In yesterday's post I discussed some of the problems I noticed with the motel we stayed in while vacationing last week and how they relate to some of the same problems I sometimes see in churches. I mentioned that the motel looked "tired" when compared to the more modern motels in the area, there was inconsistent cleaning of our rooms, and the free breakfast left a lot to be desired. Today I will address the biggest shocker that completely surprised me.
Shortly after getting into our room I decided to check the Internet connection with my laptop. I was able to immediately gain access to the motel's wifi and had an excellent connection. When I clicked on my homepage another screen appeared informing me Internet service was $24.95 per week. I have stayed in countless motels across the country and have never paid for Internet service. I thought that charge went the way of the dinosaur. My wife asked if I was going to pay for it, and I responded absolutely not. We were on vacation, and if I didn't have it I wouldn't be tempted to do any work. Besides, my phone provides me with Internet and e-mail access so I could still check things if needed, but that doesn't allow me to accomplish much work. One day while sitting by the pool I was reading my NOOK when an elderly lady asked if I had wifi connection. I explained I did not, and she responded she could not believe the motel actually charged to connect to the Internet.
There are at least two problems here that I see. One, nobody likes being nickled-and-dimed. Even your cheapest motels advertise free Internet service; there was no reason this motel feels they have to charge for it. I felt this made the owners look cheap and greedy. We were on vacation so it wasn't absolutely necessary we had Internet service, but what if I had been in town on a working trip? I would have had to pay the fee or move to a different motel that offered free wifi. Since the motel has a 72 hour cancellation policy it would have cost me more to move than to pay the fee, and the owners of the motel know that.
The second problem is that the owners either do not understand or care about how important it is for younger people especially to be connected. I'm 64 and I would judge the woman who asked if I had wifi was maybe 10 years older than me, and it was important to us. Imagine how younger people who are connected 24/7 would feel about being forced to pay additional for Internet service. I can't see how this policy does anything to attract younger clientele to the motel, and I would think that would be a group they would want to reach.
Many younger people also do not understand why churches aren't more involved with modern technology. Being a visual generation they struggle to understand why many churches do not use video technology in their services. They wonder why there is no way for them to connect online with the church or their small group. Studies continue to show that churches that offer online giving opportunities often see an increase in their finances. That's because younger people are used to paying their bills online and do not understand why they can't give to their church the same way. The churches that make that option available will be the churches that will be more apt to reach the younger generation.
I believe every church regardless of size should have a webpage, a blog, and a Facebook account if they are serious about wanting to attract younger people. They probably won't read the newsletter you mail out, but they would likely read your blog. They are unlikely to pick up the bulletin from last Sunday to check on the time of a church event, but they might attend if they are reminded on Facebook. Churches should not claim they want to reach young people if they are not willing to communicate with them in methods they use.
Now that I've addressed the problems I noticed about the motel, will I stay there again? Maybe. See, like someone who has been a member of a church for a long time, I have some history with that motel. I don't know that any of these issues are deal-breakers for me. My wife and I did talk about checking out some other motels in the area before we make reservations again, so we'll have to wait until that time to know whether or not we return to that same motel. But I do know this, if I was driving into Panama City Beach for the first time looking for a place to spend a few days I would drive past that motel to one that looked fresher, and if I was looking online for a place to make reservations and was considering this motel but did not see something promoting free Internet I would continue looking until I found one that did.
Forget what you keep telling yourself about how inviting your church is to outsiders. How inviting is it really? If you want a good way to gauge your answer, how many first-time guests have you had this year and how many of them came back for a second visit? Finally, how many of them are now regularly attending your church. When you answer those questions you will be able to accurately answer the one about how inviting your church is.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
What might keep guests from returning?
Yesterday I mentioned that my wife and I had been on vacation at Panama City Beach. While staying at a motel we've stayed at numerous times before I began to notice some issues that are often found in churches. Some of these issues are likely to go unnoticed by regular members of the church, but guests to the church will notice them and can deter them from returning to the church. I want to look at some of those issues in today's post.
