Thanksgiving or Thingsgetting

Our daughter and her family were here for a few days for the Thanksgiving holiday so I took a few days off from blogging and writing to just enjoy them.  I'm old-fashioned enough to still believe that Thanksgiving is an important holiday and is a day for families to spend time with one another reflecting on the many ways they have been blessed throughout the year.  Unfortunately, Thanksgiving was over-shadowed this year by the Black Friday shopping that many retail stores started Thursday evening.  I really appreciate those few large retailers who decided it was more important for their employees to enjoy the holidays with their families than open their stores, and we will be doing much of our Christmas shopping in those stores this year as a way to thank them for the kindness they showed their employees. 

As usual, we saw on the news the reports of shootings, stabbings, and fights breaking out in stores across the country as people fought with one another for the items being offered for sale.  It seems ironic that on a day that was set aside as a day of being thankful for what we have has become a day when corporate and personal greed rears its ugliest head of the year.  Rather than being a day of thanksgiving it has become a day of thingsgetting.

It is really a reflection of one of the biggest problems in our nation today, a lack of gratitude and thankfulness.  The apostle Paul said he had learned to be content regardless of what was going on in his life (Phil. 4:11). That is a lesson that many Americans need to learn today, but two things make it very difficult for that lesson to be learned.  We are continually exposed to advertising that is designed to make us discontented.  Advertisers bombard us with the idea that we must have the newest, shiniest, most advanced gadget or our lives will be ruined.  The cell phone you purchased new six months ago simply isn't good enough so you must run out, stand in line for hours, to get a new one that will be replaced by the manufacturer in another six months.  Of course, it's not just cell phones.  It's our television sets, our cars, our kitchen appliances, our clothing, and everything else we own.  We are told that unless we rush out to get the latest and greatest we are failures, and we buy into it!

The second thing that makes it difficult for us to be content is the entitlement mentality that is so rampant in America.  Not only do we need these things to be fulfilled, we are entitled to them, so if we can't afford them we have the right to go deeper into debt to buy them or the right to steal them from someone who could afford to buy them.  After all, we DESERVE these things that will provide us happiness.  If a store offers what we want at a reduced price we have the right to fight another shopper to make sure we get what we want because we are entitled to have that thing.

It would be one thing if these were just problems that afflicted non-Christians, but, of course, we know that isn't true.  As a judicatory leader I hear from plenty of church members and pastors who are not content.  The church members often want their churches to grow without changing anything, and too many pastors are always looking for the next place to serve.  However, this is a topic for another blog on another day!

What can Christians do to make Thanksgiving a day of true Thanksgiving?  How about if we just stop going to the malls and stores on Thanksgiving Day.  The reason the workers are forced to be away from their families on Thanksgiving is because people are willing to shop on that day.  Let's tell the retail stores that their employees need to be with their families on Thanksgiving, and we'll be in over the weekend to see what specials they're running.  Of course, they won't listen; we'll have to show them by our refusal to participate in their Thursday madness.  Will we miss out on some hot bargains?  Yes, we might not get that super-special item for only $29.95 that regularly sells for $49.95, but that's a small price to pay to enjoy the holiday with our family and to help others spend the day with their families.

As pastors we need to be preaching on contentment.  I once preached from the passage I quoted above, and that day one of our church members told me it really got her to thinking about what a life of contentment might look like.  Our churches need to hear this message because they sure won't hear it from any other source.  Let's challenge the discontent and entitlement mentality that is so strong in our nation today and encourage people to become more grateful for the blessings they already have.

People still need to hear the Gospel

Growing up in the church about the only sermons I remember hearing were evangelistic.  Although the small churches I attended during my childhood seldom had anyone in attendance who were not saved, we were reminded again and again how to be saved.  I remember very little teaching about how to live the Christian life, about how to grow as a Christian, or anything else that might help a person enjoy victory over the challenges that exist in this life.  Nearly every message was more concerned with the life to come than how to live as a Christian in this life.

