Learning to work together

After every election there is always a lot of talk about how we now need to learn how to work together, and there has certainly been a lot of that talk in the past couple of days. Both sides have promised to do just that, but we'll have to wait and see if it happens. Quite frankly, it hasn't happened much in recent years, and I will be somewhat surprised if it happens this time. Of course, there have been lots of surprises in this election cycle so it could happen.

If it does not happen we can expect at least two more years of gridlock with nothing done to help make our nation better. If history is any indication, Democrats in office will block every effort the new President and the Republican Congress tries to make to ensure they are unable to improve things for the nation. Each side will point their fingers at each other in blame for the stalemate, but it is the American people who will suffer. To be fair, the Republicans did this to Obama, and the Democrats will attempt to do so to Trump. Depending on your theological bent, you may approve of such action, but the intention of most who are standing on the brakes of change is not the good of the country but to gain enough votes to be re-elected and to cause others to be defeated in the next election. This is sad, and it is not the way to lead a nation.

The same thing happens in many churches. People come to church from a variety of backgrounds. They have been taught to interpret Scriptures differently. They have competing visions for the church. When a change is proposed that goes against what they have been taught in the past and how they understand Scripture they rise up against it. Each side insists their vision for the church is the correct one. Because they believe they are taking God's side on this matter the conflict can become quite intense at times. Meanwhile, the church sits stuck in the past and condemned to doing the same old things that ceased to work decades ago.

If America is to move forward, those in leadership must find common ground and find ways to work together. If churches are to move forward, they must do the same thing. Instead of pastors and congregations blaming each other for their inability to move forward they need to find a shared vision for ministry and work together to achieve that. Competing visions in a church guarantee that a church will never move forward. Such visions are certain to create conflict and stall any forward progress.

The good news is that I've seen churches that have a history of conflict learn to work together for the good of the Kingdom of God. Each side learned to listen to each other, and often found they really weren't that far apart. They found ways to agree and compromise on workable solutions. Such solutions did not give each side everything they wanted, but they did enable the church to move forward. As that forward progress resulted in success, it became easier to find other areas of ministry in which the church could come together.

This is not always the case, however. Sometimes the division between the two sides is so severe that one side needs to leave the church. If your church shares a vision that is completely contrary to your vision, and you see no way to find common ground, then it's time for you to leave that church and find one whose vision for ministry is more like your own. As painful as that decision may be, it's the right one for both the church and for your own personal spiritual growth. BTW - I once had to make that choice many years ago, and as painful as it was it turned out to be the right decision.

My prayer is that the new President and Congress will be able to come together for the good of the nation. I pray the people of this nation will do so as well. My greatest prayer is that our churches can unite around common vision and find ways to work together to share the Good News of Jesus Christ around the world.

Maybe we shouldn't listen to the experts

I had entirely too much fun yesterday watching the major news people trying to understand how Donald Trump won the election. Every poll they had showed him trailing Clinton by several points. They had spent much time discussing how unpopular he was, and most had spent weeks explaining how his campaign was destined to fail.

Yesterday, they literally had no explanation for how wrong they had been. Some thought that perhaps the polling questions were wrong, and that produced the wrong results. One said that perhaps Clinton's "ethical lapses" cancelled out Trump's negatives. Others blamed various decisions made by Clinton's campaign team such as not going to Wisconsin after the primaries. But one thing was obvious, no matter which channel I was watching, they were all stunned at the election results.

Now, I didn't enjoy this because I am a big Trump supporter. Among all the people who ran in the primaries he would not have cracked my top five. My pleasure came because I enjoy watching the elite who believe they know all that is worth knowing struggle trying to explain how they could have been so wrong. The mainstream media was so obviously biased towards Clinton throughout the campaign that any sense of journalism went right out the window. They did everything they could to convince the American public to vote for Clinton, and believed they had succeeded only to learn too late that they had failed.

For decades we have been told that the church in America is dying. We have been told that our beliefs are archaic and have no place in the public square. Christians are told that we have no right to try to force our beliefs on others, while others are free to force us to bow to their values. Years ago we were told God was dead, and many believed it.