If I could describe the motel in one word it would be "tired." Several years ago a major hurricane damaged many of the building on the beach front, so there have been a number of new high rise motels and condominimuns built to replace the ones that were damaged. Compared to those new structures the motel where we stayed just looked tired. It needed fresh paint. The rail on our balcony had large areas of rust and needed painting. The pool had a different color of paint around its edge, and there were places where the paint had chipped away. Many of the signs around the pool were faded and difficult to read.
The legs on the stove in our room had large rust places that had eaten away at the enamel. The mitred corners on one picture frame in the living room had come apart and needed to be reglued. While our room was comfortable, it too looked a little tired. I really believe that if someone came to PCB and was looking for a place to stay based on the appearance of the property, most would pass by the motel where I stayed for one that looked fresher and more modern.
As one who is in a lot of churches in a year's time I can say that some of them look tired as well. A fresh coat of paint, maybe some new carpet, and some quality landscaping would do wonders for many church properties. When churches are allowed to look tired it sends a message to outsiders that says the people lack pride in their facilities and just don't care any more. If the members don't care, why should the non-members?
A second frustration we had was with the maid service. Quite frankly, we need little in the way of maid service. Our rooms are usually as clean when we leave as when we arrive. All the maids have to do in make the bed, empty trash, and replace towels and coffee. That seemed to be a challenge. Only one day the entire week did we have our coffee service replaced. (That wasn't all bad because the coffee they use isn't that great anyway, but it's the principle.) Only one day were all three trash cans emptied. Every other day one trash can was left full.
One of the top things first time guests at a church check is the cleanliness of the facility. They will notice the cobwebs in the corner that the church members never see. They will see the overflowing trash cans in the bathrooms or the lack of towels to dry their hands. They will wonder why anyone would purchase toilet paper that is only two inches wide and so thin you can see through. If the church isn't clean it again sends negative signals to guests that this church doesn't care.
The last thing I'll mention in today's post concerns the free breakfast. Most motels offer similar free breakfasts, but this one didn't even meet the minimum standards found in most motels. Their offering consisted of yogurt, bagel, and two types of muffin, coffee, and juice. It never changed all week. They also posted a notice that each resident was to only take one serving of breakfast.
Your church may or may not offer refreshments before or after the worship services, but if you do go beyond the minimum. Serve good coffee, not the mud found in most motels. Don't cut up your donuts into fourths, and fire the donut police. Who cares if someone takes three? Offer healthy choices as well. Have fruit or fat-free yogurt as alternate choices. Here is one area where it really does cost just a little more to go first class, so don't scrimp. Either offer refreshments with excellence or don't offer them at all.
I'm sorry I have not touched on anything very spiritual here, but these are the kinds of things that determine if first-time guests return or not, and that decision is made within minutes of driving on the church property. Before the choir sings or the minister preaches, most first-time guests have already decided if they will return or not, and that decision is based on things such as the appearance of the facility and the hospitality they find once they arrive. Tomorrow we'll look at a couple more issues.
If I could describe the motel in one word it would be "tired." Several years ago a major hurricane damaged many of the building on the beach front, so there have been a number of new high rise motels and condominimuns built to replace the ones that were damaged. Compared to those new structures the motel where we stayed just looked tired. It needed fresh paint. The rail on our balcony had large areas of rust and needed painting. The pool had a different color of paint around its edge, and there were places where the paint had chipped away. Many of the signs around the pool were faded and difficult to read.
The legs on the stove in our room had large rust places that had eaten away at the enamel. The mitred corners on one picture frame in the living room had come apart and needed to be reglued. While our room was comfortable, it too looked a little tired. I really believe that if someone came to PCB and was looking for a place to stay based on the appearance of the property, most would pass by the motel where I stayed for one that looked fresher and more modern.
As one who is in a lot of churches in a year's time I can say that some of them look tired as well. A fresh coat of paint, maybe some new carpet, and some quality landscaping would do wonders for many church properties. When churches are allowed to look tired it sends a message to outsiders that says the people lack pride in their facilities and just don't care any more. If the members don't care, why should the non-members?
