church leadership

Do you know your emerging community?

This article originally appeared with the Christian Citizen

When I was a pastor in a small town, there was a great sense of community. There were Memorial Day remembrances, firehouse breakfasts, ham dinners, the Holiday Parade, the annual Day of Prayer, Rotary meetings and community trash pick-up days. Many participated in community events regularly. However, a segment of the community was absent from those events. They were people from the emerging community.

What is an emerging community?

As a pastor, it was easy to see and meet the visible people in the community: the mayor, fire chief, bank manager, restaurant owner, school administrators and business association representative. Those visible people in the community were easy to identify and were regularly a part of community events.

As the years went by, I began to learn about people in the emerging community — people who were not easily seen but growing in numbers and presence. Individuals and people in the emerging community did not look or act like people in the visible community.

A pastor’s calling requires a pastor to be at a community’s connection points. Pastors ought to place themselves in places and spaces in town meetings, community groups, nonprofits and schools — the visible community. There are also times a pastor looks for the edges of the community, or places of growth. The new local moms’ group, the new restaurant that attracts people in their 20s, the growing food pantry or the recently moved assistance office — the emerging community.

Aspects of the emerging community that have a visible and immediate impact often are a welcomed presence. The new coffee shop that fosters connection points for people to meet and talk. The new workout studio that encourages people to be physically healthy, while joining others on the same journey. The new comic book shop that brings additional foot traffic to the streets. The community garden club that beautifies the town. The new neighborhood that is built.

The growth in the emerging community is not always welcomed by members of the visible community. Cries of protest ensued when a nonprofit sought to move into town to aid low- to mid-income families. Some members of the visible community expressed fear and anxiety about tax-revenue loss, zoning violations, decreased parking availability and increased car traffic. It took lawyers hundreds of hours and a state judge to decide that the nonprofit was allowed to plant itself in the community. It was a painful process.

Emerging communities often have different ethnicities, economic makeup, religions, cultural values or family status than that of the visual community. It is uncomfortable and risky to place yourself into an emerging community that looks or acts nothing like your own. Pastors and church leaders are called to such places, as Christ was called to such places. Jesus entered into emerging communities that had Gentiles, Roman officials, soldiers, sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes. His religious contemporaries and members of the visual community did not approve. However, Jesus often came into the emerging community with no agenda. He sat, ate and listened. Only when a challenge or injustice arose did Jesus bring in teaching or a guiding moral principle, usually with story. He sought to make relationships, rather than fulfill a goal of setting priorities.

Churches, pastors and church leaders must understand that the way forward for a church is to be in touch with the visual community and the emerging community. The missional nature of the New Testament calls all who claim Christ to be in those times and places of discomfort to bridge relationships and connections that yield spiritual fruit down the road.

Church Leadership

When to contact your minister

“You didn’t visit Susan* in the hospital. You’re not doing your job. You’re not being a good pastor.”

Those words hung in the air for a few moments before I explained on the phone that Susan nor her family told me that she was in the hospital. It didn’t matter. The caller didn’t care. In the caller’s mind, I was responsible for information that I didn’t know about. It was very painful to be accused of not doing my “job”.

I’ve thought about that conversation many times in the years that have passed. So, I worked more hours and harder at being omnipresent. Continue Reading…

Associate Pastor

The untraditional associate pastor

It’s been a little over four years since I wrote, The Work of the Associate Pastor (Judson Press) and a lot has changed. As church budgets get smaller and the pews reveal increasingly empty space, many church leaders cannot fathom having an associate pastor on a church staff. A Hartford Institute for Religion Research study found that from 2010 to 2015, part-time clergy jumped from 29% to 38%. If it’s hard enough to staff one pastoral position, how could a church even think about two?

The answer is: it’s time to consider another model of associate pastor. Continue Reading…

Church Leadership

Pastoral confession: I’m not okay

“Pastor Appreciation Month” is October and there is something you need to know about your pastoral leader.

There is a clearly defined point in every pastor’s ministry that they find themselves in a deep hole. It is a deep hole that is created in the soul which comes from emptying yourself. You serve, preach, visit, do the hard work of transformation, night meetings, early breakfasts with church members, care for others, care for your family, and you usually have nothing left for yourself.

Enter the void.

Megachurch Pastor Pete Wilson of Crosspoint Church in Nashville, TN announced that he was leaving the church he founded. After 14 years and 7,000 people attending each weekend, Wilson shocked his congregation with his departure. As many pastors struggle to attendance and attraction, what would lead a successful pastor to step aside? He said:

Millennials

5 phrases that frustrate Millennials in church

In an age where Millennials in church are a scarcity, long term church members often find trouble with how to relate to newer church goers. No matter if the young people are Millennials, or Gen-Xers, younger church goers and members must be encouraged and allowed to take leadership roles. With 66% of Millennials in church say that churches are hypocritical, church leaders need to understand that cultural church language and behavior are important.