In more recent years the pendulum has swung to the other extreme.  As I visit churches throughout my area of responsibility I seldom hear an evangelistic message.  The vast majority of sermons I hear today are focused on the present times:  How to Pray; How to Conquer Worry; How to Recover Hope When Life Has You Down; etc.  Don't misunderstand me...I think these are messages people need to hear, and I do not think we need to return to a time when every sermon was a call for people to be saved.  I just think that there needs to be a mixture of both types of messages, and I don't hear the one that calls people to salvation very often.

Yesterday was the exception.  The pastor of the church I visited yesterday preached one of the best salvation messages I've heard in a long time.  He talked about what it means to be redeemed and the kind of life a redeemed person should live.  He challenged his listeners to examine whether their lives are really that much different than those of their unsaved friends, and if not to question themselves why that is the case.  It was refreshing to me to hear a pastor present a clear explanation of how a person must come to God through Christ and how that decision should impact that person's life.  No one who heard that message will be able to stand before God on Judgment Day and claim they didn't know what they needed to do.

One of the weights I felt as a pastor was that I was responsible for the people God had given me.  I knew there will come a day when I would have to give an account for my ministry to that congregation.  I was not responsible for the decisions they made or did not make, but I was responsible to make sure they were challenged to make a decision for Christ and I was responsible to explain clearly to them why they needed to make that decision, how to make that decision, and what their lives should look like once that decision had been made.  I do not believe that anyone who sat under my ministry for any length of time will be able to honestly tell God they did not know what they needed to do to be saved.

I'm not sure why there is so little preaching today that points people to the cross of Christ.  Perhaps that message seems to some to be not politically correct.  John 14:6 is not a popular verse in our PC world.  Our pluralistic society wants to make all religious beliefs equal, but in that verse Jesus makes the claim that He is the only way a person can come to God.  It is not politically correct to make such a statement, but I would rather be biblical than politically correct so I make no apologies for repeating what Jesus said in that verse.  The pastor yesterday also did not apologize for quoting that verse.  As ministers of the Gospel we have an obligation to be clear in our thinking and our preaching, and Jesus was very clear when He said He was the only way to God.

When was the last time your congregation heard a message calling them to repentance and salvation?  How long has it been since they were challenged to examine their lives to see if their lives reflected a life devoted to serving God?  They don't need to hear such sermons every week, but there should be times throughout the year that they are challenged with such messages.  As you prepare your preaching schedule for 2014 I pray you will include some messages that presents a clear salvation message.  People still need to hear that kind of preaching from the pulpit.

The growing interest in bivocational ministry

As I've written elsewhere, when I began as a bivocational pastor in 1981 there was not a lot of interest in bivocational ministry.  The Bible school I attended didn't encourage it, denominational leaders often looked upon it as second-class ministry, and even other pastors questioned the validity of a person's call to bivocational ministry.  We were often seen as something less than real ministers by many.  I'm glad to see that continuing to change.

This week I've been asked for an interview by an individual who is doing his doctoral thesis on bivocational ministry.  Just yesterday another individual who recently completed his doctoral work asked if he could send me the manuscript for a book he has written on developing bivocational ministers.  The approach he has taken sounds helpful.  Of course, I agreed to both the interview and to review the manuscript.  Also, this week I noticed a couple of new books on bivocational ministry have been released that I did not know about, and I plan to read them over the winter.  This same week a date in 2014 was confirmed for me to speak at a bivocational gathering on the East coast.  I was already scheduled to speak at another bivocational event next spring.

This is exciting!  For most of my pastoral ministry I could count on one hand the number of books that had been written specifically for bivocational ministry, and I would have fingers left over.  Today, books are being written and other resources are being developed specifically for bivocational ministers and the churches they serve.  Doctoral students are exploring this ministry for their projects, and their seminaries are approving those projects.  Denominations are scheduling events specifically designed for those who serve in their smaller churches because they recognize the value we bring to those churches and to the denominations.

