Experiences In Christian Living and Leadership

Breaking the Mold

Recent conversations with a few individuals have led me to decide to write about something that has been on my heartfor a while.  Since I have been in leadership in the church, my concepts regarding the role of pastor has changed.  I have come to realize that the definition of the role has been altered as I have grown in my understanding of the gifts that I bring to the role.  It has also been altered by my study of Scripture and my understanding of the call of the Lord.  I have moved from a broad definition of the pastor's role to a much leaner and defined definition.

The definition of the pastor's role when I began ministry was sort of a jack-of-all-trades role.  I felt that in my newly accepted position, I was to be able to preach, teach, counsel, provide comfort, visit member's homes, visit people in the hospitals, officiate weddings and funerals, administer the sacraments, fix the copier, turn on the heat (or air conditioning), decorate the sanctuary, answer the phone, read to remain current and grow, write newsletter articles, serve in roles within the presbytery, be active in community organizations and events, attend school functions..... and the list goes on.  The problem is that as I tried to do all of those things, I found that I was doing some of them very well, some of them partially well, and some of them were areas of complete failure for me.  I tried to handle the later of the two outcomes by doing more of those things and feeling if I just worked harder I would see improvement.  Unfortunately, I was just setting myself up for more failure, more frustration, and more difficulty maintaining a positive outlook toward any of my work.

Once I realized that I could not continue on the path of trying to be a jack-of-all-trades, I began searching for a more manageable definition of my role as pastor.  I knew that I was called by the Lord to be a leader in the church.  I knew that I was given gifts by the Lord to teach and to preach.  I knew that I loved the church.  But I was uncertain what carrying the title of pastor meant in regards to the things I knew with confidence.  As I studied Scripture seeking answers and as I began discussions with others and myself, I came to realize that while my definition of my role was in need of altering, the definition of the role by the members of congregations might be in need of some altering.

Somehow in the church we came to create the image of the pastor's role as being all-encompassing.  There were written and unwritten expectations that fed the image of a jack-of-all-trades.  The role of pastor had morphed into being the resident theologian, the expert Bible teacher, the ambassador of the church, the visitation guru, the outstanding worship leader, the visionary, the fill-in-the gaps person, and again, the list goes on.  In essence, we created in the church culture a mold that set any person who might feel called to serve in the role of pastor up for failure.  We created in the collective minds of church attenders the image of a pastor that no one could ever live into.

The dilemma that now exists however is that the mindset of many church attenders is that the pastor can truly do all the things that have been listed above.  If a pastor is not successful in fulfilling all these expectations than we might label she/he as being uncaring, lazy, inadequate, or maybe even, not truly called to be a pastor.  If the pastor tries to redirect our understanding of the role he/she plays in church leadership, than often the person is viewed as self-centered or very mistaken. 

For myself, I believe that it will be imperative to break the mold in regards to the pastor's role in the context of church leadership and the life of a congregation.  If we are going to truly create a healthy environment for those called to fulfill the role, we must dispel the myths of what that role looks like.  I think that it is vital for the church to review how Jesus, and later the Apostles, lived out the role of church leader.  We can learn much about expectations from the Scriptures.  We must also get a clearer understanding of the call of the Lord and how gifts are distributed among believers for the benefit of the ministry of the Lord.  There is not one person that has every gift necessary for the building of God's kingdom.  So why is that we have come to assume that those called as pastor should have all the gifts?  What ever became of the idea of distribution of labor that is evident in Acts?  Why do we not encourage the pastor to utilized the gifts that she/he have been given and be willing to allow others that are gifted in other areas to help compliment the pastor's gifts by utilizing their own?

Hopefully this has provided some food for thought.  Hopefully we will be able to start breaking the mold that has surrounded the title of "pastor" and create a different image of the role.  I look forward to hearing others thoughts on this subject.

Purpose vs. Custom

I have been spending time lately considering the Confirmation & Commissioning class that I am scheduled to teach this school year.  This has made me run into a question that I find myself debating over and over as I strive to lead a community of faith.  Are the activities and programs that we are doing under the banner of the church done because they have a purpose or are they done because it is our custom? 

