2009 January « The Pastor’s Helper

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January 29, 2009 at 10:44 am (Pastoral Helps, Sermon Helps)

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January 27, 2009 at 9:20 am (Church, Humor)

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What to Expect When You Face a Ministry Transition

January 23, 2009 at 8:50 am (Church, Leadership, Pastoral)

By Dr. Larry Lamb

There is a classic book for parents dealing with first time pregnancies called, “What To Expect When You’re Expecting” by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel. The book is like a safety net of information for those who are experiencing the miracle of birth. It is the kind of book that attempts to extract levels of mystery for those expecting a child with the straightforward theme of “here’s what’s going to happen over the next nine months and beyond.”

Whether it’s the birth of a baby or the birth of any new transition most people would like to know what to expect down the road when a change in life begins to unfold. Ministry transitions are no different and for that reason knowing what to do next becomes premium information.

If there was a book or a middle of the night infomercial on “What To Expect When You Face A Ministry Transition” I would buy it and pay for next day shipping because I want to know what to expect next. I would be like the goofy couple in the movie Napoleon Dynamite who were getting the sales pitch from Uncle Rico over the miracle of Tupperware when the woman said, “I want that”!

Maybe there should be a discussion in seminary about ministry transitions. After all it happens a lot in church life. But how many young theologians would pay attention to that type of a discussion since transitions don’t seem that relevant until you are praying and searching for that next ministry assignment.

Here’s a short list of why transitions occur.

1. You honestly out-grew your ministry and it became time to broaden and deepen your experience.
The key word in that last sentence is honestly. It has nothing to do with being bored, being lazy, or a wishing for a different climate in your current ministry. Typically, this ministry transition is sensed by those with discernment even before you sense it. Caution: If you are in a staff position and for some reason you believe you have outgrown the pastor’s leadership then it may be only a matter of time before you choose which size of U-Haul truck you will be renting for your impending move. (Tip: Pack your heavy items toward the front). Seriously, you may have outgrown the leadership, however, that is very uncommon, and how you handle that is very important. Serve well, serve loyally and give your whole heart to the ministry or resign.

2. Someone at the top of the decision making ladder believed that you did not possess the required skills to help the organization reach new growth levels.
This also includes a church board decision where they conclude that your time at the church has run its full course. In other words, you were fired or you got bulldozed out the back door. A polite expression of what really happened may include the “resign or be terminated” format as well. Right or wrong in your estimation, the decision was made and you and your family will be making an entrance into a new phase of life. If this happens to you then please give strict adherence to rule number one which is leave with dignity and integrity. You may be steamed over the decision, but hashing out your forced departure with the church family or staff will not help anything, including you. Besides, when you interview for a new position count on that person tasked with hiring to call your former employer.

3. A moral, ethical, or doctrinal implosion.
The collateral damage from these reckless decisions cause deep wounding and require skillful emotional surgeons to help in restoration. God forgives, heals, and can restore hurting souls to new positions of impact and influence. Anyone with a grieving spirit of brokenness and humility can find their way back to wholeness in the arms of a loving God. Anyone. No one will be turned away.

4. You were led by the Spirit of God to move on
It’s that simple. You’re done with your current ministry position because of a new opportunity that seems like a better fit. Maybe you decided to join a team that complimented your philosophy of ministry. The church you left was not wrong and neither were you, but it just came time to do what will benefit the Kingdom of God for all involved. Even Saul and Barnabas could not mesh a ministry team together.

5. Finances dictate the transition.
If the church has to make some serious financial cuts then no one should be dazed by the news that positions get eliminated. I’m writing these words from a personal experience. Our church came to the financial fork in the road in mid 2008 where it could not afford two full-time pastors. I stepped aside as Co-pastor with one of my dearest friends on earth. There were no hard feelings, no vicious attacks, and no fist fights spilling out into the lobby of the church. Raw numbers told the story. It’s not how I would have written the end of the script, but that’s how it played out. The relationships at my former church are still intact and I am very thankful for that. That means less baggage to haul around to the next place of service.

In fact, what is done between ministry assignments can be an excellent time of preparation for what God has next IF you’re in the right frame of mind. When you leave a church it may resemble the trapeze act under the big tent. You leave a ministry which is equivalent to letting go of the trapeze and now you find yourself sailing toward the next one. Only God knows how long it will take before you grab hold of the next bar for a smooth transition to your new assignment.

What do you do when you have let go of the last ministry trapeze and you’re waiting for the next one to swing your way? Chances are you might go into a ministerial holding pattern for several months or longer until God matches your profile with another church. While this will not be everyone’s experience here are at least four things to expect when you face a ministry transition.