A second frustration we had was with the maid service. Quite frankly, we need little in the way of maid service. Our rooms are usually as clean when we leave as when we arrive. All the maids have to do in make the bed, empty trash, and replace towels and coffee. That seemed to be a challenge. Only one day the entire week did we have our coffee service replaced. (That wasn't all bad because the coffee they use isn't that great anyway, but it's the principle.) Only one day were all three trash cans emptied. Every other day one trash can was left full.
One of the top things first time guests at a church check is the cleanliness of the facility. They will notice the cobwebs in the corner that the church members never see. They will see the overflowing trash cans in the bathrooms or the lack of towels to dry their hands. They will wonder why anyone would purchase toilet paper that is only two inches wide and so thin you can see through. If the church isn't clean it again sends negative signals to guests that this church doesn't care.
The last thing I'll mention in today's post concerns the free breakfast. Most motels offer similar free breakfasts, but this one didn't even meet the minimum standards found in most motels. Their offering consisted of yogurt, bagel, and two types of muffin, coffee, and juice. It never changed all week. They also posted a notice that each resident was to only take one serving of breakfast.
Your church may or may not offer refreshments before or after the worship services, but if you do go beyond the minimum. Serve good coffee, not the mud found in most motels. Don't cut up your donuts into fourths, and fire the donut police. Who cares if someone takes three? Offer healthy choices as well. Have fruit or fat-free yogurt as alternate choices. Here is one area where it really does cost just a little more to go first class, so don't scrimp. Either offer refreshments with excellence or don't offer them at all.
I'm sorry I have not touched on anything very spiritual here, but these are the kinds of things that determine if first-time guests return or not, and that decision is made within minutes of driving on the church property. Before the choir sings or the minister preaches, most first-time guests have already decided if they will return or not, and that decision is based on things such as the appearance of the facility and the hospitality they find once they arrive. Tomorrow we'll look at a couple more issues.
Monday, October 22, 2012
I'm back
If you've been wondering where I've been the past week or so, we've been on vacation at Panama City Beach. For safety reasons I do not post on FB, on my blog, or Twitter when we're away. I've never understood why people post pictures of themselves while they are away on vacation. Why not just hang a big sign outside your house that says, "Hey, thieves! We're gone for a week. Help yourselves!"
We had a great time on this vacation. The weather was 80-85 degrees every day. It only rained one day which gave us an opportunity to do some reading. The fresh seafood was excellent. I should probably also mention that we celebrated our 46th anniversary while we were there.
We used to go to PCB every year during our anniversary, but we had not been down there for about eight years, so we were really looking forward to returning. We even stayed at the same motel we normally stay at, but something interesting happened this time. I began to look at the motel as if I was a guest at a church. I suppose if you've been in the ministry as long as I have that these kinds of things happen. I noticed some problems with the motel that have a lot of parallels with people visiting churches that I want to mention in a couple of posts.
Let me begin by noting the things that were positive about our stay at the motel. We arrived at 1:00 and check-in isn't until 4:00. Our room wasn't ready which did not surpise me. The young lady at the front desk took my cell phone number to let me know when we could check in. We left to do some shopping, and within 30 minutes I received a text letting me know the room was ready. That is good service.
Everyone we met on staff was friendly and helpful. Our room was clean and well stocked with the appropriate cooking and eating items. I had requested a room on a lower floor, and that was granted.
I consider everything mentioned so far as minimal standards, and the motel excelled on each of these. In recent months I've stayed at a few places that failed even these standards, so I was quite pleased that the place where we were spending a week was better than those other motels.
Most churches probably meet most of the minimal standards. Staff and members are generally pleasant and friendly. Most churches maintain a level of cleanliness and try to provide good service to the people who attend. However, people who visit for the first time often notice things that the regular attenders overlook, and it is often those things that determine whether or not those guests will return. In tomorrow's post I will discuss some of the things that I noticed at our motel that, if they were in a church, might keep guests from returning.
We had a great time on this vacation. The weather was 80-85 degrees every day. It only rained one day which gave us an opportunity to do some reading. The fresh seafood was excellent. I should probably also mention that we celebrated our 46th anniversary while we were there.
