After spending time seeking God’s will, a pastor concludes
a new vision is in order for his church.
The pastor sees a more effective way to reach people in his community while
at the same time strengthening his church.
He shares this vision with his staff. They
become excited about the possibilities for a greater impact, and get on board
with this new direction. In short order,
a well-done multi-media explanation is presented to the church during worship. The video explains the new vision, as well as
the significant sacrifice that will be required of the church to make it happen. The pastor follows the video with a sermon
about reaching the lost and making disciples.
When the vote is taken Wednesday night to “affirm” the endeavor, there
is no dissent, but neither is there much excitement.
Two years later, giving has not increased but expenses certainly
have. Attendance is down. The church is not meeting budget. The impact on the community has not been realized. Few church members volunteer
to be involved, and the staff is carrying an extra load trying to make this
endeavor happen. Squabbles have broken
out all over the church. Even the staff is
fighting now. The pastor sits in his
office and prays, “God, what is going on?”
Sound familiar? I’ll
bet all you have to do is insert your particular “endeavor” and you have a
story about a church that could fit this pattern. If not, you are blessed indeed. So what went wrong, and how do the different
church players view it?
What is the pastor's view?
Maybe his assessment is that the church members just aren’t serious
enough disciples -- that they don’t understand that God expects a commitment
out of us. He may believe that
this church is no different than so many others and that it has grown cold, complacent,
and contentious. The pastor wonders if
he should entertain that inquiry from a search committee after all.
What is the view from the pew? What are the church members thinking? Undoubtedly, some of them will cringe and
withdraw anytime they hear the words “sacrifice”. Others will say, “OK, I’m good if that’s what
the pastor thinks is best” knowing they will never be involved anyway. Mature believers want to listen to the pastor,
but they want more to hear from God – individually and corporately. They know that pastors can sometimes be
wrong. Serious disciples will follow their church's leadership,
but not at the expense of silence from the Spirit.
There is a big difference between leading and just getting your
way. Leadership brings people with
you. Leadership waits when the
congregation is not ready. Leadership reassesses
when mistaken. Leadership persuades by
the weight of God’s Word and through earned trust. So, am I saying it’s always the pastor’s fault when things
go wrong? No – absolutely not. But what I am saying is that the pastor and
staff can save themselves a world of trouble by honestly dealing with people’s
concerns before embarking on big endeavors.
Church leadership is often a messy business. There are always contentious people who will
pick at any decision, but a pastor doesn't have to go it alone. Mature believers
will swat down the trouble-makers for the pastor when they see his humility and
trust his heart. My point is this: it does a pastor no good to wrangle an
approval if the people aren’t with him. It
just creates resentment and guarantees conflict down the road. Even a pastor's supporters have a hard time defending a good thing handled the wrong way. If God is in an endeavor, the people will get
on board. It's true for small churches and large churches alike.
What is a big decision that warrants the church’s
involvement? Where should the pastor
have freedom? How should a layman go
about seeking what he wants to see in the church? I’ll explore these questions in subsequent
posts.
SBC Layman
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