Preparing for a new church/school year can have a dizzying effect. One pastor, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, likened it to refurbishing a carousel: the horses are given a coat of paint, new bulbs are screwed into banks of flashing lights, the calliope pipes are retuned, and the tickettakers are given a quick course in how to run a merry-go-round. This is all done in anticipation of larger crowds who want a smooth ride and would appreciate getting off about where they got on.
As we pondered our friend’s analogy, we were reminded that all across the country, clusters of local church leaders will be meeting in the next few days to put the finishing touches on plans for another church year. Some will meet in a retreat house or conference center; others will meet in the church basement or pastor’s living room. Regardless of location, no meeting has more potential importance to the church than this one.
What will be discussed? What should be? How can the clergy and laity make sure that the coming tear will be more than a one-more-time-around effort?
For insight on these questions, LEADERSHIP called on Dr. Howard Hendricks, a nationally recognized Christian educator. After ministering in a number of local churches, he joined the faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary where he has served for the last twenty-nine years. He is in constant demand for clergy and lay conferences, and is heard daily on a syndicated radio program, “The Art of Family Living.” Dr. Hendricks is the author of three books, including Heaven Help the Home.
Editor Paul Robbins, executive editor Terry Muck, and publisher Harold Myra met with Hendricks during n record-breaking Texas heat wave. The intensity of the weather was no match for the practical suggestions, radiant good will, and relaxed humor offered by a man who has spent his life in ministry, and is beloved by students and colleagues alike.
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If you were to call the church staff and/or lay leaders together for a planning retreat, what “bottom line” questions would you want the group to discuss before launching another year of ministry?
At the beginning of any new ministry year a church must evaluate its past performance. I would use three questions: 1) “What are we doing well? What are our strengths?” If you don’t capitalize on your strengths you tend to minister on the basis of weaknesses. 2) “What are we doing that needs to be improved?” You may be doing many things reasonably well, but how much can you improve them? We are embarrassed by our weaknesses and we excuse them rather than find ways to overcome them. 3) “What are we not doing that we should be doing?” Many churches tend to do what any other human organization can do, instead of what the church alone can do. In planning a new church year, church leaders must be aware of the unique contribution the church makes to the community- the spiritual contribution.
Give us an example of a church that has a particular strength and has built upon it.
Take the First Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton, California. It’s a classic example of a church which knows its primary strength is in expository preaching and teaching. Because this is understood, the pastor, Chuck Swindoll, is released to do what he is eminently gifted to do. You have to stand in line to get a seat.
On the other hand, I was in a church some time ago which has an unusual strength in fellowship. I was so profoundly impressed I said to the pastor, “How in the world do you attract this many friendly couples to one church?” He said, “It’s very simple. You can’t get in and out of this church without somebody inviting you to lunch.” Even though it’s massive, it’s the friendliest church on planet Earth, with a fellowship virus that has spread to everyone. Objectively, I wouldn’t say it was the greatest preaching center in the area, but it’s developed this one strength to an inspiring level.
We sometimes think a church has to be small to be dynamic in its personal relationships. Yet I know many large churches where the pastor up front and the layman sitting next to you really care that you showed up this Sunday. In the churches I visit, regardless of size, I play a little game-I see if I can get out the door without anybody saying hello to me. Too often I make it.
Isn’t there a danger of emphasizing one strength to the exclusion of others?
Yes, that’s the other side of the coin. You can go overboard in emphasizing your strengths and neglect the many other necessary ministries that make up a church. A pastor needs a broad perspective. He is not the pastor of any segment in the church, he is the pastor of the total church-cradle roll, children, youth, adults, and senior citizens. One pastor can’t personally minister to all of these groups, but he can develop a leader for each church ministry. The pastor’s job is the big picture-the ministry vision. Too many of our churches are built around one man or a professional staff-that’s the fad today. The result is that the average church is operated by 15 to 20 percent of its membership. The rest are spectators.
Can you isolate the points of strength that should exist in any size church for it to be balanced, healthy, and dynamic?
Chapter two of Acts gives the heart of a New Testament church. In this context four essential disciplines stand out:
Instruction The church that ceases to educate ceases to exist. “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching.”
Worship. Worship is the by-product of instruction. It is impossible to worship a God you don’t know. Worship is a personal response to a divine revelation. And by response, I don’t mean shaking the pastor’s hand at the door and saying, “That was a wonderful sermon.” Real response answers the question, “What am I going to do about divine revelation?”
