issue.  One of the things in the book that really connected with me was a statement Maxwell shared from Elmer Towns, co-founder of Liberty University, "Don't leave something; go to something."

In about my 18th year as pastor of my bivocational church I felt that my time there was about over.  There had been various times during those years when I had felt that previously and had even interviewed with a handful of churches, but after those interviews I just didn't feel called to leave when I was serving.  All of those churches were larger than the one I was in, and several of them had much more growth potential than our rural church had, but I just didn't feel led to leave.  This time was different.  I knew my time there was over.  What I didn't know was what my next place of ministry would be.

About a year later the Executive Minister of our region called asking if I would be willing to serve part-time as an interim Area Minister.  The person in that position was leaving for another ministry.  It was anticipated that the search for a new person would take about a year, and they needed someone to serve during that interim period.  My duties would be limited since I was pastoring a church, but I would be able to do many of the tasks our Area Ministers were doing.  After taking a weekend to pray about it and discuss it with my wife I accepted.  Several months later the region began accepting applications, and I was told that I could submit one if I wanted to.  At the end of that search process I was selected for the position.

Submitting that application was a scary moment.  After serving the church for nearly 20 years I knew I could do that standing on my head.  I didn't know if I could do regional ministry.  I lacked the education and many of the experiences others on our staff had.  I could easily fail, but I also knew God was calling me to this new role, and I had to accept it.  Nearly 14 years later I am still serving in this ministry.

It was very difficult to announce my leaving to the church, but it was helpful to know that I was not leaving something; I was going to something.  The church was as healthy as it had been in decades.  We had a new fellowship building under construction that was being paid for in donations.  Our mission giving was strong.  There were no issues in the congregation.  I wasn't leaving problems; I was going to a new ministry that God had been preparing me for.

As you consider making a transition in your ministry ask yourself if you are leaving something or going to something.  If you are only wanting to leave, you may need to check your motives.  If you are going to something, you may be on the right track for making such a transition.

Understanding relationships in the small church

The small church is often referred to as a "family church."  Quite often, a handful of families make up the majority of those who attend a church.  I know of one church with four primary families who have made up the bulk of the membership for decades.    Sometimes only one family provides most of the members.  In one church almost three quarters of the members come from one family.  Unfortunately, if there are problems in one of the families there are often problems in the church.

There is another reason these churches are known as family churches.  They function much like a family.  There is often a matriarch or patriarch, sometimes for each family represented in the church, that everyone looks to for guidance.  If these folks are not present, it is not uncommon for decisions to be deferred until they return.  Votes are unlikely to be taken until their input is received.

One of the key principles that pastors need to know about small churches is that everything in these churches is built upon relationships.  All the leadership skills and seminary training in the world will not help a pastor if he or she does not build good relationships with the people in a small church.  Regardless of your title, you are not the leader of that church; the family is, and until you are adopted into the family you will be an outsider.  You are invited to give input and recommendations, but you will not be a leader in that church until the patriarchs and matriarchs adopt you into the family.

I once had a young pastor call asking me to assist him in finding a new church.  He had been at his present church less than a year.  When I asked why he wanted to leave he said that no one wanted to do anything he suggested.  I asked him why he thought they should.  I explained that he had not been at the church long enough to build relationships with the people, he had not yet earned their trust, so he should not be surprised that he was not able to lead them.  This was a church that treated him well and had made a substantial investment in his ministry.  They wanted him to succeed as their pastor, but he refused to spend time with the people and build much needed relationships with them.  A few months later he left for a staff ministry position in another church, and a couple of years after that was out of the ministry.  New pastors must spend substantial time building relationships with the people in the church if they want to enjoy a productive ministry.

