Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 366

Pray for Grace Baptist Church

Location: Kansas City, Missouri

Pastor: Dr. Aaron E. Lavender

Weekly Worship: 11:00 AM Central Time

Fast Facts: Pray for Dr. Lavender and Grace Baptist Church whose membership has quadrupled in the last 20 years. This church has a high view of Scripture and the pulpit is committed to expository preaching. Pray that the witness of this ministry will reach Kansas City and beyond with the gospel.

Website: http://www.gbcgkc.org

“Pray for . . .” is the Sunday blog series at ThomRainer.com. We encourage you to pray for these churches noted every Sunday. Please feel free to comment that you are praying as well. If you would like your church to be featured in “Pray for . . .” contact Steve Drake, director of pastoral relations, at Steve.Drake@LifeWay.com.

Ten Steps to Deal with Inward Drift in Established Churches

On my blog earlier this week, I noted some of the signs of internal drift in established churches. I noted that an established church could be any congregation that has existed for three or more years. The church has developed certain patterns or traditions while simultaneously forgetting its original purpose and passion.

By almost any metric, the majority of North American congregations are established churches. They often include discouraged leaders and frustrated members. Conflict in these churches is often normative.

So how does a church move from an inward drift to an outward focus? Though I provide ten succinct steps, I do not want to leave the reader with a false impression. I am not suggesting that these steps are necessarily sequential, nor am I suggesting that they are a quick-fix for any and every congregation.

Find a small group of trusted members who will commit to pray for the church every day. Ask them to pray specifically for the church to move from an inward focus to an outward focus. More praying members can be added to the number at any time. The key is simply to get some people praying daily for the church.
Commit to love the church members unconditionally. They may not always be loveable. But love is a conscious choice. Leaders can make that decision regardless of how the members respond.
The pastor must be willing to stay with the church through and beyond the changes that will take place. The pastor cannot make unequivocal promises about his tenure. Still, he should have a commitment not only to lead the church through the changes toward an outward focus, but to remain with the church to deal with the impact of the changes. Too many leaders make changes and then leave the congregation to deal with the unintended consequences of the changes.
Begin leading members to do hands-on, outwardly focused ministries. It may be something as simple as delivering a welcome basket to new residents. It may only involve a few members initially. The idea is to get members focused on the needs of others rather than their own preferences.
Begin casting an outwardly focused vision. After a number of members are involved in ministering to others, they will become receptive and even eager to embrace a vision to reach and minister beyond themselves. Begin to paint a word picture of what a true Great Commission church could look like.
Avoid attacking “sacred cows” if possible. There are traditions and other areas of the church that many members hold dearly. It might not make sense to the leaders why they hold onto a seemingly silly item, but the reality is that it has deep emotional attachments for some. Attacking those sacred cows usually creates unnecessary conflict and takes the focus off the outward focus.
Celebrate small victories. In the early stages of turnaround, celebrate almost any victory toward an outward focus, regardless of its overall impact on the congregation. That will send a message of what is really a priority in the church.
Keep reasonable metrics. Many churches have moved away from focusing on metrics such as attendance, conversions, and people involved in ministry for fear that the statistics will become ends in themselves. But a reasonable focus on some of those metrics will be a regular reminder of the progress the church is making toward becoming a Great Commission church.
Learn to deal with criticism in a healthy manner. Any leader moving an organization toward change will be the recipient of criticisms. Some criticism is worth heeding. Some can be discarded or ignored. But the leader must learn not to respond in anger or to seek retaliation. Most critics are hurt or nervous about the changes that are being made. Many of them just need a listening ear.
Raise the membership bar. Require all new members to go through a new members’ class. Raise the bar of expectation in that class. Let them know that their membership is not in a social club, but a church that is committed to reach its community and the world. These new members must understand that their membership is a commitment to be a part of that mission.

Leading an established church toward an outward focus is like eating an elephant. You can eat only one bite at a time. Progress may seem painfully slow.

But the process is worth all the toil, pain, and prayers. In many cases, the old staid church transforms into a dynamic Great Commission force. We have tens of thousands of established churches in America, many of them with members who have little hope for the future of their congregations. We need leaders and members who will no longer accept the status quo. The challenge is indeed great; but the reward of seeing a church become transformational is incalculable.

 

Pastor to Pastor is the Saturday blog series at ThomRainer.com. Pastors and staff, if we can help in any way, contact Steve Drake, our director of pastoral relations, at  Steve.Drake@LifeWay.com . We also welcome contacts from laypersons in churches asking questions about pastors, churches, or the pastor search process.