We used to go to PCB every year during our anniversary, but we had not been down there for about eight years, so we were really looking forward to returning. We even stayed at the same motel we normally stay at, but something interesting happened this time. I began to look at the motel as if I was a guest at a church. I suppose if you've been in the ministry as long as I have that these kinds of things happen. I noticed some problems with the motel that have a lot of parallels with people visiting churches that I want to mention in a couple of posts.
Let me begin by noting the things that were positive about our stay at the motel. We arrived at 1:00 and check-in isn't until 4:00. Our room wasn't ready which did not surpise me. The young lady at the front desk took my cell phone number to let me know when we could check in. We left to do some shopping, and within 30 minutes I received a text letting me know the room was ready. That is good service.
Everyone we met on staff was friendly and helpful. Our room was clean and well stocked with the appropriate cooking and eating items. I had requested a room on a lower floor, and that was granted.
I consider everything mentioned so far as minimal standards, and the motel excelled on each of these. In recent months I've stayed at a few places that failed even these standards, so I was quite pleased that the place where we were spending a week was better than those other motels.
Most churches probably meet most of the minimal standards. Staff and members are generally pleasant and friendly. Most churches maintain a level of cleanliness and try to provide good service to the people who attend. However, people who visit for the first time often notice things that the regular attenders overlook, and it is often those things that determine whether or not those guests will return. In tomorrow's post I will discuss some of the things that I noticed at our motel that, if they were in a church, might keep guests from returning.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
2012 revival at Campbellsville University
As some of you know, for the past several years I have been privileged to serve on the Church Relations Council for Campbellsville University in Kentucky. I believe it is one of the finest Christian universities in America and was delighted to read about twenty students who made professions of faith during a recent revival held on campus. You can read the article at http://www.campbellsville.edu/10102012hatfield.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Straight talk to people considering attending seminary
In yesterday's post I addressed the problem of seminary trained ministers seeking churches to serve and the reluctance of many of them to serve bivocational churches. What makes this problem worse is that increasing numbers of our churches are moving from being fully-funded to bivocational. Many of these churches are not seeking managers as much as they are seeking entrepreneurial leadership who can help them begin to move forward again. One of my concerns, which I also mentioned in yesterday's post, is that many seminaries continue to prepare ministers for churches that no longer exist. Today I want to speak to people who are considering a seminary education.
In the past I have been accused of being anti-education. It may help to know that I have three degrees including a DMin which I received just a couple of years ago at the age of 62. I am not anti-education; I am anti-education that doesn't prepare a person for living in the real world. Too many students leave school with enormous sums of student loan debt with an education that has not prepared them to make a living in the real world. That is a waste of both time and money. When I decided at the age of 54 to pursue a master's degree I had already been in ministry for nearly three decades. For twenty of those years I pastored a bivocational church, and for the previous five years I had served as a judicatory minister in our denomination. I didn't need a degree to get a job. I wanted the knowledge and the personal growth that would come with pursuing the degree. I purposefully chose not to seek an MDiv but instead enrolled in a MAR program with a concentration in leadership. After completing that program I enrolled in the DMin program again for my own personal growth.
Why did I not pursue the traditional MDiv? That has become the degree that most persons going into ministry seek, but I chose the MAR for several reasons. The primary reason is that I question the value of the MDiv for most pastors. This post is about talking straight so that is what I am going to do. The traditional MDiv provides the student with a lot of knowledge and skills that he or she will seldom, if ever, use in an actual church ministry. In my twenty year pastorate no one ever asked me to exegete a passage from the Bible, but I did have people want to talk to me about a child who had a problem with alcohol or couples who came to me with issues in their marriage. I can hear some of you asking, but how did you prepare for your sermons without an understanding of Greek and Hebrew?
I'm glad you asked that! In most MDiv programs I've seen three semesters of biblical languages are required. That's fine, but that does not make anyone an expert in those languages. In my library I have several hundreds of dollars of books written by individuals who have spent a lifetime studying biblical languages as well as the history and geography and customs of biblical times. I can go to those commentaries and reference books and benefit from their years of study as I prepare my sermons. I simply don't believe that three semesters of biblical languages is a good substitute for the wealth of information I can receive from these trusted authors. I've come to believe that the MDiv is now the program that persons planning on doing PhD work take while those of us called to pastoral ministry should look at the MA programs being offered by many seminaries today.