Who told us this? It was the elite in the media, in government, in entertainment, and in the universities. The ones who believe that they alone know all that is worth knowing decided that God and religion, especially Christianity, was no longer necessary to our society so they began to do all they could to remove both God and Christianity from society.

Their problem is that God is not dead, and neither is the church. There's no doubt that the church has challenges and problems, but we are far from dead. Yes, liberal churches and denominations are dying, but conservative, Evangelical churches are growing. We may not be growing as much as we should, but we are still growing and we still have some measure of influence on society. Once the Evangelical church wakes up and realizes it has been lied to I'm convinced we will see the church become a force in our nation.

Like him or hate him, Donald Trump refused to let the media define him. The church needs to follow that same attitude. If the church doesn't define itself others will define it, and the results won't be good. It's time for the church to define itself and invite all who wants to be part of what God has called the church to be and to do to join us. If we'll do that, one day we'll turn on our televisions and watch the elite scratching their heads wondering how they could have been so wrong about God and His church.

Bivocational Ministry for the 21st Century

This past Saturday I had the privilege of leading a seminar for Church of the Nazarene pastors in Michigan. The morning session was "Bivocational Ministry for the 21st Century." That afternoon I spoke on "Time Management for Ministers." These are two of the seminars I offer, and either of them can be a half-day or day-long session. The DS there asked me to present each of them in the half-day session.

We had a great turnout of pastors who were very appreciative of the material we covered. They asked a lot of questions throughout the day including a number of more private questions they asked me during our breaks. Not only were these individuals appreciative of the material, but they were appreciative of their District for hosting this event specifically for the bivocational ministers serving there.

One of the things I try to ensure is that the bivocational ministers who attend these seminars understand how much I appreciate their ministry and that they are not alone in their work. As a bivocational pastor for 20 years I understand how easy it is to feel that you alone are doing this work. It helps to know there are many, many others with this same call on their lives who are faithfully serving their congregations.

In every seminar I've led for bivocational ministers time management has been identified as their greatest challenge. As we ended the morning session on bivocational ministry, it was a very easy lead in to the afternoon session on time management.

As these pastors learned, time management is really life management and priority management. As one identifies his or her priorities in life and ministry it becomes much easier to identify the best uses of one's time. Then it's a matter of getting those things on the calendar and saying no to those things that are not priorities. These are often not easy, but they are essential if you want to better manage your time and ensure you take care of the highest priority items in your life.

This was my last seminar scheduled for 2016. I've traveled to several states and worked with a number of denominational groups this year and enjoyed every one of them. The feedback continues to be strong from both the sponsors and those attending. If you are interested in scheduling me to present one of my seminars to your pastors and church leaders in 2017 please feel free to contact me as early as possible to make sure we can get your event on my calendar. I am currently serving as a transitional pastor so I will be limited on the number of events I can lead in 2017 so it's best to get me on your schedule as soon as possible. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy being home!

The pastor as coach

Some people see a pastor as a person who is able to fix their problems. I've had couples want me to fix their marriages. Parents have wanted me to fix their children's problem. Others have asked me to help solve their financial problems. In a few instances people have asked me to make a decision for them they didn't want to make. As much as I enjoy helping people, I really can't solve problems for other people. I might be able to solve a short-term issue, but if I do so they are apt to return later with another problem they want me to solve for them. How can we in ministry best help people address their problems? Here's an excerpt from my book The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide.

"Mentors, counselors, and consultants come in to solve problems. Coaches attempt to help the persons they are coaching to develop their problem-solving skills. As Tony Stoltzfus explains, 'We can build people or we can solve their problems. Transformational coaching is about building people. This approach is a far more powerful method of producing leaders, and yields long-term results.' Elsewhere he explains why this is so important.

'I'm much more interested in helping people become great decision-makers than in helping them make a right decision. If they make a good choice, I've influenced that one situation. But if I help them grow in their ability to make great choices, I've affected every decision they make for the rest of their life.'" Stoltzfus' comments come from his book Leadership Coaching: The Disciplines, Skills, and Heart of a Christian Coach.