Service. The New Testament believers became involved in the needs of the body. Service may take a variety of forms, but it always comes out of worship. People say to me, “What we need in our church is more workers.” I say, “No, you don’t need more workers, you need more worship.” I’ve never seen a worshiper who didn’t go to work, but there are a lot of people busy at some kind of religious work who have never worshiped. Therefore, they are working in the energy of the flesh rather than in the power of the Spirit.
Fellowship. “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ fellowship”-which to us is coffee and donuts. How in the world did the early church have fellowship without coffee and donuts? They had something better; they had persecution. There is no greater fellowship than being involved in the person and work of Jesus Christ while under duress.
Now the context of the paragraph at the end of this chapter is evangelism. It begins with people being added to the church daily, and it ends the same way. If the church ever loses its evangelistic thrust in the process of teaching, worshiping, serving, and fellowshiping, these disciplines will degenerate into ends, rather than means to an end.
Are you saying personal evangelism is the normal result of these four disciplines?
Do you know what always floors me about this? The absence in the New Testament of exhortations to share one’s faith. I don’t think it ever occurred to the early church not to share their faith. What else can you do with good news? Bottle it? Franchise it? The greatest threat to a church’s purpose is its ministry-meaning, we tend to get focused on ministry activity rather than spirituality. It’s not an either/or tension; it’s a first/then relationship.
For instance, who cares about people as people? One of our leading Dallas businessmen came in to see me the other day and said, “You know, everybody and his brother want my money-and I’m delighted to invest it in the Lord’s work-but doesn’t anybody know that I have needs?” One of the biggest mistakes that can be made at a church retreat is to directly or indirectly say to our leaders, “What can you do to help me pull off my objectives?” These people are more than elders or staff members; they’re parents, they’re spouses, they’re business people, they’re members of the community. Until we start ministering at that level, we are going to focus upon what they do rather than who they are.
We’re sitting here thinking, OK, a pastor is expected to preach excellent sermons, so there’s twenty-five hours a week; and you’re saying he should implement instruction, worship, service, and fellowship, plus meet his people’s spiritual needs on a personal level. How can he do it all?
It has to be an overarching concern. It’s not one activity competing among many; it’s the prioritizing of everything that we are talking about. For example, if a Christian leader doesn’t look after his own spiritual life, he’s going to run out of gas; he’s going to burn out. And that’s what happens. A lot of pastors just throw in the towel. Someone recently said to me, “I love Jesus Christ, but I’m tired of church work.” The more I talked to him, the more I realized he was burned out-a person who tried to do it all, but woke up one day to discover he was empty. He had no spiritual integrity.
How does burn-out apply to your four disciplines? Is a burned out person one who has ceased to be instructed, who has stopped learning, and therefore has stopped worshiping?
Precisely. And therefore has stopped serving. To complete the cycle, he feels used because he isn’t experiencing the dynamic of true fellowship. This principle is just as applicable to the lay leader. When the focus is ministry activity to the exclusion of the individual’s spiritual life, then burn-out is inevitable. A typical example is the person who pulls back and says, “I don’t want to get involved.” This is one reason why a lot of people like to go to a big church and get lost in the crowd. I think we’re asking people to minister when we’ve never sufficiently ministered to them. You can’t minister out of a spiritual vacuum.
Let’s talk about instruction. Do Christian leaders perceive themselves as instructors? What is being taught about this in seminary?
Dr. John Bright, an Old Testament scholar, made a statement I’ll never forget. He was asked, “What’s the purpose of a seminary?” He answered, “The primary purpose of a seminary is to unfit men for the ministry as commonly conceived by the churches.” Frankly, that’s right on target. Pastors often allow their people to pour them into a ministry mold rather than pursue what the Lord has called them to be. The whole thrust of First and Second Timothy is, “Look, Timothy, it’s you I am concerned about. Take heed to yourself, and when you get that straightened out, then the other starts.” Unfortunately, many seminaries do not adequately address this question. They primarily prepare a person to be a preacher.
By preacher you mean a public speaker?
Right. He is programmed to think that his job is to get up on Sunday morning, bat his bicuspids, unload his pearls, and the problems will solve themselves.
How would you define a pastor-teacher’s role?
I think it’s defined in Ephesians 4:11. His primary task is to be an equipper of the saints for their work of ministry. He’s committed to a ministry of multiplication, not addition. He’s not doing the work of ten men, he’s equipping ten men to do the work.
So, we’re back to your earlier question, “Who’s going to do all this?” The pastor can’t, unless he equips his elders or his board to do discipling. Many of our board members aren’t involved in spiritual ministry; they’re involved in activities that others in the congregation can do If a Christian leader is going to make a spiritual impact, he must surround himself with a group of people into whose lives he’s pouring his own-which, by the way, is a tremendous blessing to him. That’s when he starts growing, when he becomes personally responsible for somebody else’s spiritual growth.