More people are sensing the call to bivocational ministry as well.  Yesterday, an individual called to say he was feeling led to pursue this ministry.  I will return his call later today so we can discuss it further.  Two weeks ago a graduate of our region's Church Leadership Institute called to say he felt called to bivocational ministry and was open to filling open pulpits and perhaps soon to serve in a local church.  Before completing that program he never felt that call on his life.  For many years I have said that I believed God was calling individuals to bivocational ministry, and our role as denominational leaders was to help people hear that call and help prepare them to be able to respond to it.  This is happening, and I believe will continue to happen in greater numbers.

God is not done with small churches.  The large churches may continue to get most of the attention from many people, but God is still working in smaller churches, and He is calling people to provide leadership to those churches.  Bivocational ministry is rewarding, and the need for additional bivocational ministers is growing.  More and more of our smaller churches are looking to call bivocational ministers, and God is calling people to meet that need.  It's been quite a turn around since 1981, and I'm glad to have seen it happen.

Mistakes churches make when making their budget

This is the time of year many churches are setting their budgets for the upcoming year.  Many of these churches make some common mistakes that affect their ministries.  My experience has been that these mistakes occur in all size churches but are most prevalent in smaller and mid-size churches.  It may be too late to redo your 2014 budget, but it is not too early for church leadership to begin to discuss how to improve the process for next year and avoid these mistakes.
The first mistake these churches make is to simply go through their budget line items, add a little to each one to cover anticipated increases, and present the budget to the church for approval.  This is a time to discuss how effective these items have been and if any of them need to be eliminated or changed.  The finance committee does not usually have the authority to make such changes, but they can discuss with church leaders their concerns and recommendations.  In a perfect budgeting system, the leaders of the various ministries would present their budget requests to the finance committee after having already examined the programs and ministries for possible changes.  However, I know how it really works in smaller churches, and any such recommendations are more likely to come from the finance committee in most churches.  Regardless of where this occurs, prior to setting a budget for the upcoming year is the perfect time to evaluate every thing that is happening in the church.  Possible changes can be identified and the budget set to reflect those changes.

A second mistake many churches make is closely tied to the first one.  They set a budget without the church having any sense of vision for ministry.  What does God want to do in and through your church in the coming year?  Until you can answer that how can you set any kind of realistic budget?  The majority of smaller churches I know operate year in and year out without any vision for ministry.  They open their doors each Sunday hoping something good will happen and close them following their services wondering why it didn't.  They have no vision, no goals that would help them achieve that vision, and no purpose beyond coming together each week.  They are merely drifting from week to week, and their budget reflects that drift.  A budget should reflect the ministry plan for a church, and it does.  What it reflects for many churches is that they have no plan for ministry.  Before your church develops another budget it should have a clear sense of God's vision for the church and a plan for how you will achieve that vision.  Many churches will find it helpful to invite a denominational leader, a consultant, or a coach to come and help them discern that vision.

The third mistake often made is that a budget is made without any idea of what the anticipated income will be.  Many churches assume their income will be rather flat and will often base it on what was given during the past year.  That is one way to almost guarantee your income will be the same as last year.  If people are not being challenged to give more why should they?  Without any kind of stewardship training people will often just do what they've been doing.  Depending on whom you read, the average giving of Christians in the US is reported to be around 2 percent of their income.  That is a far cry from a tithe.  Most Christians in the US can do better than they are doing when it comes to their giving, but if they are not challenged to give more and are not taught sound stewardship principles they are unlikely to do so.  I recently served as an outside speaker for a church that did a very intentional stewardship campaign, and slightly over half of the pledge cards that were turned in indicated they were increasing their giving for 2014 over 2013.  That is a good start, and I expect if that church continues to use this campaign over the next few years they will see a significant increase in their income.  To set a budget using last year's giving levels is too safe and demonstrates a lack of faith on the part of the church and a very low bar of expectations for the congregation.