I must confess that the first part of my struggle has been to properly form the question.  The word that has given me so much of a problem is the last word in the question.  I settled on the word custom but I must admit that I am not altogether happy with that word.  As I searched for the word to capture what I was truly wanting to communicate, I first placed the word tradition in the question but that generated some interpretations that I didn't like.  The reason is that I do not believe that tradition has to be negative in our faith.  Tradition gives us a historical foundation from which we can grow our faith.  The next word that I tried was practice. Again, I didn't like that word because I think that there is value in practicing our faith, by which I mean, living out and exploring what we believe.  I settled on custom because while there are still values associated with customs, the word conveyed more of a sense of doing things because that is what we have always done.  Again, I am not totally happy with it because I do not perceive customs as having to be a negative but right now it is the best word I can find.

So now that I have settled on the words to my question, maybe some explanation of what has led me to the question might be in order.  You see as I was pondering what to teach and how to teach it this round of confirmation/commissioning, I was forced to ask myself why I felt compelled to invite junior high-aged youth to participate in the class.  As I explored that, I came to discover that it was mainly because it was the custom in all the churches I have been a leader within to offer a class which was to be part of a step toward being a voting member within the congregation.  While it has been a long-standing rite among most churches, I was struggling with the value of the rite. 

Next, I asked myself, if I indeed could justify the continution of such a custom what would I teach.  This led me to consider the material that I presented and worked through with the class in the past.  Are those bits of knowledge shared because that is what I have shared in the past and thought important in the past, or are they shared because they have value to the spiritual growth of the youth?  Do I teach these items out of custom or is there something more to it?

So I decided that I needed to take some time to examine what the purpose of confirmation and commissioning is and what I need to be engaging the youth with to achieve that purpose.  You see, I have become convinced that the one question that is most important for church leadership to continually ask is "What's the purpose?"  While my current application of that question is in regards to confirmation and commissioning, it is a question that should be asked of all that we do under the banner of the church.

It is easy for church leadership to fall into an endless round of customs.  But what we should be truly be concerned with is the purpose behind those customs.  And what I am coming to find is that the practice of asking that question and frequently examining our customs and purposes, helps us to be more attentive to the Spirit and to make the adaptations that the Spirit desires for us.

What do you think?

The Problem

The biggest problem with the church.......... THE CHURCH

Over the last few days I have been giving a lot of thought to a concept that I read in a book called "The Shack".  While this book was a piece of Christian fiction, I found that there were some awesome concepts within its pages.  One of these concepts dealt with the Church.  A main character in the book identified that the Church had become a human institution and because of that had destorted main concepts about God.  The character also asserted that the institution had damaged many lives.

As I have chewed on this some, I have come to agree wholeheartedly.  While I think that what the Church has become is just a part of the natural evolution of human endeavors, I do not believe that we have to be satisfied with it.  I find that most of my frustrations in the role of a leader within the Church is due not to people or the ministry that I am engaged in, the frustrations come from dealing with the institutional aspect of the church.

The only way that I can find to change this course that the Church seems to be on is far from anything innovative.  It is plain and very simple.  We need to take out more of us (humans that seem to think we know what the Church and world needs) and invite more of the Lord to enter.  I am convinced that only the Lord is capable of changing our direction.  The reason that we are not willing to do this is that the process is going to be painful and it will require us to surrender power and authority.  It will require us to sacrafice those things that we view as indispensable.  It will require us to submit to the love of the Lord.

Are we truly ready for this?  I hope so because the alternative looks pretty bleak to me.

Reconnecting

This week has been an awesome week of reconnecting for me.  Over the last few months I have had a struggle connecting with my purpose in life and my purpose in the Lord's plan.  I have had a period of wandering.  Most of the activities and the approaches that I am accustomed to using when I need to rekindle the connection seemed to fail me over and over.  I definitely was feeling like I was in the wilderness.