With all of these considerations, here’s what send Millennials in church running from churches in frustration:

Leadership

5 Counterintuitive leadership habits

Leaders often struggle with questions of “Am I effective?” or “Why isn’t this working?” in the course of their leadership. Organizational leaders and pastors are often plagued with such questions because unlike their for-profit counterparts, non-profit leaders often work with very limited resources of people and money.

Forbes gives business leaders “5 Counterintuitive Habits Of Truly Authentic Leaders” that transfer easily to congregations. Maseena Zieglar writes:

We live in an era in which increasingly, leaders who are authentic, and who translate this into shared value for their people, whether shareholders or stakeholders, employees, customers or constituents, are the ones who have true and lasting impact – ultimately making the world a better place to live in. Striving for authenticity in leadership is the new kind of success to aspire to, and may well one day be the measure by which some aspects of performance are evaluated.

Zieglar states that the following five qualities are effective for authentic leaders:

Leadership

Beware of the Backfire Effect

“Daddy long-leg spiders are one of the most poisonous spiders but their fangs are too short to bite humans.” “All vaccines are deadly to all children.” You may heard those statements, but those statements are not true. Despite facts that disprove popular myths, some folks dig in further into their beliefs. That is called the Backfire Effect.

The term Backfire Effect was first used and documented by Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler. They sought to study the interaction of people’s false benefits with counter credible evidence, which in turn further solidifies their misguided belief. Nyhan and Reifler tracked how corrections to false beliefs actually increase misconceptions among the group or person in question.

Often, the Backfire Effect is studied in the field of politics, but the Backfire Effect happens in the churches. Leadership in the local church need to be able to identify and respond to the Backfire Effect.

Churches experience the Backfire Effect when congregants assume facts or completely ignore the reality of a situation. In turn they label others as “wrong” or “right”. This in turn can create a culture of “us” versus “them”.

It is easy for church folk to assume nothing is happening in “this” committee or “that” ministry project is not moving in the right direction. This can enable that disgruntled congregant, who usually complains about everything, to slide further into their emotional hang-up concerning the church. When a leader sits down with the disgruntled congregant and calmly addresses their concerns with corrective facts, the Backfire Effect can occur: the disgruntled congregant rejects the facts and keeps believing that he/she is in the “right”.

Pastors and leaders need to understand where emotional opinions come from. There will always been those persons in the church who throw their hands up and say, “They don’t do evangelism” or “They don’t really care about people”. When in fact, those statements are not true. Such harsh comments usually come from some deep drama or past history that has not been addressed. People with anger management problems or prone to outbursts sometimes provide the worst Backfire Effect.

Still, churches must create spaces and times for people to express their concerns. It is important to not let the Backfire Effect dominate a meeting or discussion. It is best to give the facts, listen and move on. Later, a one-one meeting will be necessarily.

The more you communicate the reality or correct message to your organization or church audience the better. The more people who have the correct information the better. Spend time planning how to best communicate the truth: word of mouth, print, digital, or all of the above. Finally, frequent reminders of information is helpful. Such practices can help reduce the Backfire Effect.

Leadership

Leadership lessons from ‘Game Of Thrones’

The HBO hit show ‘Game of Thrones‘ has watchers captivated with the story line. Waring factions and kingdoms are at each other’s throats, but is there a leadership case study we can learn from?

Forbes magazine believes that ‘Game of Thrones‘ offers lessons in leadership with the way in which characters lead and act. Cameron Welter provides insightful commentary on several of the main characters:

The combination of my love for all things Westeros and the work we do with business leaders at Kotter International has made me keenly aware that the leadership styles we see in Game of Thrones are frequently played out in real life. Therefore, in the spirit of our favorite show’s return, let’s take a look at some of the parallels we can draw and see what we can learn from each.

Welter gives his ‘Game of Thrones‘ leadership analysis:

Associate Pastor

5 things associate pastors need to survive

The work of an associate pastor often does not receive the high praise or support compared to their senior pastor. Associate pastors have the challenging task of supporting the mission and vision of the church under the leadership of their senior pastor. Often, in the course of this supportive role, associates experience disagreements and their frustration can undermine staff synergy.

Church leadership and senior pastors need to realize the unique nature of associate pastor ministry. In my book, The Work of the Associate Pastor“, I write about how many fail to see one thing: the power dynamic in the analogy of “second chair” is fundamentally flawed. Associates often are forgotten in the work of the church. There are several key support mechanisms that need to be in place for associate pastors:

Associate Pastor

Don’t forget about associate pastors

Last week I spoke to a group of associate pastors at a continuing education program with the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey. This group of associates was very diverse demographically, but they all shared the same challenges.

I started speaking on the topics of identity, calling, and role of the associate pastor. Then, several folks brought up other associates books, “Leading from the Second Chair” or “Second Chair, Not Second Best”. Though I’m pretty enamored with “The Work of the Associate Pastor“, I spoke about how those other books fail to see one thing: the power dynamic in the analogy of “second chair” is fundamentally flawed.