This is why I enjoy coaching people. A coach does more than solve people's problems. A coach helps people solve their own problems which means the coach doesn't have to be an expert on any particular problem. By asking questions a coach can often help the person being coached discover the answer to their issues. I found out how powerful that was when I was coached by a trained coach, and, as I've coached others, I've seen in work in powerful ways in their lives.

In today's culture coaching is a necessary tool for a pastor to have in his or her tool belt. Rather than answering people's questions we need to be the ones asking the questions. Doing so forces people to examine their own values and beliefs and challenges them to think more deeply about their problems. Quite often, as they think deeply they suddenly find the answer that will solve the problem. Since people are more apt to implement their own ideas than those suggested by others, they will usually follow through with that implementation.

However, a good coach will hold the person being coached accountable to do what they said they were going to do. This is usually not a problem because they are going to do what they themselves identified as the solution to their problem.

I enjoy serving as a ministry and/or life coach because I enjoy helping people. Because I see this as an important aspect of my ministry, my fees are much lower than those typically charged by life coaches.

If you believe having a coach to help you address challenges you are facing in your life or ministry would be helpful, contact me and together we'll see if a coach would be beneficial.

One essential quality of a leader

At a pastor's conference I was leading one time a pastor asked why pastors so often get stabbed in the back by people in their churches. My response was that we probably don't get stabbed in the back as often as we shoot ourselves in the foot. I have known many pastors who were treated poorly by their churches. Some churches are serial pastor abusers and don't deserve a pastor. But, I've known many other pastors whose troubles came about due to mistakes they made in leadership.

Pastors, and anyone in leadership, are expected to be proficient in several things, and their success will be directly proportionate to their abilities in those areas. However, one thing more than any other factor is essential for a leader: integrity. A person may be extremely competent in every area of leadership, but if he or she lacks integrity his or her leadership will never rise to the level it should. People, especially in a church, have to know they can trust their leader before they will follow that person.

When a person demonstrates integrity they earn the trust of the people they lead. If the leader demonstrates that he or she lacks integrity the trust level required to lead will never grow to the level it needs to in order to have an effective ministry.

How do we demonstrate integrity? It begins by doing what we say we are going to do when we say we are going to do it. People will overlook the occasional situation that might prevent us from doing things in a timely manner, but if we have a history of failing to do what we say we will do they will determine we cannot be trusted.

Integrity also is shown when we refuse to keep secrets. By this I don't mean that we violate confidentiality when it's required. Pastors are told many things, especially in counseling situations, that we are required to keep confidential. In fact, to violate that confidentiality would show a lack of integrity.

A church is only as healthy as the secrets it keeps. The same is true of a pastor. I've known pastors who were able to get things done without going through the proper committees or boards, but eventually their efforts caught up to them, and they lost the trust of the congregation. As a judicatory leader I was occasionally amazed when churches told me of some of the antics their previous pastor pulled. When those antics were revealed their ministries were doomed because they had lost the trust of the congregation.

One final way to be a person of integrity is being willing to work hard. Most pastors I know work too many hours, but I have also known some that did very little. I've often said the ministry is a great place for a lazy person because we don't punch a time clock. People in our churches assume we are doing ministry somewhere and very few churches hold their pastors accountable. However, a lack of integrity in this area will eventually be revealed,, and when that happens the pastor seldom lasts much longer in that church.

Although it takes time for trust to be established between a pastor and the church, it takes much less time for that trust to be lost. Once it's lost it becomes very difficult for a pastor to ever regain it. It just takes too long. Be honest with people. Be upfront with them. Work hard. As we continually demonstrate integrity our people will follow us and we will enjoy a long, productive ministry.

Dining on sacred cows

There's a line in a song that says, "Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die." Similar to that line is one that says most churches claim they want to grow, but no one wants to make the changes necessary to grow.

A few years ago I was working with a church as they were seeking a new pastor. In my first meeting with the search committee I asked what they wanted in their next pastor. I got the usual answer: We want a pastor who will grow our church.