Friday is for Freebies

It’s Christmastime! Over the next few weeks, you’ll have three opportunities to win an autographed Christmas CD by Keith and Kristyn Getty and an accompanying study Bible.

Joy – An Irish Christmas is a unique celebration of Christmas with Keith and Kristyn Getty. Last year, they recorded this exciting Christmas album combining fresh Irish interpretations of traditional carols alongside new carols written by the hymn-writing duo.

Also included this week is the genuine leather version of the HCSB Study Bible. This Bible has a retail price of $79.99 and features 15,000 study notes, 290 Hebrew and Greek word studies, 66 highly detailed book introductions, 62 maps, 27 topical articles, 20 charts, and 18 illustrations, all focusing on the most important topics and questions in Bible study.

To be eligible to win, answer the following question:

What is your favorite Christmas movie?

The deadline to enter is midnight CST this Saturday.  We will draw one winner from the entries on Monday morning.

 

Notable Voices – November 29, 2012

A Common Way Leaders Communicate Confusion – Sam Rainer 

Conveying a message in a very passive tone does not typically lead to positive results, but leaders do this all too often. Sam provides an interesting take on not just what you say as a leader, but how you say it.

 

30 Things You Might Not Know About CS Lewis – Greg Breazeale

Today marks the 114th anniversary of C.S. Lewis’ birthday. To commemorate the occasion, here is a list of 30 things you might not know about the popular author.

 

Lincoln and Short Sermons – Philip Nation

As I mentioned last week, one of the ten people who have influenced me as a leader is Abraham Lincoln. After reading Philip’s post, I think there are more than a few church members who wish their pastor was influenced by Lincoln’s habit of short speeches.

 

Dangerous Calling: An Interview with Paul Tripp – Ed Stetzer

Ed hosted Paul Tripp this week for an interview about Dangerous Calling, Paul’s new book. Paul provides some profound insights into the demands and benefits of pastoral ministry.

 

Re-evangelizing New England – Slate 

A recent Gallup poll identified four of the least Christian states in America to be in New England. But hope is not lost. As the article states, New England has become a mission field, and there are seeds of a revival sprouting.

Eleven Weird Fears

So what makes you break into a cold sweat? What do you avoid at all costs? What, at the mere mention of the name, makes you queasy in your stomach? What are your phobias?

I definitely suffer from acrophobia, the fear of heights. I probably have a mild case of agoraphobia, the fear of crowds, since I’m such a messed-up introvert.

There are some fears, however, that I did not know existed. These fears are supposedly legitimate. Real people have these real phobias in real life. Let me share eleven of the more weird fears I uncovered.

Lepidoterophobia – fear of butterflies. I understand. They are awful, ferocious creatures.
Coulrophobia – fear of clowns. I’m glad I don’t have this fear. I would have to reduce my executive team by three.
Koumpounophobia – fear of buttons. I’m still trying to evaluate this one.
Lachanophobia – fear of vegetables. Since my favorite food groups are meats, potatoes, and desserts, I might be a candidate here.
Vestiphobia –fear of clothing. There are a lot of potential one-liners for this one.
Dishabilophobia – fear of undressing in front of someone. My guess is that those in #5 would have no problem with #6.
Ergophobia – fear of work. I used to work with someone who had that fear.
Hodaphobia – fear of road travel. I could not function if I had this fear.
Macrophobia – fear of a long wait. I may be a true candidate for this one. Just ask my wife.
Nomophobia – fear of losing mobile phone connectivity. I confess. I am a severe nomophobic.
Soceraphobia – fear of your mother-in-law or your father-in-law. I think it’s best not to offer commentary on this one.

Aren’t you glad you read this blog? I offer so many vital insights.

4 Steps To Transformational Leadership

Leadership might be the most confused term that we use in the body of Christ. We all assume a picture of leadership when we hear the word. Normally, what we really mean when we say “leader” is a strong, no-compromise, CEO who is not afraid of anybody but God.

That leader is charging forward with a tribe of crazed followers. That leader has game show-host public charisma and a personality that makes even casual contact inspirational. That leader has a strong belief in personal leadership skills. He is always courageous and sometimes reckless.

Before we go too far, understand that some of the above qualities are positive and important to the kingdom. But the subject here is not leadership. The subject is transformational leadership.

How is it different from other approaches to leadership?