I spend an incredible amount of time with students, but I don’t do a lot of other things. You can’t do everything. I can’t write all of the books I would like to write. I can’t go to all the places I would like to go if I’m going to build something lasting into the lives of my students. I told Dr. Walvoord some time ago, “I don’t know why you pay me because I don’t really do that much in class. I do most of my work outside of class.” He said, “Well, you know, we could solve that problem.” (Laughter)
We have the idea that instruction has to take place within four walls. They might be one of the greatest barriers to learning. For example, I can teach for hours in a classroom, walk down to the snackshop, sit down with a student, and get involved in a conversation that will change his life. That doesn’t mean I should abandon classroom teaching, but some of my most effective teaching has been done in my office, over at the snackshop, and out at my home.
In pastors’ seminars I tell them that in class my students ask profound questions such as, “Prof, what time is this period over? What are you going to ask on the exam?” While they are going out the door I say, “Hey, why don’t you come out to my house tonight?” “Sure, what are you going to do?” “I don’t know, come on out and we’ll find out.” Sometimes thirty to forty will show up at a time. We sit on the floor, a Coke in our hand, and get embroiled in a discussion that goes to early in the morning. Nobody asks, “Hey, when will this period be over?”
I maintain that one of the problems among Christian leaders in general is that they are too far removed from the people they are trying to impact. You can impress people at a distance; you can only impact them up close. The general principle is: The closer the personal relationship, the greater the potential for impact.
So what you are saying is that as church leaders face a new year, they need to ask themselves about the level of their own spiritual input, as well as the degree to which they are discipling others.
Discipleship can be a fad. Wherever I go, I discover it’s the “in” term. But where are the results? It doesn’t make any difference if you change the label on an empty bottle. True discipleship is a commitment, a lifestyle. It has to be as high a priority to the pastor as his preaching, but not to the exclusion of his preaching I often think of the Savior’s words, “This you ought to have done and not to have left the other undone.” Don’t stop preaching and go to discipling.
One of the questions that I ask a pastor-I love to do it particularly when I’m leaving-is, “When I come back, I am going to ask you to show me the core of people into whose lives you are building. Who will be here when you are gone?” The answer comes from effective preaching and discipling.
One day at a pastors’ conference my subject was, “Have You Never Read Ephesians 4?” I said, “You say, ‘Of course I’ve read it. I’ve preached on it.’ Jesus Christ said eleven different times to the most well-read people of his time, ‘Have you never read?’ Of course they had read; they spent most of their life reading, but they didn’t apply what they read.” When I finished, a little old man sitting up front came to me, tears of joy pouring down his face, and said, “Sir, I want you to know that I have spent thirty-nine years doing the work of the ministry, and three years equipping saints for their work of ministry. I’d like you to know I’ve accomplished more in the last three years than the thirty-nine put together.”
I’m afraid that many leaders are more impressed by what they are doing than by how people are growing. As a seminary professor I teach a course on how to study the Bible. My purpose is not to tell them how well I can study the Bible; I have failed as a teacher unless they have learned how to study the Bible for themselves. Every pastor ought to honestly ask himself, “What are my board members doing?” If he doesn’t like the answer, he ought to ask, “What am I doing about it?”
A pastor of a large church-a very effective public speaker-told us, “People are not responding to my leadership and I don’t know why.” We asked, “What’s your relationship with the board?” He admitted to considerable frustration. “When’s the last time you had a board member and his wife over for dinner?” He couldn’t remember. Though he agreed that Jesus had hand-picked twelve people and invested three years in their lives, he confessed, “I don’t know how to do that.” How can he learn?
The only difference between this man and many other pastors is that he has the honesty to admit it. How can he learn? How did Jesus Christ train his men? Whenever we study the Gospels, we tend to study them exclusively for content. Why don’t we study them for methodology?
For instance, the Lord Jesus sent his disciples out after he had carefully instructed them about how to minister. When they came back they were higher than a kite. The text says they rehearsed everything that had happened. And he was excited with them. On another occasion they went out on their own and struck out. Jesus bailed them out, performed the miracle they had blown, and the text says, “The disciples took him aside and privately asked, ‘What happened?’ He said, ‘This kind comes out by prayer only.’ ” Prayer? What in the world does prayer have to do with it? You see, they had cast out demons before and they had done it successfully. Now they were learning they had been spending too much
time using their gift and not enough time developing the spiritual resources to maximize their gift.
It sounds like you’re saying instruction can begin right in the retreat room. If that’s true, what specific things would you begin to do to equip your leaders for 1980-81?