Although I had never done this before, I asked the committee chair if she was sure about that. I said, "You do realize that if you could grow by doing what you've been doing, you would already be growing. What you are telling me is that you want a pastor who will come in here and change everything you are doing. Is that what you really want?"

She looked at me and the others on the committee, smiled, and responded, "Well, maybe we better talk about that a little more."

Many churches have a number of sacred cows that cannot be touched. It may be the time  of their worship services. Just because a church has always met for worship at a particular time doesn't mean that time cannot be changed if a different time might be better for the people you want to reach. I know one new church that began by starting their worship service at 2:00.

Another sacred cow is the style of worship or the music. It seems we've been fighting these worship wars forever. The reality is that much of what traditional churches have done in worship does not appeal to younger people, the very ones churches claim they want to reach.

Another sacred cow is often how the church is structured. Too many churches are over-structured for their current size. When a church is structured for maintenance it cannot expect much ministry to occur, and without effective ministry a church will not grow. Remember, your church is perfectly structured for the results it is getting.

Some sacred cows have been members of the church for generations. Nothing happens in these churches unless the controllers approve, and they will not approve anything that might threaten their position or power in the church. One of the things they find most threatening is growth because growth means new people, and new people are seen as a threat to their standing in the congregation.

There are many other sacred cows that exist in various churches, but they all have one thing in common. They hinder a church's ability to grow. These sacred cows need to be removed and changes made that will facilitate new ministries and new growth.

What sacred cows exist in your church? What will you need to do to remove them?

Staying grounded in ministry

Regular readers of this blog know that I am a proponent of strong pastoral leadership. I don't believe in dictatorial, controlling leadership, but I do believe one of the reasons why the church struggles today is because of a lack of strong leadership from their pastors. I believe in discerning God's vision for the church, setting goals to enable that vision to be achieved, and being very intentional about hitting those goals. Sometimes I can become so focused on the doing aspects of ministry leadership that I can forget the being aspects of ministry.

Out of all the books in my library the one that has helped me stay grounded in the work of ministry more than the rest is Eugene Peterson's book Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity. In the book he describes the three tasks of visible ministry: preaching, teaching, and administration. Peterson calls these the visible lines of ministry. These are the tasks on which we are most often evaluated by our congregations. If we can perform these tasks well we can enjoy a fairly productive ministry that will be approved by most congregations.

However, the author points out that the invisible tasks of ministry, what he refers to as the angles, are prayer, scripture reading, and spiritual direction. Because these are seldom seen by anyone other than God we can ignore these at least for a season and no one will challenge us. As Peterson states, "It is possible to do pastoral work to the satisfaction of the people who judge our competence and pay our salaries without being either diligent or skilled in them." However, these angles provide the necessary foundation for a long-term, effective ministry.

Peterson writes, "Working the angles is what gives shape and integrity to the daily work of pastors and priests. If we get the angles right it is a simple matter to draw in the lines. But if we are careless with or dismiss the angles, no matter how long or straight we draw the lines we will not have a triangle, a pastoral ministry."

Later he writes, "We can impersonate a pastor without being a pastor. The problem, though, is that while we can get by with it in our communities, often with applause, we can't get by with it within ourselves. At least not all of us."

Some of us in ministry leadership spend all our time putting out fires. It seems everyone wants a piece of our time. In addition to that there are the regular duties of the ministry such as sermon preparation and the administrative duties that are a part of the job. It's very easy to ignore the angles of ministry because no one notices them anyway. Few pastors are asked by their boards how much time they spent last month reading the Scriptures for their own personal growth or how much time they spent in prayer. But, many are expected to give a report on how many visits they made to parishioners and how many committee meetings were attended.

However, if we continually fail to practice the angles we will grow empty spiritually and have nothing of real value to give our congregations. This is one reason so many ministries go off track. The visible lines of ministry begin to shoot off in different directions because there are no angles to attach them to. I've seen it happen in my ministry and in the ministries of many others. That's why I re-read Peterson's book from time to time. I need to make sure I stay grounded in ministry and work the angles to keep the ministry God has given me healthy and spiritually productive.