Transformational leadership is focused outside of the leader’s world. Leaders may be charismatic and inspirational, but a centrifugal (outward) influence defines their leadership. A natural leader draws people in and sends people out. A natural leader attracts and gathers other leaders. Instead of promoting self, transformational church leaders promote the mission of the church. Does a transformational church leader want more people to attend the local church? Absolutely! Leaders want more people because they want to send more people back into the community and the world. The focus of passion for a transformational church leader is for lost people not bigger churches.

So how does this transition in leadership thinking take place? The old model of leadership was to hoard and retain control. Transformational leaders seek to empower and multiply. They think in terms of movements of God versus seasons of high attendance. Patience is critical. Courage to release and trust God is indispensable. To get moving in the right direction four mindset shifts are needed.

No More Superman Leaders

The first mindset shift toward transformational leadership is from one to many leaders. The CEO “Superman” model must be replaced by assigning a higher value on every man and woman. One reason churches implode is because of the overpromise suggested by our “Superman” view of pastoral leadership. Our professional Superman pastor will be trained in exclusive places called seminaries to gain expertise in business, family therapy, communication, marketing, leadership, and theology. The pastor will be taught how to lead local teams to spectacular church growth. A congregation has incredibly high expectations of their Superman. Superman returns the favor by having incredibly high expectations of the congregation.

But when the dream is not accomplished, finger pointing begins. Both the pastor and the members contribute to the finger pointing. Angry pastors bemoan the terrible people in their congregations. The pastor demands unilateral command and control. Then the church demands a high level of customer satisfaction, fiscal stability, and numerical success. And no one gets what they want.

Transformational churches have strong leaders. Their leaders understand the importance of every man and every woman. Superman is for comic books, not for the body of Christ. I fear church leadership has devolved to a counterproductive, bishop-driven system. The result is a disengaged, underchallenged, and underutilized missionary workforce.

"We" Not "Me"

The second mindset shift toward transformational leadership is from “me” to “we.” Transformational leaders know that every person can be used to fulfill God’s mission. Leadership is the stewardship to help others exercise their gifts, not just an opportunity for me to exercise my gifts. Clearly stated in Ephesians 4, the pastor’s role is to equip. The pastor must have a vision to help others align with God’s mission.

The transformational leader thinks team first. Everybody has a purpose. No one person’s personal purpose is more important than the biblical purpose of the team. The pastor may be the coach of the team. Coaches recognize the need for people to get into the game. A football team cannot survive with a quarterback and a running back only. Linebackers, kickers, and linemen are needed. A football team cannot win with a hall of fame coaching staff but no players. Transformational churches have found a way to “win” by engaging every believer into the work God has assigned to them.

While there is significant variety in the leadership assignments I have experienced, I have seen four common themes emerge from building leadership teams: a compelling purpose, the right leader, the right team, and a conducive culture. The four characteristics I have experienced are simple but not simplistic. To the contrary, team building is certainly not an easy process. It takes significant planning, buy-in, and old-fashioned work.

Don't Hoard Power. Empower Others.

The third mindset shift toward transformational leadership is from personal power to people empowerment. Pastors and leaders traditionally measure leadership by power. But power is overrated, particularly when it comes to deploying missionaries through a local church. Power must hold people close. When a leader has all the power, the people are demotivated to act. Powerful leaders make people skittish about making decisions.

Transformational churches decentralize decision making. Permission is given to act and to lead. This feeds a new scorecard. Service moves beyond the time block on Sunday mornings to the rest of the week. The church becomes an army of leaders advancing the gospel into the community. A transformational leader will celebrate community service as much or more than service in their local church.

Think Outside of Your Church

The fourth mindset shift toward transformational leadership is from church to the kingdom of God. While God loves and values the local assembly of people called “church,” leaders in transformational churches are as concerned with the wider work of God’s kingdom as they are with the localized work of their individual congregation. They know that the kingdom of God births the church.

In recent days much has been written about the problems with the church. We see people with chronic angst about the institutional church. Certainly, the church organized has its faults. But problems in the church began in cities like Corinth and Ephesus in the first generation of its existence, not during the twenty-first century. Buildings and programs help the mission but can also become the unnecessary focus of a congregation.

Competition, denominational worship, and sentimentality obstruct the view of the greater kingdom even further. The real significance of the assembly (people of God) is found in its place in the larger kingdom of God no matter the building or generation. People are moved toward God because of the vision for a higher purpose than mere assembly. When church is reduced to that place on the corner where we go on Sundays, we reduce the church and kingdom to something smaller than God intended.

Transformational leaders have learned to trade in the small and trivial for substantive and eternal. Are you a transformational leader?

