What Did We Do...He Asked

A pastor friend I met during our last year of travels wrote asking what contributed to the rapid growth of my last pastorate. I’ve thought about his question for a few days and the following is what I replied to him.

Dear (friend),

Your congregation is not a NCD, but some of these ideas might work for you, though it’s difficult, often, to convince an established, traditional church to change its ways. But here are the ideas you asked for. Good luck, and more to the point, may the Holy Spirit guide you.

GRACE AND TRUST. Because my last pastorate was a new church development I believed then and still believe that it was important to establish a mantra which would eventually saturate the church family’s life and communicate the foundation of our individual and corporate relationships. Grace – that quality of Christ which we experience in his unconditional love toward us which we must offer to others, even with those with whom we disagree. Grace sees each person as a child of God and loved infinitely by God in Christ. TRUST – an intentional attitude toward another, saying, “Until you prove otherwise, I will trust you, trust what you say and trust what you say you will do about an issue we are debating.” If a pastor demonstrates grace and trust toward his/her congregation the people will eventually get the message and begin to behave in a similar manner. Grace and trust enable a people to be, as Bonhoeffer encouraged, “little Christs to each other” and thus avoid the ugly scenes which, sad to say, sometimes characterize a congregation.

EMPOWERING THE LAY LEADERSHIP. We instituted a management approach wherein the lay leaders were empowered to plan and implement the ministry of the congregation without being micro-managed by the hierarchy of elected officers. The elected officers, the elders, who in turn were charged to be the spiritual leaders of the church and cast the vision of what they believed God wanted us to fulfill. The lay leadership, in turn, was expected to plan and implement ministries which drove the church toward the stated goals. Empowered leadership enabled us to move much more quickly toward a fuller life together in Christ.

EQUALITY OF WOMEN AND MEN. We insured from the beginning of the church that men and women would be equally represented in the decision-making and leadership of the congregation. Each gender brings invaluable experience and insight to the life of the church.

STAFF RELATIONSHIPS. It is essential that grace and trust are daily experienced in the ‘staff team’. No congregation will grow spiritually if there is mistrust and acrimony among members of the staff team. We worked hard as a staff team to support and encourage one another, shouldering burdens and work responsibilities and being absolutely loyal to one another. I believe a church will suffer immensely if such a relationship does not exist and fostered among staffers. Every staff member was seen as an invaluable resource to other staffers. My philosophy was – find the best person for the staff position, pay the person well, trust him or her and get out of the way and let them do the work. Constantly looking over a staffer’s shoulder does not foster a healthy work presence.

MISSION ORIENTED. Mission drives a church’s life. Without a genuine and eager sense of mission given by God, a church turns inward and loses its life. The more a congregation gives itself away in mission to others, within and without the church, the more that congregation thrives and is blessed by God.

ANONYMOUS GIVING. Many persons are fed up with the local church begging and manipulating the members to ‘give money’. On the other hand, when a people are treated like adults and responsible disciples, given honest information about the needs of the church’s life and ministry – they will give as they are able. Therefore, we instituted ‘anonymous’ estimates of giving upon which we built the church’s budget, plus trusting God to provide additional funds as needed. God will provide if a people are faithful in the mission God gives them.

A CLEAR STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND PRINCIPLES. We stated publicly and often, from the beginning our life together, what we believed the purpose of our existence to be … and fleshed that purpose out by stating the principles by which we managed our worship and ministry. Many new members stated the ‘purpose and principles’ were what led them to join the church.

Many faithful and effective church leaders can give you, my friend, other examples which helped their church grow literally and spiritually. Blessings! Larry