Musings on Spiritual Matters

Within the context of the churches of Christ, there is a strong vibe against the pastoral system within the denominational world.  This strong anti-pastoral vibe is merely a “wording” argument because often the pulpit minister is expected to lead through a pastoral paradigm.  The pastoral paradigm seeks for the minister to provide a mission of mercy as well as ministry of preaching.  The minister is expected to counsel, visit the sick, and be a strong teacher of the word.  Often this paradigm of ministry does not lead to growth in a congregation because these works will not compound into a growth dynamic.  Most of these works, except preaching, are done on a individual basis.  The works are for caring and not really leading.  This is often the explanation why a minister cannot lead growth in a congregation.  He is doing the wrong things and the church loves him for it.  Once he begins to do the right things for growth, often the church will hate him for it.  But if growth is to happen, there must be an intentional plan of action.  This is why a growth calendar is called for in transformational leadership.  Of course, this is found through God, by God, for the particular context of the church.  The minister focuses more on the dynamics of leadership that lead to activity and mentoring of the membership more than a normal pastoral role.  If you have elders, let them do it.  You are an evangelist, so act like one.  Often though, when people hear about an evangelist, people think “one on one Bible studies.”  This is an old school method.  Evangelism is much more effective through the practice of “net evangelism strategies.”  You are not giving up on the “one on one,” but you are maximizing your influence and talents for a wider scope of outreach.  Essentially, you are to be engaging in cultural systemic change within a congregation as a transformational leader (that is if the congregation is not growing, if it is, leave it alone).  My guess that the majority of congregations need systemic change.  The question is, do you know how to do this without being fired?  The first step for you is to track your calendar for two weeks, what are you doing the majority of with your time?  Make a list, which category are you mostly in with the works?     

Related posts:

1. Review of “Reconstructing Pastoral Theology”
2. Popular Models in Congregtional Leadership
3. Postmodernity Versus Modernity
4. Church Leadership and the Growth Chart
5. Read “Ultimate Leadership”

Tags:

This entry was posted by Matthew on Saturday, August 8th, 2009 at 5:24 pm and is filed under Church News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.