This week allowed me to turn that around.  What seemed to make the difference was my coming to a point of no longer fighting where I was in my journey and just accepting it.  I came to the point of accepting that being in the wilderness is where I was and that I needed to enjoy the wilderness for what it was.  I committed myself to live in the moment.

I would lie to you, and to myself, if I told you that I am out of the wilderness.  I think that I am actually just starting to journey toward the next step in my journey.  What tells me that I am once again in movement is that some of the things that I have loved and that has fed my spirit in the past --- reading, writing my blog, spending time in conversation with the Lord --- have begun to feed my spirit again.  Visions and ideas are starting to flow again.  I feel that I have reconnected with the Spirit of the Lord.

I am sure that the Spirit has patiently waited for me to once again connect.  I know that this is something that the Spirit does well when it comes to me.  But I must confess, it feels a lot better to be reconnected with the Spirit.  I now am ready to once again experience the joys and the challenges along the journey of transformation.  I guess I should put out some kind of warning sign at my office door:  "Watch out because I am back on the path of transformation and you don't get to keep me in the box any more!"

I hope that if you are feeling like you are in the wilderness, you might be able to just accept that is where you are at this time and place.  I believe from my own experience if that we can accept where we currently are, we will do a lot better of moving farther on the path of our journey!

Called to Lead

I recently was engaged in a series of conversations focused on the changing church.  In the midst of these conversations, I was reminded of a very important concept that deserves serious consideration by those in the church today - Are our pastors called to lead?

Let me start out by saying that I feel that in the original sense of the office of "pastor", the answer would have to be an emphatic YES.  If we attempt to trace the role of "pastor" to its Scriptural origins, I feel we are lead to see this role develop out of the Apostles.  There is very little question that the Apostles were called to be leaders.  They were to be leaders in a spiritual sense and in an organizational sense.  They were to be leaders in discipline and doctrine. 

The problem that I feel we face today is that the term "pastor" has become one that has represented a variety of offices which all require some varied degrees of skill.  It has become intertwined with the word "minister" which adds to the confusion.  Because there has been such a large variety of expectations and perceptions that are associated with the word "pastor", there has been a large degree of frustration and confusion within the church and within the lives of those that have been given that title. 

I strongly believe that it is time for the church to return to the original understanding of the role of "pastor".  I believe that we need to reclaim the Scriptural understanding of the office and that we need to clarify to the congregations and to those that carry the title, what the expectations of that call really are.  I believe that in the Lord's call to those that are "pastors" that there is a strong expectation on the Lord's part that we will be leaders.  This reclamation may cause some anxiety and angst because it would require us to look at the wonderful gifts that those who have the title possess and determine if we should be giving a different title for those who are not gifted in leadership.

As I conclude this post, let me be very clear - I do not believe that an individual that is not gifted in leadership should be precluded from serving the Lord using the gifts and passions that they possess.  I am not advocating removing individuals from their roles in the church.  I am advocating clarifying titles and expectations.  I am advocating that in my understanding, those who carry the title of "pastor" are expected to be leaders with their own style and strengths of leadership. 

Planning For Success

Why is it that many Christian leaders seem programmed to expect failure?  If it were just Presbyterians that I have noticed this trend in, I would attribute it to our Calvin upbringing.  However, I do not feel that it is only limited to a denomination.  I believe that this trend can be seen any many Christian leaders.  Maybe this is a defense mechanism that has been ingrained because so many times we see our hopes and dreams dashed or falling short way too often.

Maybe the reason that we have experienced failure as Christian leaders is that we forget a primary reality of what it means to be a CHRISTIAN leader --- We follow the Lord's lead.  Maybe if we examined where we have found shortcomings, the key thread is that we have pursued our own dreams and plans rather than striving to follow the Lord's dream and plan.  This reminds us of the importance of spending the time to discern the Lord's will.  We must ask the question, "Lord, what would you have me (us) do?"  If we truly are listening for the Lord's voice, I believe that we would find ourselves achieving much more than we often do.

