Leadership Journal

Recently I came across a news report about an entrepreneur in the Bay Area. He started planting and tending organic gardens in the backyards of homeowners who want organically grown produce, but who haven't the time or ability to grow it themselves. His customers don't trust the organic labels at the market, and they value knowing the source and history of the food they eat. The story stressed that globalization and industrialization have hit a wall. For all the good that comes from interlaced economies and lowered trade barriers, a shadow side is now obvious. The toys we buy our children come from remote sources that veil scary truths about toxicity. Tomatoes grown on industrialized farms three thousand miles from our grocery store look red and ripe, but they are hard on the inside and may carry salmonella.

The Bay Area "farmer" is tapping into a counter trend at work in our culture. Fueled by a growing realization that globalization has its limits, we are witnessing an increasing appreciation for that which is local, intimate, and even what we might call "primitive." And just as people are buying locally grown food, I've noticed churches opting for locally grown leaders.

Homegrown leadership involves a shift away from viewing pastors as professionals with transferable skill sets who can simply plug into any system and produce results. Pastors and congregations sometimes falsely assume that a good leader can lead with equal effectiveness in any context. But unlike light bulbs or car tires, pastors are not plug-and-play. Instead, pastors need organic elements like trust, culture, and a shared sense of community.

I know a mid-sized church in North Carolina that suffered after importing a very capable leader. The congregation called a pastor who was wildly successful in planting and growing a vibrant church in New England. Like many other churches, this one assumed that a great leader in one context will be a great leader in another. In retrospect, they were hiring his reputation.

What they failed to notice were the contextual differences between his church in New England and their North Carolina congregation. The leader had planted the New England church and grown the structure and culture of the church to complement his personality and ministry style. But the church in North Carolina called him as they celebrated their twentieth anniversary, and being located in a university town, they had a unique personality—one very different from the New England church's.

Seven years after calling the pastor, they continued to wonder when the vibrancy would kick in. Earlier this year, to the relief of the church's elders, the pastor finally resigned. He and the elders shared a mutual realization that they were not a fit. Sadly it took seven years to come to that realization.

To avoid this, many churches are avoiding leadership imports and opting for homegrown pastors. These congregations forego the typical process of collecting and sorting through resumes, rounds of interviewing, and calling someone they barely know but who they think will be successful. Instead, they call leaders they already know because of a prior connection. These churches are going native: hiring their friends and raising up leadership from within their ranks.

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