My MAR program consisted of courses one would expect from a seminary program but also included a number of courses designed to help me develop as a leader. Because my program included a concentration in leadership, five leadership courses were included in my studies. These practical courses would serve any pastor well and provided the kind of training that many churches now seek from their pastoral leaders.
Many of our churches today are much less concerned with a pastor's credentials as they are if he or she can do the job. I do not mean to take away from the spiritual nor do I want anyone to think I am downplaying the value of biblical studies. Anyone who knows me will testify as to my strong belief in the integrity of the Scriptures and my use of those Scriptures as the foundation to my messages and my ministry. But, at the same time, our churches want people who can build relationships with the membership as well as with persons outside the church. They want people who have experienced more of life than is found sitting in a classroom. They want people who have skills that are useful outside the church. They are less interested in someone who can manage the church as they are in finding someone who can provide them with servant leadership. The degrees you seek from seminary must help you acquire these skills if you want to enjoy ministry in the 21st century.
One last word to persons considering seminary. I may have taken a very unorthodox approach to getting my education waiting so long to get my master's and doctoral degrees, but I also didn't incur any student debt either. When I talk with seminary graduates with $60,000 in student loan debt who are serving in churches paying $35,000 a year I have to wonder why. It may have taken me longer than most ministers to complete my education, but doing it the way I did I was able to cash flow it and avoid that debt, and I was involved in ministry during all that time so I could put into immediate practice what I was learning. Just one more thing to consider.
In the past I have been accused of being anti-education. It may help to know that I have three degrees including a DMin which I received just a couple of years ago at the age of 62. I am not anti-education; I am anti-education that doesn't prepare a person for living in the real world. Too many students leave school with enormous sums of student loan debt with an education that has not prepared them to make a living in the real world. That is a waste of both time and money. When I decided at the age of 54 to pursue a master's degree I had already been in ministry for nearly three decades. For twenty of those years I pastored a bivocational church, and for the previous five years I had served as a judicatory minister in our denomination. I didn't need a degree to get a job. I wanted the knowledge and the personal growth that would come with pursuing the degree. I purposefully chose not to seek an MDiv but instead enrolled in a MAR program with a concentration in leadership. After completing that program I enrolled in the DMin program again for my own personal growth.
Why did I not pursue the traditional MDiv? That has become the degree that most persons going into ministry seek, but I chose the MAR for several reasons. The primary reason is that I question the value of the MDiv for most pastors. This post is about talking straight so that is what I am going to do. The traditional MDiv provides the student with a lot of knowledge and skills that he or she will seldom, if ever, use in an actual church ministry. In my twenty year pastorate no one ever asked me to exegete a passage from the Bible, but I did have people want to talk to me about a child who had a problem with alcohol or couples who came to me with issues in their marriage. I can hear some of you asking, but how did you prepare for your sermons without an understanding of Greek and Hebrew?
I'm glad you asked that! In most MDiv programs I've seen three semesters of biblical languages are required. That's fine, but that does not make anyone an expert in those languages. In my library I have several hundreds of dollars of books written by individuals who have spent a lifetime studying biblical languages as well as the history and geography and customs of biblical times. I can go to those commentaries and reference books and benefit from their years of study as I prepare my sermons. I simply don't believe that three semesters of biblical languages is a good substitute for the wealth of information I can receive from these trusted authors. I've come to believe that the MDiv is now the program that persons planning on doing PhD work take while those of us called to pastoral ministry should look at the MA programs being offered by many seminaries today.
My MAR program consisted of courses one would expect from a seminary program but also included a number of courses designed to help me develop as a leader. Because my program included a concentration in leadership, five leadership courses were included in my studies. These practical courses would serve any pastor well and provided the kind of training that many churches now seek from their pastoral leaders.