It's also important to know that these relationships impact any change efforts that may be suggested.  One of the first things people want to know when a change is suggested is how will it affect the relationships that exist in the church.  A pastor once invited me to speak to the church about its future.  He felt the church may have no more than ten years left if it didn't change some things and begin to reach new people.  I preached and offered to assist them in identifying some changes they might need to make.  After the service we had a Q&A time which went well until one older lady said, "I was excited about what you were saying until you said if we make changes we might lose some of the people we now have.  When you said that, I looked around and didn't see anyone I was willing to give up."  When she said that I noticed several others shaking their heads in agreement, and I knew they were not going to be open to even looking at change.

To build the relationships you need to enjoy a productive ministry in a small church you have to be willing to stay there.  As most of you know, I served as the bivocational pastor of our small church for twenty years.  Our church enjoyed some very positive ministry especially later in my pastorate.  I've often said the only thing I can take credit for was that I stayed there long enough to build relationships with the people.  We learned to trust one another, to forgive one another, and to work together to accomplish wonderful things for the Kingdom of God.  We laughed together, we cried together, we worked together and played together like a family.  We were family.

Think twice before leaving your present place of ministry

A few weeks ago I spent some time with a pastor that was struggling with his call to the church he had served for the past several years.  A few years ago there were some in the church who wanted to remove him as their pastor, but he survived their efforts.  However, things have not been good for him since that time.  Some of the folks who wanted a new pastor found one by leaving their church, but others remained behind.  The pastor said things had not improved since that struggle, and it was evident that the situation was wearing on him.  He was seriously considering seeking a new place to serve.

I could certainly understand his feelings, but I cautioned him to think about some things before making that decision.  Perhaps if you're thinking of leaving your current ministry my suggestions to him may help you.

• Pastors never escape their problems by going to another church.  Every church has people who seem to think it is their spiritual gift to make things difficult for the pastor.  At the most, you may enjoy a brief honeymoon, but sooner or later you'll meet kinfolk of those you were trying to escape in your new church.
• Sometimes problems indicate a significant breakthrough is about to happen.  The enemy of the church can sense when something significant is about to happen and will do everything in his power to prevent it.  If you leave you may miss out on a major spiritual breakthrough in your church, and the church may miss it as well by your leaving.  Some of the worst problems we had in the church I served were followed by major breakthroughs.
• The problem you may be wanting to escape may be the one thing God wants to use to shape you for greater ministry responsibilities.  I have found that God has done most of his work on my character when I was going through situations I would have never chosen for myself.  As painful as they were at the time, they were the springboard that prepared me for greater ministry responsibilities.
• Smaller churches, especially, are used to seeing their pastors flee every time things become a little difficult.  We wonder why these churches are often resistant to change, and this is one of the reasons.  Too many times in the past they have agreed to some change, and when problems or conflict arose as a result of the change the pastor took off.  These churches need a pastor who will stay and fight the good fight to see needed changes occur in the church.
• Studies have found that a longer pastorate often leads to a more effective ministry.  In a smaller church it often takes several years for a pastor to earn the trust of the congregation necessary to provide the leadership that it needs to move forward.  Too often, these churches never have a pastor stay long enough for that to happen.  Many pastors will retire after spending 30 years in the ministry and realize they didn't have a 30 year ministry; they had 10 three year ministries, and none of them had any significant impact.
• It's OK to quit; just don't tell anyone.  As I shared with that pastor, the folks at my church had no idea how many times on Monday morning I quit as their pastor.  I just had the good sense to not tell anyone, and by the end of the week I was feeling better about the situation.  One thing a pastor does not want to do is to get mad about something and quit on the spot.  Sometimes a few days and some conversations make everything look a little different.

None of this means that there is never a good reason to seek a new place of ministry.  Obviously, there are many good reasons, but my concern is for those pastors who leave their church without a good reason.  If God called you to that place of ministry you need to make real sure he is now calling you to another place to serve before you leave.

Let's not ignore the rural church

In recent months I've read numerous blog posts and articles about the new church planting strategy of many denominations.  That strategy focuses on large urban areas in an effort to reach the largest numbers of people.  As more and more people are moving to the large cities it just makes sense that denominations will focus their church planting efforts and resources on those cities.  The problem with this strategy is that it ignores the rural areas and small towns that dot our nation's countryside and acts as if the people who live in those places are inconsequential to the Kingdom of God.  As you might imagine, I don't agree with that at all.