A fourth mistake often found is that most budgets are focused on the inner workings of the church.  For smaller churches an extremely high percentage of their income is often spent on salaries, building upkeep, and the things that the current congregation needs.  In a way, this is all tied into the previous mistakes.  Without a vision, there is no real plan for ministry to those outside the congregation.  Nothing is being done to increase the giving levels of the members.  Whatever money comes in is spent on keeping the doors open and the congregation satisfied, and little is left for outreach and ministry to the unchurched in the community.  These churches may claim they want to grow, but their budget says otherwise because without the ability to do ministry outside the church little growth is likely.  This mistake will continue to hamper the growth of the church until the first three mistakes are addressed, but now is the time to begin correcting them for a better budget and more ministry in 2015.

When churches transition to bivocational ministry

What changes occur when a church transitions from having a fully-funded pastor to a bivocational pastor?  This is a topic that needs to be studied because it is a scenario that is happening across denominations and one that is likely to increase in the years to come.  In the past few years I have seen several churches make this change.  Sometimes the change went well; others times it did not work out well for the pastor and/or the church.

One of the first things that has to change are the expectations that the church and pastor have about ministry.  I met with one church whose pastor was moving from being fully-funded to bivocational.  We talked about how the congregation would have to step up and assume some of the ministry responsibilities the pastor had been doing.  One of the dangers in this transition is that the church begins paying a part-time salary and continues to expect full-time service.  If the pastor has begun working another job he or she simply isn't able to continue to provide the hours the church used to expect.  Either others in the congregation has to take over some of the ministry responsibilities or they need to be let go.  Some churches find this to be very difficult.

Such churches fail to understand the role of the pastor and their own role in ministry.  Whether the pastor is fully-funded or bivocational, it is not his or her responsibility to do all the work of ministry anyway.  Ephesians 4 makes it clear that the primary responsibility of the pastor is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry.  The pastor is not the hired gun of the church expected to do ministry while the congregation sits in the pews and evaluates.  The pastor is to train and equip the congregation so that everyone in the church is involved in ministry according to their gifts and ministry passions.  That is the only way our churches will ever significantly impact their communities with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Of course, it is not only the churches that struggle with this.  Many pastors have a problem of letting go of ministry.  Most pastors enter the ministry with a desire to help improve the lives of people.  We have a servant's heart.  If we've been to seminary we may feel that we have been trained to do ministry so it is our responsibility to do it.  Besides, doing it ourselves is often quicker and easier than training others to do it.  Even if we do transition to being bivocational we may find it hard to give up some of the ministries we've been doing.  We may have started another job that requires 20-40 hours a week, but we will still try to do all the ministry our church needs done if we are not able to accept the role of an equipper.  If that happens, our families, our ministries, and our own well-being will suffer.

Although the church I spoke of earlier seemed to understand that they would have to become more involved in ministry if their pastor became bivocational, it didn't work out that way.  Problems soon began to surface when the expectations they had of their pastor did not change when he became bivocational.  Within a short time he left that church because he could no longer meet their expectations and work another job.

Another pastor in the early stages of making this same transition asked me to coach him.  His pastoral studies had trained him to serve as a fully-funded pastor, and he wasn't sure how to function in a bivocational role.  He also was not sure what skills he had that might be useful in the public sector.  As we talked he identified two potential positions in his community that might be a good fit.  He applied for both positions and was selected for one of them.  He already had secured the approval of the church board and the congregation to become bivocational so that was not an issue we had to address in our coaching sessions.  This transition to bivocational ministry occurred a few years ago and has been very successful for him, his family, and the church.  His story if one of the case studies I included in my latest book The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide.

Many churches have successfully transitioned from having a fully-funded pastor to a bivocational pastor, but it does a lot of honest dialogue between the pastor and church and a willingness of both parties to see ministry done in different ways.  The pastors have to assume the role of an equipper, and the congregation has to be willing to become personally involved in ministry.

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.

What I'm reading

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

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

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

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

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

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

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