Many of our churches today are much less concerned with a pastor's credentials as they are if he or she can do the job. I do not mean to take away from the spiritual nor do I want anyone to think I am downplaying the value of biblical studies. Anyone who knows me will testify as to my strong belief in the integrity of the Scriptures and my use of those Scriptures as the foundation to my messages and my ministry. But, at the same time, our churches want people who can build relationships with the membership as well as with persons outside the church. They want people who have experienced more of life than is found sitting in a classroom. They want people who have skills that are useful outside the church. They are less interested in someone who can manage the church as they are in finding someone who can provide them with servant leadership. The degrees you seek from seminary must help you acquire these skills if you want to enjoy ministry in the 21st century.
One last word to persons considering seminary. I may have taken a very unorthodox approach to getting my education waiting so long to get my master's and doctoral degrees, but I also didn't incur any student debt either. When I talk with seminary graduates with $60,000 in student loan debt who are serving in churches paying $35,000 a year I have to wonder why. It may have taken me longer than most ministers to complete my education, but doing it the way I did I was able to cash flow it and avoid that debt, and I was involved in ministry during all that time so I could put into immediate practice what I was learning. Just one more thing to consider.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Straight talk to seminary grads
This post likely will not make me popular with some readers, but at some point somebody has to stand up and tell people the truth. The good news for seminary graduates is that there are a good number of churches currently seeking pastors. The bad news you need to know is most of them are bivocational. The likelihood of you pastoring a megachurch is rather slim because more and more of our churches are becoming bivocational. Some of you are going to find out your seminary education has prepared you for a ministry that was much more common in the past than it will be in the future. In the past ministers were expected to manage stable churches that enjoyed favor in the community and experienced some measure of growth on a somewhat consistent basis, and that is what many of our seminaries taught their students to do when they were called to a church. The church of the future will be looking for more entrepreneurial leadership who also have skills that will allow them to seek employment outside the church. If you want to eat and pay off that big student loan debt you've accumulated over the past seven years you better have skills that will allow you to find a job outside the church because increasing numbers of churches are not able to provide a living wage and a salary package that will provide for your financial needs.
Some believe that economics is the only factor driving this movement towards more bivocational churches. While I certainly believe this is a factor, I believe there are also other things going on here. For many of our churches, until the 1950s bivocational pastors were the norm. It was about that time that denominations began to push their churches to call full-time pastors. Anything less than that was suspect in many denominations. We are now returning to an earlier time for pastoral leadership as many of our churches are now moving back to having bivocational pastors. Believe it or not, there are some positives to this.
One, it is more difficult for the church to consider the bivocational pastor as the "hired gun" of the church who is responsible to see that ministry is being done. He or she also has another job which means that more people in the congregation must be involved if ministry is to happen. This takes us back to the Ephesians four model of ministry: the role of the minister is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry. For many Baptist churches the doctrine of the Priesthood of the Believer was more believed than practiced, but with the increase in bivocational ministers more churches are beginning to learn what this doctrine means. We've all been called to serve, to minister, and those whom God has called to lead us have been given the task of helping equip us to fulfill our call to serve.
A second advantage is that being bivocational takes the pastor out of the church office and puts him or her right in the middle of the mission field. As a bivocational pastor who worked on the shop floor of a factory I never had to worry about being isolated from the real world. At least from 7:00 - 3:30 every day I was in it. I had the same challenges the people in our congregation faced. I understood the worry about layoffs, union contracts expiring, and downsizing that others in our church felt because it was part of my world as well. Few people on that shop floor deferred to me because I was a minister. In fact, some seemed to go out of their way to act and talk worse when they were around me than when they weren't.
A third advantage is that it may give the pastor more credibility with persons outside the church. They have the opportunity to watch him or her in their environment, and if they are able to consistently live out their faith while at the same time remaining human, it can make them seem more real to outsiders. There were times when I was able to minister to persons with whom I worked in the factory who would have never talked about their problems with another pastor. While sitting at a break table with a nasty cup of vending machine coffee I heard more than one person talk of a troubled marriage or problems with a child or financial worries as well as a host of other concerns. I had opportunities to share words of encouragement and advice as well as being able to pray for them. One individual in our plant who had not been in church in years asked one day if I would conduct the funeral for her father who had passed away the day before. Only a handful of people attended that service, but I was able to offer a comforting word and share the gospel with them.