A good friend of mine, Phil Barrett, has on occasion reminded me and others that we need to plan for success within the church.  To me the starting point for this planning must be discerning the Lord's will.  It is great for us to have ideas, dreams, and hopes but if these are not in alignment with the timing and plan of the Lord, we will experience marginal success, or even failure.

Let's plan for success in the church..... always beginning with a dialog with the Lord!

Sabbath

Taking time to rest.  For people like myself who are fairly driven in their lives, taking a break does not often seem possible.  There always seems to be so many opportunities and so many tasks that there is often some level of guilt associated with taking a break.  Yet often it is in "taking a break" that we can find the key to increasing our productivity, attitude, and personal well-being. 

As I sit today typing this blog posting, I realize that my body is telling me that I need to take a break.  I have been fighting a cold for the last couple of days and even the medication that I am taking does not seem to be winning the battle.  I have been chilled most of the day so far and I must confess the thought of changing into a pair of sweats, curling up in a blanket, and reading a book until I fall asleep sounds fantastic.  The only problem is that I just received my new laptop computer and I want to get it set up.  So I am going to strike a deal with myself.  I am going to do the initial setup, finish this post, and then go home for the rest of the day.  Maybe after a nap, I will fill rejuvenated enough to work on my new laptop some more and maybe even interact with some others. 

Besides sharing aspects of my personal feelings today, there is a point to this.  I think that as leaders, we must model wisdom of self-care.  In order to have the energy, the correct attitudes, and the clearness of mind to lead, we must strive to provide ourselves with periods of rest.  This concept was introduced by our Lord at the start of creation and has many merits when you really think about it. 

Not only is this important for our personal lives but it is also important for the groups of individuals that we are leading.  As we are actively engaged in transformation, we know that it requires a lot of energy and a lot of wisdom.  We must allow individuals to take breaks as we progress through the various changes that transformation require.  The period of "rest" that we allow will vary depending on the many dynamics involved.  This is not an attempt to advocate for "resting on our laurels" but instead acknowledges that there is a natural flow of items in God's creation and we must be mindful of that flow.

So my encouragement for you this day is to be sure to take a time of rest for yourselves as leaders.  This will provide an example for those that you are leading and set up healthy dynamics within the group.  Also, make sure you are mindful of those points when the whole group needs a little rest and do not be afraid of taking a break from your transformative activities.

Looking Harder

Alright, so life does not happen like we would like it to.  Yesterday was one of those days for me.  If something could go wrong it definitely did.  But out of a difficult day, I found something helpful to take with me.  It all came about because of my laptop computer.  Prior to going for coffee at my favorite morning hangout, Espresso Yourself, I stopped by the office and booted up my laptop, feed my fish, and checked my e-mail on my work account.  When I returned from coffee, I expected to go onto my laptop and print off my daily Franklin Covey planner pages as usual.  This would give me my task list for the day and provide the building blocks of a productive day.  Upon sitting at my desk and touching the mousepad of my laptop to "wake it up", the unthinkable happened.... IT DID NOT RESPOND.  Now this has happened before and usually all that I need to do is reboot it.  So I pressed the power button and waited for it to reboot as normal.  The first screen came up, the second screen came up, and then it went dark.  OH NO!!!!!! What am I supposed to do now?

Well, I will not bore you with the boring details of all the different steps I took but let me suffice it to say that it seemed that my laptop was truly dead.  Or was it?  After spending a little more time examining the screen, I could make out a faint image of what was supposed to be on the screen.  So then I called one of my friends who is a computer technician, among other things, and sought his advice.  He eventually suggested that I bring the computer to his place on my way to a meeting in Des Moines.  While still on the phone with him and preparing to pack up my laptop, I unplugged the power cable and out of curiosity I rebooted the computer again.  This time it came up as normal.  My friend still encouraged me to bring it by and so I did.  He was unable to fully diagnose the problem while I was still at his place so he offered to drop by with it later. And I headed off for my meeting.

After my meeting I called him and he gave me the news that I did not want to hear..... it would cost too much to repair.  So I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to be buying a new laptop computer.  However, I still could limp along with this one by looking very closely at the screen.