I’d do a number of things. I’d start a Bible study that revolved around passages such as Acts 2, Ephesians 4, and Matthew 28, and get them involved in a discovery process. We tell people too much and don’t let them discover things for themselves. We don’t hear an “Aha!” often enough.
I’ll never forget one time when I was studying a passage of Scripture with a group of men, and one of them said, “Hey, hold it! I’ve got the picture! Jesus Christ never became blind to his objectives. He was always on target!” I said, “OK, why don’t we come up with our objectives?” The next time we met they all came with their lists. We lined them up and I said, “OK, you prioritize them.” For the first time, some of them began to focus the gospel upon their daily lives. One man very quietly said, “It’s hard for me to believe this, but something that’s number two on my priority list is number twenty-two in my life.” The impact upon his life of that confession was twice as great because he had discovered it, not because I said, “Look, Tom, it would be a good idea for you to get a list of objectives and prioritize them.” Some of the best sessions I have ever had with a church board have come through this kind of discovery.
We need to spend more time in our retreat and board meetings praying, studying, and sharing. I was meeting with a church board one night when it really got heavy. Finally the pastor broke down; I mean he broke down and wept like a baby. In between sobs he said, “Men, I just can’t carry this load.” Then one member said, “What in the world are we holding you responsible for? This isn’t your burden, this is ours.” That launched a discussion that went until midnight about our ministry responsibilities as lay leaders.
Why don’t more lay people realize this? Are they apathetic?
Yes, some are apathetic. But more than apathy, I think it’s ignorance. They just don’t know. I think the whole clergy/laity controversy is full of implications for both sides. We have to bridge the gap. One way to do it would be to get more laymen reading LEADERSHIP. The first thing I would do if I were a pastor is make sure every elder had a subscription and was prepared to discuss some of these articles. Then you would get more, “Aha’s!”
Many lay people think that the pastor is a superman and unfortunately, some pastors try and reinforce that image. Other pastors are scared to death to reveal their problems for fear it will “total” their ministry.
I was with a pastor whose son fell into deep sin; it was all over the newspapers. At the next board meeting he said, “Men, I am offering my resignation.” Twelve of the sharpest people I’ve ever known said, “No, you aren’t, Pastor. You need us right now and we need you. And we are 1000 percent on your side.” I saw that pastor grow right in front of my eyes. A whole new ministry developed for him because people began to see him not as the almighty man with all the answers, but as a person who was struggling as they were struggling. Later he told me, “You know, that’s when my ministry began.” We create our own problems; we take ourselves too seriously and God not seriously enough.
I think we’ve also made a mistake in the way we have established the multiple staff concept. There shouldn’t be a division of purpose, only a division of labor. One member might work with kids, another might handle counseling, and a third might do most of the preaching. Everybody has a role, and together they move toward the same goal. But that presupposes they’re able to magnify the ministry of each other.
Would you expand that idea?
Many years ago I invited Dr. Criswell to one of my classes. During a time for questions, one student asked, “Dr. Criswell, what would you say is the secret of the growth of First Baptist Church?” Without a moment’s hesitation he said, “Bill Salther, our educational director.” About three weeks later I had Bill Salther in to talk about the educational work of the church. Question and answer time! “Mr. Salther, what would you say is the secret of the growth of First Baptist Church?” Immediately he said, “Our pastor, W. A. Criswell.” There was no collusion whatever. But the students got the message. Here were two men magnifying the ministry of each other.
Chuck Swindoll said something here at the seminary a year ago that I thought was terrific. “We have a very simple motto on our staff: Nothing to prove, nothing to lose.” But here’s a classic example of what I’m talking about. When one of my students accepted a position in a multiple staff situation, the pastor said to him, “Son, I’m bringing you here to succeed, not to fail. I promise I will give you everything I have to make you successful.” That kid had the hardest time controlling himself. He finally snuck off in a corner and wept.
During my early years in the ministry, I worked under five different pastors. One man was determined to club my head every time I stuck it above sea level. Another one said, “Howie, I don’t know anything about Christian education, but I’m convinced you do. I have every confidence in you. I’d like you to share with me what you are doing so that I’m informed and we are of one mind. But once we’ve decided, I’m with you.”
When the C.E. program was successful, the first man said, “Isn’t our program great!” When it failed he said, “What happened to your program, Hendricks?”
One time the second man and I went to the board of elders meeting and someone said, “Boy, this program concept is a loser. Hendricks, aren’t you the one who thought this up?” The pastor jumped right into the discussion and said, “No, he didn’t. We thought it up. This is our program and it failed.” What a model!