Adapted from Transformational Church (B&H Publishing Group, 2010)

Established Churches and Inward Drift

All organizations tend to lose their focus and forget their original purposes over time. I call this almost imperceptible movement “inward drift.” The attitude becomes one of protecting the way we’ve always done it rather than looking back to the original purposes and reasons for existence. Numbers of stagecoach businesses failed, for example, because they thought their primary purpose was to make stagecoaches rather than to provide reasonable and rapid transportation.

The primary dangers with inward drift are twofold. First and foremost, the organization can forget the very reason it was created. Second, the drift is often imperceptible. Many organizations don’t realize there is a problem until it’s too late.

When Inward Drift Comes to Church

Local congregations are not immune from inward drift. To the contrary, the vast majority of churches in North America are likely in crisis because of the negative impact of inward drift.

Some of the labeling of congregations is unfortunate. Particularly, when we speak of “traditional churches” or “contemporary churches,” we rarely come to consensus on a clear definition. My son, Sam Rainer, popularized the term “established churches,” a term I prefer to use today. An established church is simply a church that has been in existence for a few years and is thus susceptible to inward drift. Indeed most any church three years or older will likely begin to experience some of the symptoms of inward drift.

When an organization such as a for-profit business begins to experience inward drift, it will change or die within relative short order. The marketplace will not buy its goods or services if the company doesn’t address the needs and the hearts of the consumers.

An established church, however, can exist for years and even decades with inward drift. The church may not be making disciples. It may not be reaching the community and the nations with the gospel. But it continues to exist more as a religious social club than a true New Testament church. Its members and constituents are willing to fund the congregation since it meets their perceived needs and desires.

Signs of Inward Drift in Established Churches

The signs of inward drift in an established church are clear even though the members don’t often recognize them:

Most of the ministries and programs are focused on meeting the desires and needs of the members. The budget of the congregation is directed primarily at funding the projects and even comforts of the members. Conflict in the congregation is not uncommon since members are more concerned about getting their perceived needs and desires met. There is little to no focus on evangelism, reaching out to the community, and getting the gospel to the nations. Leadership is weak and reticent to address the problems, because that leadership emphasis could disrupt the status quo.

Addressing the Issue of Inward Drift in the Church

I recently drove through my hometown. I lived in the same house and the same town for my first eighteen years of life. But it had been more than a decade since I visited the town. I was shocked. Businesses on the main street were closed. Some were boarded. Many of the homes I knew and loved had deteriorated greatly. The major industries had exited and left large vacant buildings. It was almost a ghost town.

Someone who had never left the town, though, told me that things were really going well there. They were serious when they said it had not changed much since I left. For me, the change was stark and shocking. For him, it was slow and imperceptible. When we fail to see the deterioration that is taking place, we will not see the need to make changes to reverse the course.

Such is the crisis in many of our established churches today. And it is that imperceptible inward drift that often makes it so difficult to lead a congregation toward healthy change. In my post this coming Saturday, I will address some of the possible steps to lead an established church toward change without destroying it in the process. I hope you will join me then.

Pray for . . . Esther Baptist Church

Location: Park Hills, Missouri

Pastor: Jonathan Jones

Weekly Worship: 8:30 AM & 10:45 AM Central Time

Fast Facts: Pastor Jonathan Jones is asking for prayer for him as he ministers to three different mothers who have had to bury their sons in recent days. Prayers for wisdom are needed for this pastor and prayers for God’s sustaining hand are needed for the mothers and their families.

Website: http://www.ebcfamilies.org/

“Pray for . . .” is the Sunday blog series at ThomRainer.com. We encourage you to pray for these churches noted every Sunday. Please feel free to comment that you are praying as well. If you would like your church to be featured in “Pray for . . .” contact Steve Drake, director of pastoral relations, at Steve.Drake@LifeWay.com.

Balance is Bunk

By Mike Glenn, Senior Pastor, Brentwood Baptist Church, Brentwood, Tennessee

From time to time, someone will drop by my office and begin to talk about how out of balance their life has become. They’re staying too long at work, their spouse and children are frustrated, they’re not taking care of themselves, and they’re more tired by the day. They’ve tried all of the time management tricks. But nothing seems to work, and they want me to help them get their life back in balance.

But, I can’t. And here’s why: balance is bunk.

There is no such thing as a balanced life. It’s a false goal, a mirage propagated by a culture that doesn’t recognize a blunt fact of life. Some things are just more important than other things in life. Everything is not equal and no, everyone and everything doesn’t deserve a few moments of your time.