Sixty percent of all Protestant churches in America average 60 people or less on Sunday morning.  Many people look at these churches as dead or dying with little to offer, and for too many of these churches this is true.  But, there are other ways of looking at many of these churches.  They are well positioned to have an impact on the lives of people far larger than their size might indicate.  The missing element in these churches has often been a lack of good, long-term leadership and a lack of any kind of God-given vision for ministry.  Without these two things most churches will drift along without purpose or impact including the smaller, rural churches that too many want to write off today.

Studies have demonstrated for several years that many pastors refuse to serve in such churches.  For numerous reasons seminary trained pastors view these churches as beneath them.  They do not offer the facilities, the opportunities, the prestige, and, let's admit it, the salaries and benefits these pastors are seeking.  When the smaller, rural church comes calling they can spiritualize their reasons for refusing to go there, but in reality they often never really gave that potential call any real consideration.  Denominational leaders do not encourage their better pastors to consider these churches either, and in fact may discourage them from going to such churches as it could harm the pastor's opportunities for further advancement in ministry.

As the pastor of a small, rural church for twenty years and now a judicatory leader for the past thirteen years I have seen the problems and potential of smaller churches up close and personal.  I have seen the problems that result from inadequate leadership and the absence of vision, and I have seen the amazing potential some of these churches have achieved when both good leadership and vision were present.  I know of churches sitting in the middle of corn fields that continue to experience amazing growth year after year.  To ignore the possibilities that exist in the rural and small town communities is a mistake.

I've begun reading Transforming Church in Rural America by Shannon O'Dell.  It tells the story of his reluctance to accept a call to a small, rural church in which he saw few possibilities and how that church has now grown to become a multi-campus church of several thousand people with national and global outreach.  I've only started the book, but so far it has been a fascinating story of challenges, resistance, and reluctant change on the part of the congregation.  I'm looking forward to reading of the obvious breakthroughs that allowed such a transformation of that church to occur.

Do I believe every small church can accomplish what O'Dell's congregation has achieved?  No, and perhaps that demonstrates a lack of faith on my part.  What I do believe is that many of the smaller churches found in rural and small town communities can transform into significant ministries in their communities in accordance to the plans that God has for each church.  I also believe that serving in these churches is a worthy calling of God on a person's life that should not be ignored just because it appears to be an insignificant ministry, and I further believe that denominations must not ignore these churches either.  Put resources into planting new churches in the larger cities if you choose, but if denominations continue to ignore the possibilities many of their smaller churches offer they will find that God will do an end-run around those denominations and raise up ministries in those churches they did not believe possible.  When that happens, those denominations that ignored their smaller churches for decades should not be surprised when these churches ignore them in the future.

Finishing well

I recently read that one study found that a very high percentage of pastors had ministries that did not end well.  This past weekend I had the privilege of attending a retirement party for one pastor whose ministry did end well.  It spanned over 40 years and included pastoring the same church (the one from which he recently retired from) three times.  In between those pastorates he had several very successful interim pastorates.  His church would not hold the expected crowd so his retirement celebration was held at the local school.  I would estimate the invitation-only dinner crowd at 150-200 people, and I do not know how many people came for the open house earlier in the day.  This individual was not only pastor to his church but to the entire community.

Three denominational leaders, including myself, spoke of our relationship with this pastor and his wife.  Each of us had been profoundly impacted by his ministry and his friendship.  One summed up this pastor's ministry by noting that he had never seen him act in any way but pastoral.  He did not mean by that comment that the pastor had merely acted pastoral, but that he was pastoral.  My experience with him is the same.