You’ve said that instruction leads to worship. How can worship be developed in such a way as to bring about change during a new year?
It calls for a change of focus. Worship is a personal response to a divine revelation. You haven’t worshiped until you’ve responded.
I had an elder who would have failed an audition for a deaf choir, but during the hymns he would stand down in front of me with a hymnbook open, mouthing the words. One day I said to him, “Mr. McFadden, what are you doing?” He said, “I’m worshiping.” I asked, “You mean you’re repeating the words?” He replied, “That’s right. Remember, Pastor, you have not worshiped until you’ve told God your personal response, and these hymns are my response.” As long as people continue going out of our churches saying, “My, that was a wonderful sermon,” they will know nothing of worship. When a person meets you at the door, shakes your hand, and says, “Pastor, isn’t he a wonderful Lord?” you better shout “Glory” because you might have met one worshiper.
Our focus tends to be upon the performer in the pulpit. Until we develop a community of worshiping individuals who respond through music, through prayer, to the Scripture, and to the sermon, we won’t experience true worship. Worship is the lost chord of evangelicalism.
How can a group of church leaders begin to develop a higher level of worship among the people?
Again, it has to start with the board. The board sets the pattern; they are the behavioral model given in Titus and Timothy. Unfortunately, we don’t worship very often in our board meetings. When I was being trained professors would say, “Look, men, one of the problems you’ll face in your ministry is board meetings, spelled ‘b-o-r-e-d.’ It’s a grim scene, but that’s part of the price you have to pay.”
This doesn’t need to be true. Board meetings can be a time of worship and celebration. I worked with a board where the members knew each other, loved each other, and confided in each other. One time I remember saying to them, “Brothers, this is not my church, this is your church. I’m called here to help you do the work that God has given you. I’m not interested in cramming anything down your throats. We have to find out what God wants us to do and get on with it.” As we faced difficult and complex issues, it was not uncommon for someone to say, “Pastor, I don’t think we have enough wisdom for this problem right now. Why don’t we pray?” We would bow our heads and pray around the room. More times than not, we would find the insight and wisdom we were seeking.
I don’t know anything more inefficient than the average board meeting. It’s a classic case of trying to do God’s work, but not using God’s means. Worship must start with the elders.
How does this translate into preparing people for what should happen on Sunday morning at eleven?
I think preparing for a worship service is a lot like preparing for marriage. The average young person spends more time, money, and effort preparing for the wedding than for the marriage. A girl at our church said, “Prof, I’m getting married.” I said, “Fantastic, tell me about it.” Later I asked her, “Are you and your fiance getting any premarital counseling?” “Well,” she said, “that would probably cost me some money.” I said, “Well, maybe, but not a whole lot. I think I can get you some of the best counseling in Dallas for about $25.” “Doc, I don’t have $25 to spend.” I found out later they spent a little under $1,000 for flowers. That’s like a pastor who spends ten, fifteen, twenty hours preparing a sermon, and twenty minutes thinking about the rest of the service. Worship is jeopardized by inadequate planning and this can be jeopardized at least fifty-two times a year. That’s sad.
I happen to have the crazy idea that preaching should precede rather than follow the worship service. Preaching should be followed by sharing, application, prayer, and other worship responses, and that requires careful planning and training.
We should prepare our people for change. Individually, we are predestined to be changed, conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Corporately, the church should be the most revolutionary agency on earth, and yet it is often set in concrete. Every time change is suggested we hit the fan. People come unglued because the service didn’t start with the Gloria Patri, or the Lord’s Prayer was in the wrong place. Board members, who are the opinion shapers, must set the worship pace and say to the people: “This is what we are going to do and this is why we are going to do it.”
How can we help people to understand the process of response in more informal ways?
I think response can be taught through legitimate sharing. That’s the “in” term; we used to call it testimony. My problem with sharing is that we only share the positive. It’s one thing for someone to get up and say, “I shared Christ with nine people this week, seven of whom became Christians,” and quite another to say, “I tried to share Christ this week and blew it.” The truth of the matter is that more people identify with the one who blew it than the one who went seven for nine.
And if you admit you blew it, you’ve always had a victory since then! (Laughter)
Response is taught by appropriately sharing real life, not phantom Christianity. Worship becomes more meaningful when we realize that all of us face the same tempter and the same struggles, and that we can look to the same Lord and each other for help and support.
In most of the leadership retreats we’ve attended, a large portion of the agenda was reserved for a discussion of schedules, programs, goals, and recruits to do the work. What should every group of church leaders consider when discussing the discipline of service?