Multiple Priorities

Here’s the hard reality. All of us have multiple priorities. Each of these priorities has multiple and competing demands. Not only that, but most of these demands are mutually exclusive. That is, if you choose to do one thing, you’re also choosing not to do something else. There simply aren’t enough hours in a day to do all of the things being demanded of you. We all know this to be true. One of your church members is having surgery, the sermon’s not done, your child is receiving an award at school and your doctor has said if you don’t lose 25 pounds, you’re going to be put on medication.

What do you attend to first? Well, that depends.

Depends? On what? On which situation needs you the most.

I can make a case from the facts of the previous scenario where any decision you made would be right and conversely, any decision you made would be wrong. You see, it just depends.

When I talk to my team about time, I don’t talk about living a balanced life. I talk about spending time “appropriately.” The question I would ask any of us as pastors is this: “Are we making appropriate decisions about our time concerning the demands and circumstances of our lives?” Are we responding to our spouses appropriately? To our children? To our ministries? To our own needs?

To make an “appropriate” decision means looking at each situation, weighing each demand and from those facts, determining which action is most important to this moment.

You ask, “How do I determine what is appropriate?”

It's Your Choice

It is a decision only you can make and you make it from your values, your understanding of your relationships and your own personal priorities.

Here’s the point I want to emphasize. We have to make the choice about where we spend our time out of our own values, not out of fear of disappointing someone else. Here’s why that’s important. You and you alone will live with the consequences of the decisions you make. Personally, I have too many regrets, and I’ve talked with too many pastors who have made a decision to put off time with their families to fulfill unrealistic demands of their churches. This pain is hard to live with.

Of course, this means you’re going to make someone mad. So, ask yourself this: Who do you want to make mad? Whose anger can you live with? I’ve learned that when I make decisions about my time that flow out of my personal values and priorities, I can live with the frustrations of those who might have been disappointed in the moment. Sure, I care about people’s feelings, but not everyone’s opinion or need has the same weight in my life.

God, through His Son, has granted us freedom to live our lives for those things that matter. Living from our values means making choices – lots of choices. Freedom means responsibility, and we’re responsible for our lives and how we use our time. We can never abdicate, or give away, this responsibility.

Life Will Never Be Balanced

You simply can’t divide your day into precise allocations of time for ministry, family and yourself. Life doesn’t work that way. Perhaps that’s why the Bible speaks about seasons—appropriate moments—to act rather than demanding precise times.

And as for wisdom, I’ll leave you with a little from the well-known psychologist Henry Cloud. In his book 9 Things You Simply Must Do, he writes: “You may not keep everyone around you happy. . .just be sure you’re upsetting the right ones.”

Pray God will grant you the discernment to know how to most appropriately spend your time and, if needed, the courage to upset the right ones.

In addition to serving as the senior pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church, Mike is a frequent speaker and prolific author. His latest book is The Gospel of Yes . You can read his blog at www.MikeGlennOnline.com.

Pastor to Pastor is the Saturday blog series at ThomRainer.com. Pastors and staff, if we can help in any way, contact Steve Drake, our director of pastoral relations, at Steve.Drake@LifeWay.com . We also welcome contacts from laypersons in churches asking questions about pastors, churches, or the pastor search process.

Notable Voices (November 23, 2012)

“Go and Take” vs. “Come and See” -- Seth McBee

Seth McBee explores the missional aspect of discipleship and explains that no matter what you label your model, it's not about the name. It's really about ensuring that holistic life-on-life with one another is happening.

5 Things I Control as a Leader -- Ron Edmondson

Learning what to delegate and what to keep under your authority can be tough to discern asa leader. Ron provides five areas which can be critical for leaders to keep under their control and not delegate.

Abraham Lincoln’s Second Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1863 -- Nathan Finn

One of the ten people who have influenced me as a leader is Abraham Lincoln. Many of you likely share my sentiment. He was also the very president to issue a Fall Proclamation of Thanksgiving in conjunction with our national holiday. Nathan shares this proclamation first issued by Lincoln in 1863.

Four Reasons Men Don’t Read Books -- Tony Reinke

With the possible exception of pastors and academicians, it's common knowledge that a very low percentage of men are avid readers. But why is this? Tony answers that and provides a simple suggestion to reverse this trend.

Cyber Monday Infographic -- Radium One

Today is one of the biggest shopping days of the year for retail stores? But for online stores, that day is this coming Monday, as the infographic below illustrates. Don't forget that LifeWay's retail store sale started today and goes through tomorrow. You can find out more info about the sale items here. As for Cyber Monday deals from LifeWay, be sure to visit LifeWay.com Monday morning for special prices on everything from books to CDs to Bibles and more.