My friend never pastored a megachurch nor did he serve in some large metropolitan area. His was a median size church located in a small community surrounded by farm land. He never wrote a book, although he tells me he is writing one now. He was never a featured speaker at a church growth conference. He just went about his ministry serving the people God entrusted to him. When we would eat lunch together everyone we saw wanted to speak to him. He was indeed the pastor to the community.

It is exciting to see a pastor have this kind of impact on his or her church and community.  One can only imagine how many people his ministry has impacted over the course of his ministry.  When it was his turn to speak the words did not come easily.  He was obviously humbled by the love demonstrated in that room and very quickly reminded people that anything he had ever done in ministry was possible only through the power of God in his life.  Reflecting on the evening later I could only sum it up by noting that he was one who has finished well.

I would think every minister wants to finish well, but we need to remember that such an ending to our ministries does not happen by accident.  There are simply too many opportunities over the course of a long ministry to get tripped up.  We can fail to grow and develop as leaders and fail to lead our churches in the vision God has for them.  We can stop learning and fall prey to outdated ideas and ways of thinking.  We can not understand the changes that occur in society and become irrelevant.  We can become isolated and find ourselves involved in behaviors that will wreck our lives and ministries. 

If we want to finish well we must intentionally plan to do so.  We must intentionally seek growth opportunities.  We must learn what is happening in our neighborhoods and in the lives of people and address them from a biblical perspective.  We must commit ourselves to learning new skills that will improve our ministries.  We must develop boundaries that will guide our behavior.  We must maintain balance in the important areas of life - God, Family, Ministry, and Self-Care.  If we do these things we can enjoy a good end to our own ministries.

My friend's ministry really hasn't ended.  He reminded me that night to keep him in mind if I have churches that need someone to fill the pulpit on a Sunday or perhaps even need an interim pastor.  He said that he believes he still has some good ministry left in him.  And, that's the way to finish well.

Pastors can try too hard

Most people who know me personally know that I am a very goal-oriented person who is not the most patient person when it comes to seeing things accomplished.  I often think microwaves take way too long.  One of the lessons I learned as a bivocational pastor was that anything of significance that would happen in a church would probably take much longer than I wanted it to.  When I saw something that needed changed I wanted it to change right then, and, of course, that is not the way it normally works in a smaller church.  I also learned that the more I pushed change the more it was resisted.  I had to learn to work within the existing structures of the church and attempt to change those structures when possible, but until changes were made it was necessary to not try to work around that structure.  Once I learned that lesson I found that we were able to accomplish much more in our church with a lot less stress.

I visit with a number of pastors who are still trying to learn that lesson.  These pastors are usually tired, frustrated, discouraged, and often feel like they've been whipped.  Some express an interest in leaving their church for another one that might be more open to ministry, and some are ready to leave ministry all together.  These are usually good people with a great heart for God and a vision to see their church do more than it's currently doing, but they have grown weary with the resistance they've experienced to many of the suggestions they've made.  If I question the ones who mention they would like a new place of service, many of them admit they are just tired.  Perhaps another church would be more receptive to their ideas.  At least they could enjoy the honeymoon period.  What I try to explain to these pastors, and they already know it, is that they are going to run into the same opposition in almost any church they go to.  Going to a new church only results in having to start over again.  It's often better to remain at the current church and continue to build up credibility with the congregation so that it will become more receptive to your leadership.

However, in order for this to work, many pastors need to change the way they go about their work.  At least in my denominational tribe, trying to force ideas on people is like trying to push a rope.  It simply will not work.  Some pastors simply try too hard to push their congregations to do things they are not yet ready to do.  This can lead to tragic consequences, not the least of which is the pastor being terminated and/or the congregation being split causing the church to gain a bad reputation in the community.

One of the things pastors of smaller churches must learn is that just because God gives one a vision of what can be doesn't mean that now is God's time for that to happen.  God gave Moses the vision to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, but that didn't occur for forty years, and think of all the opposition Moses encountered during that time.  You may have a vision for a new ministry in your church, but a lot may have to happen before that vision becomes a reality.  I believe our task as ministers is not to make that ministry happen but to lead our congregation to the place where it becomes a reality.  We can wear ourselves out trying to do new things in our churches or we can lead our people in the process of bringing those things to pass.  Which of the two options do you think will be most successful and create the least amount of stress in the lives of the minister and the church?