We need to see service in a broad context. It’s easy to see it only in terms of our local church- what are we doing at Fourth and Main on Sunday morning in Sunday school. I see service as what goes on in the office or factory Monday through Friday. The average layman has the idea that his vocation is his penalty. That’s what he does five days a week in order to “serve the Lord” on Sunday. Actually, what takes place on Sunday should equip him for the service he’s going to perform all week.
We also need to recognize that within the church many of our people are overworked and undertrained. I find more and more people who do not enjoy churchwork-they endure it. My goal for a local church would be to help every member serve Christ, in at least one way, outside as well as inside the church. The average lay person isn’t serving in that way because he’s not trained to do it; but once he’s properly trained, it’s amazing how he will begin to enjoy it and become comfortable with it. When a person serves within the borders of his spiritual gifts he will enjoy the work of the Lord.
How you enlist a person usually determines how he or she will serve. A moratorium should be declared on at least three ways of enlisting people. One is the public announcement read on Sunday morning: “Beloved, next Tuesday we are going visiting. Please show up. Last week nobody showed up. Won’t you please come this week?” Usually, no one will come the following week except the two people you should never send visiting!
Another one is last minute conscription; it’s the situation where the Sunday school superintendent slips in during the adult class opening exercises, taps the person on the end row, and sentences him to the junior department for life. The moral of which is, “Don’t sit on the end of the row.”
The third scene is a desperate C.E. director who approaches a sincere, goodhearted person and says, “We’ve been all over the building looking for someone to take the high school class and we can’t find anybody who wants to take it. We’ve lost six people in the last seven months, and now we’re coming to you. Will you take it?” If this goodhearted Christian says, “Well, I don’t have much time, ” the C. E.
director usually responds, “That’s all right. It won’t take very much time.”
It has always fascinated me that when we take people into a local church-the time of their greatest motivation, namely, their willingness to unite with the church-we tell them to sit down, keep quiet, and listen. After we have made spectators of them, we try and reverse their orientation to one of participation. The time to give members some responsibility is when they join the church. People need to know we’re not operating the Church of the Sacred Rest.
Would you go so far as to say that everybody in the church must have a place of service?
Precisely.
Have you ever seen a church like that?
No, but I’ve seen one very close to it. I saw a church go from about thirty-four percent participation, which is very high, to ninety-three percent. They committed themselves to the idea that everyone in the church was going to have a responsibility. No exceptions. They matched person with job and began to develop a realistic training program.
What is a realistic training program?
A good combination of input and involvement, a hands-on type of thing. Learn to teach by teaching. I’ve never heard of a correspondence course in swimming, yet this is similar to the methodology we use in trying to prepare people for service. I like the idea of apprenticeship. I would like to meet more people who have been teaching sixth-grade boys for ten years, love it, and are still working on becoming the best sixth-grade teacher in the world.
Yet we keep running into C.E. people who look at church jobs as one-year appointments to be passed around like traveling trophies.
Two things work against the concept of wholesale, single-year appointments. First, they destroy continuity. Since there is no continuity of ministry, there is little development toward the mastery of a skill. Second, they assume that people are going to burn out in a year. It’s almost a Pygmalion effect. If you assume it, it will happen. On the other hand, if you develop workers with the idea of long-term commitments, you’ll train some real experts. I can give you hundreds of illustrations.
For instance, the greatest nursery teacher I know is a person who has been teaching for thirtyeight years. If there is anything to be known about teaching nursery children, she knows it. Even more exciting, she’s trained another twenty-five or thirty people in her skills. I’ve heard her say, “I’m no good with adults; they bother me, they threaten me.” But she loves little kids and they love her.
I remember another man who ran the mimeograph machine. He said, “Look, Pastor, I can’t speak, and if you call on me to pray I’ll have a coronary, but I can operate a mimeograph machine.” I could almost set my watch by his arrival time to print the bulletins. It is required of a man that he be found faithful, not successful-not all of the other things that we put on him.
As church leaders contemplate a new year, are you saying that part of their thinking must include the question, “How can we begin to get people involved in on-the-job training?”
Right. Evaluation of this question should come from two directions. How are current members functioning, and what potential resources do new people represent? You work on it correctively by recruiting people who are already members but not serving. You work on it preventively by recruiting new people who are just coming into the church.
I think we quickly grasp how one would begin to work with new members; but how do you reshape the thinking of those who have already developed “spectatoritis” and are pretty comfortable about slipping in and out of the side door?
In a number of ways. Many churches have used a questionnaire very effectively-a means by which people can indicate the service areas that interest them. There is one warning I give to churches using surveys: Follow through! I recently had lunch with some upset people who had filled out an interest survey last winter, expressed interest in several areas of service, and were still waiting to hear from the church. It will be a cold August day in Dallas before they sign up for something again.