From research I've studied and discussions with judicatory leaders from many denominations I know that many seminary graduates are very reluctant to serve in bivocational churches. That is unfortunate because these churches need your leadership, and, as you can read above, there are some unique advantages to such ministry. You need to understand that the call to bivocational ministry is not a greater nor a lesser call than the call to a fully-funded position. It is a call from God on a person's life to serve a particular church at a particular time. As more and more of our churches move towards becoming bivocational many seminary graduates are going to have to make a choice. Will they serve the churches that God makes available to them or will they be disobedient to that call? I pray you choose the first option because you will find out just how rewarding bivocational ministry can be. To learn more about bivocational ministry read my book The Bivocational Pastor: Two Jobs, One Ministry published by Beacon Hill Press.
Some believe that economics is the only factor driving this movement towards more bivocational churches. While I certainly believe this is a factor, I believe there are also other things going on here. For many of our churches, until the 1950s bivocational pastors were the norm. It was about that time that denominations began to push their churches to call full-time pastors. Anything less than that was suspect in many denominations. We are now returning to an earlier time for pastoral leadership as many of our churches are now moving back to having bivocational pastors. Believe it or not, there are some positives to this.
One, it is more difficult for the church to consider the bivocational pastor as the "hired gun" of the church who is responsible to see that ministry is being done. He or she also has another job which means that more people in the congregation must be involved if ministry is to happen. This takes us back to the Ephesians four model of ministry: the role of the minister is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry. For many Baptist churches the doctrine of the Priesthood of the Believer was more believed than practiced, but with the increase in bivocational ministers more churches are beginning to learn what this doctrine means. We've all been called to serve, to minister, and those whom God has called to lead us have been given the task of helping equip us to fulfill our call to serve.
A second advantage is that being bivocational takes the pastor out of the church office and puts him or her right in the middle of the mission field. As a bivocational pastor who worked on the shop floor of a factory I never had to worry about being isolated from the real world. At least from 7:00 - 3:30 every day I was in it. I had the same challenges the people in our congregation faced. I understood the worry about layoffs, union contracts expiring, and downsizing that others in our church felt because it was part of my world as well. Few people on that shop floor deferred to me because I was a minister. In fact, some seemed to go out of their way to act and talk worse when they were around me than when they weren't.
A third advantage is that it may give the pastor more credibility with persons outside the church. They have the opportunity to watch him or her in their environment, and if they are able to consistently live out their faith while at the same time remaining human, it can make them seem more real to outsiders. There were times when I was able to minister to persons with whom I worked in the factory who would have never talked about their problems with another pastor. While sitting at a break table with a nasty cup of vending machine coffee I heard more than one person talk of a troubled marriage or problems with a child or financial worries as well as a host of other concerns. I had opportunities to share words of encouragement and advice as well as being able to pray for them. One individual in our plant who had not been in church in years asked one day if I would conduct the funeral for her father who had passed away the day before. Only a handful of people attended that service, but I was able to offer a comforting word and share the gospel with them.
From research I've studied and discussions with judicatory leaders from many denominations I know that many seminary graduates are very reluctant to serve in bivocational churches. That is unfortunate because these churches need your leadership, and, as you can read above, there are some unique advantages to such ministry. You need to understand that the call to bivocational ministry is not a greater nor a lesser call than the call to a fully-funded position. It is a call from God on a person's life to serve a particular church at a particular time. As more and more of our churches move towards becoming bivocational many seminary graduates are going to have to make a choice. Will they serve the churches that God makes available to them or will they be disobedient to that call? I pray you choose the first option because you will find out just how rewarding bivocational ministry can be. To learn more about bivocational ministry read my book The Bivocational Pastor: Two Jobs, One Ministry published by Beacon Hill Press.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
How will you leave your church?
At some point every pastor leaves his or her church. It may happen because the pastor was called to another place of service. Sometimes it happens because the pastor was terminated or forced to resign. It is not uncommon today for a person to resign from the church and leave ministry completely. For others their leaving will be because they retired or passed away. But, everyone will eventually leave the church he or she serves. The question is will you leave well?