We give lip service to the claim that Christ is the head of the church, but many in pastoral ministry act like they are.  They scurry about trying to make things happen in the church instead of allowing God to bring these changes and ministries to pass in His time.  By this I do not mean that we have no role or that we are to just sit back and wait on God to do something.  We are to talk about what we believe God wants to do in and through our churches.  We are to challenge the people to consider making needed changes.  We are to lead our people in prayer about those changes and work with them to explore all the possibilities associated with it.  Yes, it will take longer than most of us prefer, but if it does come to pass it will be because in God's perfect timing He brought it to pass, and in that scenario it will probably be a much more successful change than if we have somehow forced it through on our own efforts.

My last act of leadership at our church before I resigned was to lead them into a building program to build a new fellowship building.  We had talked about it for a few years and started a building fund to begin raising money towards a new building.  A committee was formed to explore our options.  We needed to purchase a small tract of land, and after over a year of negotiating we finally was able to get an easement on the parcel we needed.  An architect was hired to draw us a model of what we said we wanted.  He gave us an estimate of what he felt it would cost which was more than some in our church felt we could afford.  Nevertheless, after a few years of discussing this and working on the details our congregation voted to build the building.  We wanted to see how committed people were about this project so I called for a special offering on a selected Sunday, and that morning our congregation of 50 people contributed over $50,000 to the new building project.  With that gift and what we already had in our building fund we had nearly one-third of the estimated cost.  At that point I challenged the church to build the building without borrowed funds, and we broke ground with that goal.  As the sub floor was finished I announced I was resigning to accept another ministry position.  Some worried about the building, and I assured them it would be built.  A year later it was completed debt-free.

I am convinced it I had tried to force the church to move forward on the building when we first began talking about it we would have never built it.  As it was, there was no opposition to the building, and there was obviously much support for it.  Despite people's misgivings about the cost and my encouragement to build it without borrowing any money, it happened.  I am convinced it happened because everything was done according to God's timetable, not mine or anyone else's.

Pastors, let's learn to provide the leadership we've been called to provide and trust God with the final results of our efforts.  When we try too hard to make things happen it only leads to problems.  When we trust God to bring things to pass in His time good things happen.

Why you may feel led to leave your place of ministry

I admit that I am a little biased about long-term pastors.  As many of you know, I served one church as a bivocational pastor for twenty years before believing that God was calling me to judicatory ministry.  Depending on the particular survey, the average pastoral tenure is normally about 3-4 years, especially in smaller churches.  This simply is not enough time for a pastor to enjoy an effective ministry in his or her church.  In one of my pastor workshops I comment that many pastors will reach the end of a thirty year ministry and realize they really didn't have a thirty year ministry; they had 10 three year ministries, and none of them were especially memorable.  Studies have found that growing churches are nearly always led by pastors who have invested several years in that congregation, and the growth is a return on that investment.

When pastors announce they are leaving their current place of ministry it is usually for another church.  They tell their congregation that they feel God has called them to this new place.  But, isn't that the same thing they told their last congregation only three years earlier?  Is God confused about where He wants them?  I think God gets blamed for a lot of decisions that are really the result of frustration, burn-out, laziness, the lure of a larger church with comparable income, or the desire of a spouse who wants to be anywhere but where they are.  However, having said all that, there are several valid reasons why a pastor will want to change his or her ministry.