How you follow through is important. I recommend that a committee examine the data, match the jobs with available people, and-this is the key-go to the prospect personally and say, “The committee has spent a lot of time thinking and praying about this matter, and we feel that Cod would have us approach you about the possibility of working in such-and-such a position.”
We enlisted a neurosurgeon to serve in our college department in this manner. Three of us made an appointment and went to see him. When he saw us he said, “Good grief, what is this?” “Well,” we said, “we have a challenge for you.” Before we could continue, he called his nurse and told her not to disturb him for any reason. We described the task as clearly as we could, and then very straightforwardly told him, “Doc, it will take everything you have and then some, but we think you’re our man.” That night he couldn’t sleep. His wife asked, “What’s the matter?” He replied, “I have to make an important decision.” “What, are we going to leave Dallas?” “No.” “Are you going to sell the practice?” “No, I’m struggling with the fact that three Spirit-led men came to my office and said, ‘We feel that God would have us approach you about the possibility of taking the college class.’ How can I view that lightly?”
Haven’t we just isolated a very important principle-if you can’t see the closure of a project, don’t start it in the first place?
Absolutely. Anything else builds a poor track record, and people will say, “Well, we’ve been down that road before.” You’re better off with fewer programs that are done well, than multiple programs whose wheels keep falling off.
Your answer touches on the question of success. How do we measure a program? How do we know when our service is successful?
Being successful means reaching your highest level of God-given potential. Our concept of success becomes distorted when we play the comparison game-you know, “How many books have you written?” compared to “How many books has he written?” That’s wrong; God didn’t mean for everyone to write books, even if you’re a well-known Christian leader. Maybe your contribution to the kingdom is to disciple ten people who will faithfully serve the Lord. If that’s your highest level of God-given potential, do it, and you’ll be eminently successful.
I know some small-church pastors who have produced more people for the ministry than some of the biggest churches in America. The largest percentage of our Dallas Seminary students come from small churches. And most of them have been significantly influenced by their pastor. He tends to be a man located in a small community-two or three thousand with a church membership of around 250. How can you compare him with someone who has been called to a large community?
Many pastors create their own problems. They read books filled with “success” stories, listen to tapes by “successful” preachers, and attend ministerial meetings where at least one colleague has something “bigger and better” to share. Pretty soon he begins to think, “I’ll never make it!” That’s the wrong response to the wrong question. The right question is: What is God holding you accountable for? And the right response is, “I can make it.”
What do the Scriptures say about success?
The Scriptures say a person will be successful if he follows the way of the Lord. This is what Joshua 1:8 is all about: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do”-that’s the key-“according to all that is written therein. And then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success.” Keep asking, “What has God called me/us to do?” If, with your potential and limitations, you’re doing it to the full, then you will have a successful ministry, whether you have 50 members or 5,000.
One of the great problems in the ministry today is that too many Christian leaders believe their press reports. It’s hard to find a person who possesses true humility. I’m talking about the kind of leader who can honestly say, “I’m God’s messenger boy. I just happen to be here on location. These dear lay people are so committed they make me look like a second-rate citizen.” Leaders like this ate rare but they do exist.
I was walking through town with a well-known pastor when we met one of his members. Calling her by name he said, “I was going over the Sunday school reports and I saw the names of the kids you led to Christ this year. I want you to know that you are engaged in a significant ministry.” That’s how to build up lay leaders.
Let’s touch on the subject of fellowship for a moment. What’s important for church leaders to reexamine about the discipline of fellowship?
First of all, we tend to stifle fellowship-which means, to share in common-by gravitating toward vertical rather than horizontal relationships: professor and student, teacher and disciple, pastor and parishioner. We need more horizontal relationships that are developed around commitment to the same goals. Regardless of our station in life, all of us are in the process of learning and maturing.
Second, the average lay person doesn’t think that his vocation has spiritual importance. Most physicians, salespersons, and business managers think their “secular” tasks are unrelated to the body of Christ. Our faith commitment to each other should be the great equalizer. Because we are members of the same family, it’s very important to me, the pastor, for Jim, an elder in our congregation, to do good work at the local television station I am going to pray for him and support him in his work.
How can a pastor demonstrate this kind of fellowship in a tangible way?