What does any of this have to do with church leadership you might be asking.  Well, I believe that it reminds us of a couple important items:

1)  Be sure to take the time to TRULY look at a situation before assuming you have a diagnosis of the true problem.

2)  Don't be so quick to get rid of something, it just might be the very thing you need to get you to the next important point in your work.

I encourage all of us as leaders to look a little harder and then make our decisions.

Following Directions

On a recent trip which required me to fly, I made a disturbing observation --- people often choose to fail to follow directions.  Let me paint the picture for you.  After boarding one plane, we had to be de-iced so we were sitting there quite a while.  The flight attendant made the announcement that individuals could continue to use their electronic devices until we had been de-iced and were ready to taxi once again.  People all around pulled out laptops, blackberries, and other portable electronic devices.  This did not become an issue until we were once again ready to taxi for our takeoff.  The flight attendant made the announcement that all these devices and cellular phones must be turned off and returned to their storage location.  The individual ahead of me apparently perceived that this announcement applied to everyone but himself.  One of the flight attendants came past him and asked him to turn off the laptop.  Again, he did not seem to comprehend that this applied to him.  Another flight attendant came by with the same request and again he did not comply.  We were quickly approach our runway from which we were to takeoff and another flight attendant began to approach the man.  This time he must have decided that he needed to follow directions and complied with all the previous requests.  I sat in my seat becoming angry that most of my fellow travelers were good about complying with the instructions but one individual for some reason chose multiple times not to comply.  This was my first opportunity on the trip to observe such behavior but it would continue with a couple of other situations in the airport --- those passengers that are in such a hurry to board that they fail to follow the seating order as it is called, or the passengers that have the whole flight to get up and use the restroom but wait until we are starting our descent and the seatbelt sign is illuminated before they get up and head to the restroom.

Why is it that human beings frequently fail to take direction and follow that direction?  This by far is not a new phenomenon, nor is it limited to the airport and airplanes.  Humans have tended to demonstrate this behavior since our creation.  Didn't God tell the first humans not to eat from one specific tree, and yet they did?  I guess there is something about our human nature that resists being faithful to the directions given to us by those in charge.

This tends to run true in the church as well.  We see over and over again that once the leadership of the church sets a direction, there has to be at least one person that challenges that.  While I am not advocating a blind following by individuals, I do think that we need to seriously examine why we fail to follow directions.  Why is that when the Spirit leads us, we choose to head the opposite direction?  Why is it when the Lord provides instruction in the Word, we fail to heed it?  Why is it when a vision is cast and leaders move in that Spirit-led journey, we have people trying to go their own way?

Maybe some day we will finally admit that the directions we receive from the Lord truly are for our benefit.  Maybe some day we will all follow those directions.  Until then, I guess we will all have to keep trying to encourage others and ourselves. No wonder God gets frustrated with us!

Servant Leadership

Recently I asked a group of young people what qualities the expected to find in a leader.  They gave some very good answers - someone who is respectable, someone who is honest, someone who respects others, someone who is able to communicate, etc.  The one item that they left off the list was that a leader needs to be a servant.  That is probably because most people do not view servitude as a characteristic of a leader.  However, people are starting to realized the value of that characteristic. 

I spoke with my congregation about this concept during my message this past Sunday.  My message was based in part on Mark 10:35-45 which reads:

   [35] James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."  [36] And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?"  [37] And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."  [38] But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  [39] They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;  [40] but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." 
   [41] When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John.  [42] So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.  [43] But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant,  [44] and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.  [45] For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."  (NRSV)

Jesus makes it clear that a leader in the Lord's definition is someone who is a servant first.

The corporate world has also taken hold of this concept.  More and more corporations are starting to encourage and provide incentives for employees and managers who participate in community service.  A book from a secular writer that is devoted to this concept is  On Becoming a Servant Leader written by Robert K Greenleaf.  For information about this concept check out Greenleaf organization or Larry Spears. 

A leader in the church must be a servant first.  We as churches should be providing the example in this concept.  Instead, it seems that the corporate world is actually doing more in this area than most churches.