• You may be called to a different type of ministry.  That is what happened to me.  God opened up a door for me to serve in a region-wide ministry that also allowed me to continue to focus on resourcing bivocational ministers and the churches they served.  Someone else may be called from a pastorate to a teaching ministry or asked to lead a para-church organization.  Any of these could certainly be a valid reason to leave your current place of ministry.
• Your church does not share your vision for ministry.  A pastor who is especially gifted in evangelism will struggle in a church that wants their pastor to serve as a chaplain.  A minister who whose vision is for a missional church will not fit well with a church that is maintenance-minded with no desire to change.  Too often, pastors and churches find they are not good fits for one another, and it's usually best if the pastor leaves when that occurs.
• You have financial needs that cannot be met by your present church.  Some churches want to spiritualize their inadequate salary and benefit packages by questioning the motivation of the minister.  Maybe someone should question the spirituality of a church that doesn't tithe and refuses to provide a decent salary and benefits.  The fact is that ministers and their families are entitled to live as comfortably as others within their congregation, and a church that refuses to treat their pastor fairly in this area should not be surprised when the pastor leaves for another church or secular job to provide for his or her family.
• You or your spouse develops health problems.  Little needs to be said about this reason.
• You are in serious conflict with people within your church.  No pastor should run at the first sign of disagreements in the church.  If a minister attempts to lead he or she is going to run into challenges with people.  However, some churches are filled with controllers who are determined to oppose anything that threatens their power of position in the church.  No one in the congregation will stand up to them, and if the pastor tries to do so he or she will find themselves abandoned and at the mercy of the controllers.  Such churches are usually so toxic that no pastor can serve there.

If any of these exist in your situation it does not mean that you must leave your church, but if you find that despite repeated attempts to correct the problem it may be an indication that it is time to begin asking God to open up new doors of ministry opportunities.  You can read more about this in my book The Bivocational Pastor: Two Jobs, One Ministry.

Your system is perfectly designed for the results you are getting.

This past weekend I met with leadership groups of two different churches.  One has recently added new staff, doing innovative ministry, and growing very rapidly.  The other church has struggled for the past few years and resembles many of our churches.  One comment I made to both churches is that their system is perfectly designed for the results they are getting.  The one church has systems in place that encourages growth while the other has systems that limit growth.  This is true of all churches.

Because it's true I share it with those who attend my various workshops, and sometimes I get some push back from the pastors in attendance.  They argue that they are in a church that wants to grow but they cite one reason or another why they cannot.  I ask if there are churches in their area that are growing, and almost every time they admit there are.  My response then is that this proves that the reasons they gave why their church can't grow isn't valid since there are growing churches in their communities, and I then repeat my statement that their systems are perfectly designed for the results they are getting.  Our churches are what they are today because of decisions those churches made 5 years ago, 10 years ago, and even 20 years ago.  Those decisions created certain systems in the church, that may have made sense at the time, but now they limit growth in that church.  It is also true that your church will be 5 years from now, 10 years from now, and 20 years from now what they decide today they want to be.  The systems we create in our churches will determine what our churches will look like and what they will be able to do for years to come.  If we want to change the results we are getting we have to first change the systems that influence those results.

An example of this is the decision making process in a church.  We live in a time of rapid change in our society, and the church needs to be able to respond to those changes just as rapidly as they happen.  In many of our churches the decision making process that are followed make this impossible.  Even the most basic decisions often must be assigned to a committee for study, then taken to various boards in the church, and finally presented at a business meeting for a vote by people who have never studied the issue and have only heard a two-minute explanation.  The decision can be blocked by anyone anywhere in the process, and by the time it does come to a vote the need may no longer exist.

Decisions must be made quicker and by the people who are closest to the situation.  That will often be the pastor, staff, or key lay leaders.  My experience in judicatory ministry has shown me that staff-led churches often grow much faster than board-led churches.   This may not be possible in churches with rapid pastoral turnover, but in churches with stable pastoral leadership it is time that church boards cease being managing boards and turn that over to the pastor and his or her staff.  The old board-led structure limits the church's ability to respond rapidly to new needs and limits the church's ministry efforts.   Despite that, it will not be easy for many of these boards to begin operating differently.