Emotional fluctuation
Swings of emotion will be predicated on the reason behind your transition. Fluctuating emotions may include doubt, anger, and lack of forgiveness. The hope is to rest on the promises of God’s timing. Allow someone who possesses depth in life the freedom to hear you out and give a candid assessment of your current emotional design. You don’t want to join a new staff with an angry, bitter, or unforgiving spirit and camouflage your true feelings throughout the interview process. Toxicity levels in the heart are not always obvious, but just give it enough time and there will be a spill. The clean up is costly and time consuming for everyone involved. Through your emotions, trust God, be real, and talk with those who know and love you the most.

Search fatigue
Here’s some good news: there are websites for churches looking for staff and for you if you’re looking for a new position. There is great potential in these sites. Some of these companies will even polish up your resume and stick it on page one for a price. The common practice for anyone looking for a new church is to search these websites on a daily basis hoping to find a match. It’s like the E-Harmony version for ministry. Anxiety can run high.

If you are in the transition phase, you have sent the required items requested by a church only to get a letter six weeks later stating that you didn’t make the cut. Don’t take it personally. Your profile just didn’t make a splash into the second round. Because websites seek to match churches with staff, a church with 200 people can receive up to 500 resumes. The church doesn’t know you and you don’t know the church. The result over time can lead to advanced stages of search fatigue and related discouragement. Nothing beats the approach where a friend opens the door of opportunity on your behalf and thrust you to the front of the line with their solid word of recommendation. So keep your networking alive. Make at least one phone call a day! Everyday!

Delays with a purpose
We can bemoan the fact that we are waiting on God’s next place of service or see God’s delay as an exercise in the development of new growth for a new place of service. All through the Bible God allowed delays in the lives of His servants in order to build a distinctive quality for their new assignment. What character quality is God building in you that never would have materialized if the transition had not occurred? Is it a clearer vision, deeper love for people, a new tenderness, humility, a purging of some lurking sin, or a complete scrubbing of ministry motives? Perhaps it was by God’s design to bring you to this place of transition so that a deeper work will take place in you and the result will be a deeper work through you.

God to keep His promises
Ministry transitions are an excellent time to see God unfold His plans and do the unexpected. God doesn’t wear a watch so winding up an egg timer on Him to come through on your terms will probably prove to be futile. God has a unique curriculum to prepare His servants for the battles that lie ahead in life. It’s called patience. Waiting on God develops our patience and waiting is never a waste of time. The Bible is full of people who had to wait on God, so we should not expect a free pass. Being patient (still) in your spirit before God when everything in you screams for an answer now is a step in His direction. At this very second God is lining up circumstances and people on your behalf to position you strategically in a place where you can make the most damage against the kingdom of darkness. I find it comforting to know that whenever I wait on God He waits with me. I don’t have a picture of God dropping me off in a vacant field of isolation and confusion while I wait for what He has next. Instead, I have developed a picture of my Lord comforting me with His presence, speaking to me through the pages of Scripture, and offering me His shoulder to lean on when the transition seems to be taking longer than I had expected. I am not waiting alone and neither are you. That’s a promise. It’s true because we have His Word on it.

“This article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland’s free monthly e-newsletter, “The Pastor’s Coach,” available at www.INJOY.com.”

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Keeping Your Church Young

January 12, 2009 at 11:01 am (Church, Leadership, Pastoral, Pastoral Helps)

By Dan Rieland

My kids remind me that I’m no longer young. I feel young, I try to think young, but apparently there are limits! Hey, I even have an iPhone! Of course, my college student daughter laughs when I hand it to her to add the latest app or make something else on it work.

The future is always young. But it’s the wisdom of those who are not young that help navigate the future successfully. The new ideas of young leaders combined with the wisdom of veteran leaders is a powerful combination. My daughter will ask me for advice on dealing with new territory she’s never traveled before. I offer the counsel, provide guidance if needed, but let her take her own steps. I love watching her invent her future and take part in the new culture around her.

I love watching the church find its way too. It’s changing faster than ever. Don’t misunderstand, some elements of the local church should never change. The Gospel of salvation, The Great Commission, and actually caring about people are just a few of the many things that must never change. Methodology, philosophy and practice will always change.

When a church is healthy there is young life in abundance. This doesn’t mean an aging church isn’t good, it does mean however, it is aging and without new life it will stall and eventually die. That’s the circle of life itself and church doesn’t escape that reality.

So my desire is to encourage you by sharing just a few ideas about how to help keep your church young and thereby keep its future bright. You may be able to add several more thoughts, but this will get you started.

Stop protecting

This is hard if you’ve be leading for a long time. This is especially true if you’ve been leading at one place for an extended period because you are so deeply invested. A good Shepherd does protect his flock, but a good leader doesn’t protect his turf. There is quite a difference.