I’ve asked laymen if their pastor has ever shown up at their job. They usually respond, “Don’t kid me.” One day I was at Dick Halverson’s church and he said, “Howie, how would you like to go make a call with me?” We went out to a junior high school where one of Dick’s members was the principal. He was expecting us, and had some sandwiches brought up from the cafeteria. After lunch, we studied the Word and spent some time praying together. Just before we left Dick said, “Let’s take a walk.” So the three of us walked all the way around the block. After we had returned to the front door, Dick said, “OK, let’s pray and claim this place as your center of ministry.” Dick was as concerned about this man’s ministry as he was about his own. He sought to help equip him to function as a Christian leader in society. That’s how you develop fellowship.
And you think that is more important than worrying about the size of the Sunday school attendance of the neighboring church?
You know what I tell new pastors? “Look, you want to build a ministry? OK, then don’t make it your object to build a church, make it your object to reach your community.” A dynamic, healthy, growing, and exciting church is one that is reaching its community.
Any other observations about fellowship?
The dynamics of fellowship in the New Testament had a lot to do with the times. The church operated in a context of persecution. Interestingly, in our own time, the greatest Christian fellowship you see around the world is in persecuted areas.
I was in India some time ago, where we conducted a pastors’ conference outside one of the communist-controlled states where it is against the law to preach the gospel. Three pastors who had just been released from prison for preaching came to the meeting. I said, “What’s it like in your state?” They said, “Just like the book of Acts. The more they persecute us, the more we flourish. We’re conducting four or five services every Sunday to accommodate the people.”
They told me about one church where the elders met with the pastor and said, “Pastor, we have a problem; there are some people coming to church more than they should. From now on let’s tell the people, ‘If you come this Sunday, you must stay home next Sunday.'” I’ve watched this phenomenon over and over again.
My son attended Harvard, and the thing that really hit me was watching how the ministry of him and his friends took off the moment they were nailed to the wall for what they had been doing.
I keep asking my friends, “How can we launch a persecution in Dallas?”
How would you answer your own question, “How do we launch a persecution?”
The persecution against Jesus Christ always started when he became involved with people and changed their lives. Satan is for any program that doesn’t change people. But once you start overhauling the lives of people, watch out.
I’m back to my four disciplines. If I’m right that God has called us to make the church a center for instruction, worship, service, and fellowship, all in the context of evangelism, you can expect powerful things to happen. You will impact the community. You won’t have to stir up trouble, it will come to you. When the Holy Spirit begins to convict, convince, and rebuke, hang on, for resistance is on the way. And not just outside resistance, but internal resistance as well. You’ll know when you’re on target because that’s when opposition always comes.
For years I was involved with Young Life, and I have never seen a Young Life club in any city of America get one ounce of static from the local bar. The only people who gave them grief were the local religious leaders.
While we’ve been sitting here, it’s occurred to us that when Christians meet together, we often think, plan, and act as though there is no devil. One can leave a retreat setting without realizing that there is a power totally committed to blocking or destroying what God wants us to be and do. Good strategy demands that we size up the enemy forces. How do we do this?
The devil is a better student of us than we are of him. Paul said in II Corinthians that we are not ignorant of his devices. We know how he operates. But that’s an admonition few people take seriously.
In Luke 4 we’re told that Jesus, being led of the Spirit, was tempted by the devil. This was no reckless abandon. If Jesus Christ didn’t take the enemy lightly, how can we?
I’m afraid we have something of a cavalier attitude toward the devil. The older I become, the more I am aware of the subtlety of Satan. Just when you think you have him figured out, he slips up on your blind side.
When you are doing what Jesus Christ has called you to do/ you can count on two things–and you can stake your life on it: you will possess spiritual power because you have the presence of Christ, and you’ll experience opposition because the devil does not concentrate on secondary targets. He never majors on the minor. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood,” Paul said in Ephesians.
In what way does a seminary professor of thirty years struggle with Satan?
The major problem in my life and ministry has been depression. That will surprise even some of my closest friends because I’ve tried hard to be a positive, confident person. I’ve come home from a week of ministry where I’ve been so far beyond myself it was pitiful-where God did things far beyond my own spiritual capabilities; and as soon as I hit Dallas, I was in trouble. I’d crash. I would tell my wife, “Honey, I’ve had it,” and she would say, “Well, Hon. why don’t we pray together?” “No, I don’t want to pray.” “Why don’t we read the Word together?” “No, I don’t want to read the Word.” And she just kept right on loving me and accepting me. What can you do in the face of that? You change.
I think I’ve set a new record for resigning from this institution. One day my wife said, “Honey, why don’t you just write out the resignation and put it in the drawer? It will save you a lot of trouble.”
Self-pity is absolutely devastating. Even now, after years of working on this, I would never say that I am cured because I think that is part of the trap. It’s just sub-surface enough that if I ever think I can make it without the Lord, I’ll get clubbed again.
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