I can quickly think of three reasons why this is true.  One would be the church that does suffer from rapid pastoral turnover.  Churches that have new pastors arrive about every 2-3 years are going to be very reluctant to trust these new pastors who know little about the church to make major decisions without board oversight.  This is understandable.  In this case, it is the frequent pastoral turnover that is part of the church's structure that produces poor results, and the cause of this turnover needs to be investigated.  The second reason is unfortunate but needs to be named.  Many boards want to retain their decision making power to control the church.  Being on the board in some churches gives persons a level of power they have nowhere else in their lives.  Such persons see the church as existing to meet the needs of them and their families, and they will not relinquish their decision-making power in fear that they may lose the ability to control the church.  The third reason is just as sad: the board does not trust the pastor and staff to make good decisions for the church.  This be true even in churches with long-term pastors who have demonstrated good leadership skills as they've served the church.  Such faithful service often does not matter in a low-trust church.  In my opinion, this attitude will also have a negative impact on the church's effective ministry.

This is only one piece of the overall structure of a church.  As you spend time looking at how your church is structured, what aspects of that structure promotes growth and ministry and what prevents or limits that ministry?  What needs to be changed about those aspects?  What can you do to effect such change?  Your system is perfectly designed for the results you are getting.  If you are not happy with the results you see in your church you will have to begin changing the aspects of that system that no longer produces the results you want to see.

Do you have the conviction to lead?

I just finished reading Conviction to Lead, The: 25 Principles for Leadership that Matters, the newest book by Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  Although I do not always agree with Dr. Mohler, I found this book to be an excellent look at leadership.  In his first statement he admits that this book is written to get people to change the way they look at leadership.    Mohler wants his reader to understand that at the center of true leadership there must be strong convictions that drive everything the leader does.  In this view, leadership is more than having a plan; it is having a purpose and guiding everything towards the fulfillment of that purpose.

The book consists of twenty-five chapters each of which looks at different aspects of leadership and how convictions impacts each of those aspects.  One of the chapters that was most powerful to me was "The Leader as Decision Maker."  In this chapter Mohler provides a simple structure consisting of six steps to help a leader make decisions.  My guess is that most leaders do not put this level of thought into many of the decisions they make, and that probably explains why so many of them do not work out the way we envisioned.  (Or maybe I'm just talking about myself here.)  To me, this one chapter was worth the price of the book.

Another chapter that was meaningful to me was "Leadership That Endures" in which the author addresses the importance of long-term leadership.  Anyone who has read my writings or attended one of my workshops knows the importance I place in long-term pastorates.  Mohler affirms my own beliefs that organizations, including churches, need long-tenured leadership if they want to make a significant impact.

I judge a book's value by the amount of highlighting and writing in the margins that I do while reading it.  This book has a lot of both.  I found it both informative and helpful to me as a leader, and I would certainly recommend it to my readers.

I have not reviewed too many books in this blog, but that was a regular feature of my monthly e-newsletter I used to send bivocational ministers and others.  That was one feature that many said that they found quite helpful.  Since I ceased writing the newsletter with the December issue, I decided that once a month I would review a recent book I read that I thought would be helpful to my readers.  Please let me know if you find these reviews helpful.

Long-term pastorates

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

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

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

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

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

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

Long term pastors and vision

This is a post that I first published on this blog five years ago that I felt deserved to be repeated for my newer readers.  It points out the value of long-term pastorates.  I would be interested in hearing your reponses to the questions at the end.

I am currently reading The Hidden Lives of Congregations written by Israel Galindo. He writes, "Pastors cannot even begin to formulate a vision until well into their fifth year of ministry at the church...Until a pastor has been at a congregation for at least five years, he or she does not know the congregation well enough to shape a vision."

I was the bivocational pastor of my church for seven years before I was able to lead the church in some new directions. Based on my experience and research by George Barna that shows the most effective years of a pastor's ministry doesn't occur until at least the third year, I believe Galindo is right. What has been your experience? How long did you serve at your church before the congregation recognized your leadership and begin to allow you to cast a vision for the church's ministry?