It’s important to give way to new ideas. Many of our staff do things differently than I would do them. That’s not only OK, it’s good. For example, I don’t tell our student ministry how to minister to Middle School and High School students. They are better at that than I am. My role is guidance and big picture leadership.

When we reshaped our purpose statement for the whole church, a staff member who was barely past twenty years old came up with the dominate theme and idea for the whole thing! That’s wonderful! Everyone over forty could resist it or even block it, but we thank the Lord for it!

If you are in a church that has no young leadership to tap into, get out and talk to some young people. Ask questions. Seek their thoughts about a young and relevant church. It could be the best cup of coffee you’ve had in a long time. Don’t be afraid to take a risk on new things. Your risk is much greater if you don’t. It’s alright to make mistakes, its not alright to remain the same.

Hire young staff

The HR specialists who read this will likely twitch and consider sending me mail. Save your time, I know the laws on this stuff. This is not about discrimination. We hire all ages. My point is to hire young every time you can.

Some churches don’t like to hire young. It’s messy. Young staff are energetic but lack experience. I know. But that keeps things alive and fun. You never know what they might blow up next. OK, I’m kidding, well, a little kidding. Young staff bring a wonderful sense of perspective and great ideas. They also attract young people!

I’m going to follow up soon with an article focusing on leading young staff, so I’ll be brief here, but let me offer a few thoughts. Ask your younger staff for their ideas, input and perspective. Really listen. You are not obligated to implement everything, but listen and learn. I love asking our young staff about their ideas. It’s always productive, and I gain insight to how they think which is also helpful.

It’s critical that you invest in young staff as a coach and mentor. Do this with the big picture in mind of empowering them to lead people as effectively as they can. Team ball and alignment is important, but a little messiness is a small price to pay for all the value that comes to leaders who help keep the church young.

Design your Sunday morning service with a young feel

This is perhaps the most subjective of all. It’s like looking at a painting and asking someone’s opinion. Art is art. So with the church, everyone has a different idea of what a young look and feel really is. Yet, with all the subjectivity, we all know what young isn’t, and if we are honest, making that distinction isn’t so difficult.

The big issues are clear. First, choose your music wisely. If you are in your forties or fifties and you know the tunes and words to everything played on Sunday morning you are in trouble. And if you are in your forties or fifties and you don’t think the music is too loud, it’s not loud enough! OK, this last one is a little tongue in check, but if you are still reading I suspect you are at least open to what I’m saying and are smiling with me. Bottom line, try new stuff!

Second, involve young leaders on the platform. This is probably the key to the whole thing. The young musicians will lead you to younger music and a younger vibe overall. Again, this attracts young people! You might be thinking, “What about the older people, don’t they matter?” Of course they do. But they should be more mature. They should know that this is not about them. They understand the need to reach the next generation. And, remember, we had the Beatles, let this generation have theirs!

Last, make sure all the components reflect a young culture. I don’t recommend attempting to capture all age groups. You can’t. It takes enough energy to capture all the different spiritual and cultural demographics in your church. Trying to do that and hit every age group ends up in a schizophrenic church service. So, as you think about humor, film, tech, drama etc, think young.

Place a premium on children’s ministry

Don’t pass over this one too quickly. When I say premium I mean top dollars, top staff and top energy to the kids. Without this you are absolutely capping your ability to reach your community.

You don’t have to be experts on children’s ministry. There are dozens of outstanding resources available to you today. You need not be paralyzed because you don’t know what to do or how to do it. There are people who have paved the way for you and are more than happy to help you resource your ministry. Your job is to find people in your church who love kids and offer them a compelling vision so they will help you create an environment that kids love and can’t wait to be part of.

Please don’t confuse relevant ministry to children with childcare. They aren’t the same. In order to reach kids you need to keep up with the world they live in. That world is fast-paced and built around technology. When you add to that mix loving adult leaders who truly care about the kids, you create a winning program that the kids will love.

Invest in the next generation

This last thought picks up where the previous point on Children’s ministry leaves off. The full line of investment in the next generation starts with children’s ministry and continues through Middle School, High School and College ministries.

The vision of the church must capture the young people, and at the same time be compelling enough that older generations get excited about it in such a way that they will invest both time and money. Let’s face it, middle-aged and older generations have no trouble loving and believing in kids. Just watch a grand-parent with a grandchild. I’ve seen some of the wisest, most sophisticated and successful adults act entirely goofy around their grandkids! It’s great! Love and hope for the next gen is not in shortage. Its all about leadership and vision and that’s up to you.

Take some time to dream about what you can do for the next generation in your church. You’ll feel younger just doing that! And by the way, if you are in your twenties, hang on, there is a generation that thinks you are old! Save this article.