I only served one church before I began denominational ministry, so I've only left one church. But, I had been there 20 years and did not want two decades of ministry to be wasted. I wanted to leave them feeling empowered and capable of doing ministry. When I announced my resignation I requested six weeks to help prepare them for their future. During that time I continually challenged and encouraged them. I reminded them of all they had done over the years I had been with them. I kept telling them how much confidence I had in them.
I explained to them what our new relationship would look like after my last Sunday as pastor. That was critical as my wife and I were not leaving the community. Some were not happy when I told them I could not return and do their weddings or funerals, but I explained that ethically that was not possible. Ministering to them during those times was how their new pastor would get to become their pastor.
For several people in the church I was the only pastor they ever knew. It would be inevitable that some would want to compare the new pastor to me. There are few things a new pastor hates to hear more than, "Well, Brother So-and-So did it this way." Such comparisons are not fair. During one of my final messages to the congregation I explained that their new pastor would not preach like me, lead like me, dress like me, or have the same spiritual gifts or ministry priorities I had. I told them if God wanted another me to serve the church He would have never led me to leave. I urged them to allow their new pastor to be himself or herself and to extend the same grace to that person as they had to me.
Since the church had not gone through a pastor search in two decades, and most of our membership were not part of the church since it did its last search, I explained the process our denomination uses and urged them to follow that process. We encountered a minor problem in the process because this church was located in the geographic area I serve in my new role. Normally, I would have been the person to lead them in that process, but that simply was not wise since I was the previous pastor. Our region assigned another person to lead that process in that church to avoid a difficult situation.
You may or may not be at your current place of ministry for that long, but regardless of how long you are there you can continue to serve that church well by leaving well. Your departure can lay the groundwork for how their new pastor begins his or her ministry. By helping set that person up for success when he or she arrives you will be able to continue your good ministry in that church. That doesn't mean that the person who follows you will continue all your pet programs and ministries nor does it mean that he or she will lead, preach, or serve exactly like you did. It does mean that by leaving well you are laying a solid foundation on which their pastor can build a ministry.
I only served one church before I began denominational ministry, so I've only left one church. But, I had been there 20 years and did not want two decades of ministry to be wasted. I wanted to leave them feeling empowered and capable of doing ministry. When I announced my resignation I requested six weeks to help prepare them for their future. During that time I continually challenged and encouraged them. I reminded them of all they had done over the years I had been with them. I kept telling them how much confidence I had in them.
I explained to them what our new relationship would look like after my last Sunday as pastor. That was critical as my wife and I were not leaving the community. Some were not happy when I told them I could not return and do their weddings or funerals, but I explained that ethically that was not possible. Ministering to them during those times was how their new pastor would get to become their pastor.
For several people in the church I was the only pastor they ever knew. It would be inevitable that some would want to compare the new pastor to me. There are few things a new pastor hates to hear more than, "Well, Brother So-and-So did it this way." Such comparisons are not fair. During one of my final messages to the congregation I explained that their new pastor would not preach like me, lead like me, dress like me, or have the same spiritual gifts or ministry priorities I had. I told them if God wanted another me to serve the church He would have never led me to leave. I urged them to allow their new pastor to be himself or herself and to extend the same grace to that person as they had to me.
Since the church had not gone through a pastor search in two decades, and most of our membership were not part of the church since it did its last search, I explained the process our denomination uses and urged them to follow that process. We encountered a minor problem in the process because this church was located in the geographic area I serve in my new role. Normally, I would have been the person to lead them in that process, but that simply was not wise since I was the previous pastor. Our region assigned another person to lead that process in that church to avoid a difficult situation.
You may or may not be at your current place of ministry for that long, but regardless of how long you are there you can continue to serve that church well by leaving well. Your departure can lay the groundwork for how their new pastor begins his or her ministry. By helping set that person up for success when he or she arrives you will be able to continue your good ministry in that church. That doesn't mean that the person who follows you will continue all your pet programs and ministries nor does it mean that he or she will lead, preach, or serve exactly like you did. It does mean that by leaving well you are laying a solid foundation on which their pastor can build a ministry.
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