As I shared with this group of associate pastors that the power dynamics of #1 verse #2 pastor is not helpful. Ordering pastors with numbers frustrate associates into seeing themselves as lesser instead of seeing themselves into a different calling than their senior pastors. The relationship between the senior and associate pastor should be one of mutuality. Obviously, there is a supervisory role that the senior pastor must take, but that doesn’t mean that pastors cannot treat one another as equals.

Church Leadership

The stress of the movable Sabbath

Someone at church once asked me, “When is your day off?” I replied, “Friday.”

“Wow.” He said. “I wish I could have Fridays off. Must be nice.”

“Well, I don’t many Sundays off. That must be nice to have a Sunday or a full weekend off.”

The reality for most ministers is that Sundays are a true “workday” – we labor. Leading worship, preaching, greeting, teaching Sunday School, marriage counseling, Bible studies, and church meetings occupy most of my Sundays (as well as my weekdays). And why not? That is what pastors do, right? Sure. It’s what we are supposed to do.

But, it is not always easy.

As the only full-time ordained pastor on staff, it’s hard to get away for a weekend. Most families enjoy graduations weekends, beach or lake weekends, reunions, weekend family celebrations, camping weekends, friends weekends, or even that ultra cheap last-minute fight to Miami for the weekend. I hardly ever do those things. For me, I have to plan weeks and months in advance to take a Sunday off.

Sunday is the Sabbath Day for most Christians but for ministers, we need more true Sabbaths. A weekend with a Sunday of rest from our labor, which is ministry. A weekend where we are not counseling, preaching on Sunday, visiting people in the hospital on Friday, attending a meeting Saturday morning, officiating a wedding or funeral on Saturday afternoon. Sometimes, that Sabbath Day for me is Saturday. Other times it is Monday.

As a pastor, I have a movable Sabbath.

A movable Sabbath is convenient but it is stressful. Having a day ensures a type of rest but not knowing when that day will be makes my family life unpredictable. Sometimes, I don’t get a Sabbath let alone a weekend. Daily staffing needs, counseling, trouble shooting urgent demands, congregant frustrations and mediating conflict every day of the week are typical requirements. It’s a constant crescendo of events. It’s exhausting. My labor comes home with me everyday. It never turns off. My wife, children, and even some friends, have a connection to my labor at church.

I covet and miss the freedom to block a weekend for my family and my friends on short notice. Sure, there is the vacation week, but I miss a lot of important family and friend events on weekends because Sunday is a fixed ministry labor day. The stress and demands and fulfilling so many expectations leaves me drained. When I come home for my day off, I have nothing left to give my immediate family.

In posting about this stress on Facebook, a few friends had some responses to Sabbath and stress. My friend and mentor, Charlie Updike posted:

One of the things I’m aware of at the end of the journey is that I wish I had taken a Sabbath approach to the Sunday work and take a Sunday off every seven weeks…that is still preparing and preaching 45 Sundays a year.

Another minister, Liz Lemery Joy posted,

I began taking a hard look at that beginning last February. I creatively had to cut back a little. It’s hard to do in ministry… I schedule set times for rest in my calendar now. I believe we need to incorporate the Sabbath rest- in order for God to be able to minister to us, get refreshed and energized

A member at my last church had the best advice (Thanks Scott!):

Tickets to the Washington Nationals…….road trip, hot dogs, cold beer…..come back refreshed and ready to save some souls!

This year I decided to do something different. I took advantage of some family gatherings clustered together. I’ve told my church leadership that I need this time. It is stress-relieving and very fulfilling. We leaders and ministers need to plan for the sustaining practice of intention-fixed Sabbath weekend rest.

Church Leadership

Poll: Most Americans feel connected to local church

In an age where cries from denominations about declining membership and church participation, a new poll offers some encouraging news on American’s feelings towards their congregation.

A Rasmussen poll found that 54% of American adults feel at least “somewhat connected” to their local church. In addition, 34% said they are “very connected.” The poll did not ask respondent’s religious affiliation. However, the poll did match responses to political connection questions. About 42% said they are not at all connected to a local political party. On the church side, 25% they have no connection to a local church.

The survey also provided some other interesting results:

35% of adults said their strongest personal allegiance is to their church
31% said their strongest allegiance is to their country.
Only 30% of Catholics said their greatest loyalty was to their church, while 38% said they were more loyal to their country.

Aside from political allegiances, this study shows that most Americans feel a connectedness to a local church. Perhaps that may be the drawing power of a non-denominational church. No overarching identity that is in conflict with local values. As mainline churches are declining in membership, many independent churches are seeing an increase in attendance and membership. Mega churches are an example. At sizes measuring in the tens of thousands, they dwarf many smaller denominations.

This is a opportunity for church leadership to wake up and start seeing the local church as the key connection for communities. Focusing on the local impact of the church is what makes people want to come to a particular church. Folks want to feel connected to their community and to God. Food pantries, after school programs, youth ministries, community service, and other missional opportunities are ways churches can grab hold of people looking for faith.

The question for local religious leadership is, “What are you doing to actively help people in your community feel connected to your church?” If church leadership cannot come up with ways to encourage connection, then their church will increasingly find it difficult to retain and attract new members.

Older Posts

On Facebook