People-Centered Administration
Your Gift of Administration by Ted W. Engstrom, Nelson, $9.95
Reviewed by John A. Huffman, Jr., St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Newport Beach, California
Some who write about administration have all the theory but not the practice. I read their writing, and I’m impressed; I talk to their associates, and I’m let down.
Ted Engstrom, however, is one who practices what he preaches.
Thirty years ago, as a teenager, I lived across the street from him and watched this large bundle of a man energetically drag his body, chronically pained by a hip injury, through a schedule that wouldn’t stop. He was then president of Youth for Christ International, traveling the world carrying spiritual and financial burdens and administering a huge team of creative mavericks.
Read his books, observe his accomplishments, and you wonder whether he really has time for people. He does. And not just the people who are part of his organization. Thirty years ago, he had time for the kid across the street who had observed phoniness in other Christian leaders.
It wasn’t a lot of time, but it was enough to make an impression. A wave hello, occasionally stopping his car, rolling down the window, and asking a specific question or two about my life affirmed me and convinced me of his authenticity. He not only ran an organization committed to loving the teenagers of the world; he actually loved the teenager across the street and was no small influence in helping me grow in my faith and willingness to serve Jesus Christ in full-time ministry.
In the years since, our paths have crossed a few times, and I’ve continued to watch his work. Now head of World Vision, he knows how to get things done, and he knows how to care for people in the process. And personal relations is a theme echoed throughout the book.
“A cheery ‘good morning’ is not enough,” he writes. “Neither is an infrequent pat on the back. Nor can an administrator forget about employees all year long, then expect to win their confidence during the camaraderie of the annual picnic . . . We must take a genuine interest in them.” It’s this people dimension that makes his book so helpful.
I wouldn’t say Engstrom’s is the best book if you’re looking for exhaustive help in specific administrative areas. In that case, consult his bibliography, which lists the most helpful books and monographs, both secular and religious. You’ll want to round out your library with titles off his list, such as The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker, Megatrends by John Naisbitt, The Time Trap by Alec Mackenzie, and In Search of Excellence by Peters and Waterman
What Engstrom does is provide a helpful primer in administration for those who want an overview.
He integrates biblical teaching about spiritual gifts with management theory. What I found most refreshing was the way he acknowledges that some of us who must administer are not necessarily naturals at it. He distinguishes between “charismatic” administrators, the born leaders, and “official” administrators, those in the hierarchy with authority and a job to do.
“My purpose,” Engstrom writes, “is twofold: to help official leaders develop and strengthen their administrative gifts; to help gifted leaders become more thorough and effective in their official and administrative responsibilities.”
Perhaps you’re a natural administrator with good intuitions that have worked up till now. If so, this book will prepare you for situations you haven’t yet faced.
Others of us, however, have stumbled into our positions. We’ve been promoted, and despite the fact we’ve never had a course in administration, we find ourselves in charge.
This book reassures us that we can learn and provides the practical, creative, and spiritual resources we need to grow in our administrative roles.
A Case for Muscular Pastoral Leadership
Leading Your Church to Growth by C. Peter Wagner, Regal, $6.95
Reviewed by James D. Berkley, pastor, Dixon Community Church, Dixon, California
I have seven Peter Wagner books on my shelf and notebooks bulging with Peter Wagner class notes. What more has Wagner to say?
Much, indeed. As professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary and protg of Donald McGavran, the patriarch and founder of the Church Growth Movement, Wagner serves as the movement’s chief apologist and popularizer.
Church Growth is not without its opponents, nor is Wagner without his detractors. However, few people remain as congenial at the eye of the tempest as he. He refuses to canonize his theory, often recommending to students books by his chief critics. He welcomes criticism, scientific study, revision, but he will also spar ably to make his point.
Wagner’s newest book, Leading Your Church to Growth, presents the latest Church Growth thinking in a palatable, down-to-earth package. He does have something new to say, especially about the role of the pastor.
“Strong pastoral leadership is regularly affirmed as a positive growth factor but an in-depth analysis is yet lacking. My intention is to begin to fill that void,” he writes.
In the past, mainline Protestant churches have given mixed reviews to Wagner’s school of thought. Although lured by the promise of growth and revitalization, they have also turned a cold shoulder to the perceived hype and clamor. In this book, Wagner woos the mainline church, answering many of their complaints.
Take this unexpected Wagnerism: “It is okay not to be a growth pastor in a non-growth situation,” or “These three kinds of churches-small churches which value their single-cell nature, terminally ill churches, and churches in areas of unusual mobility-should not be expected to grow. It is recognized that God can direct them in other avenues and bless them and use them for His glory. If God is so leading them, it’s okay not to grow.”
Answering the charge of a preoccupation with numbers, Wagner writes, “As I see it, those who object to numbers are usually trying to avoid superficiality in Christian commitment. I agree with this. … But I am vitally interested in lost men and women who put their faith in Jesus Christ and are born again. … When numbers represent these kinds of people, they are much more than a ‘numbers game.’ “
He emphasizes the totality of ministry-both the evangelistic and cultural mandates. “Saving souls is the first step, but it is not enough. Concern for the whole person is essential. Loving your neighbor as yourself means becoming involved with people’s health, welfare, and human dignity.”
One of his most controversial principles-the homogeneous unit-also warrants new attention. Wagner states that some “have understood church growth leaders to say that homogeneous churches are the right and true way for churches to grow, when they haven’t been saying this at all. They have simply been describing the observable fact that, worldwide, most unchurched men and women are first attracted to Christ by hearing the gospel from those who talk like them, think like them, and act like them.” Speaking of Donald McGavran, Wagner continues, “His ideal and mine is a church where lines of class, race, and language are completely broken down.” Is this the Wagner egalitarians love to castigate?
Wagner also answers the charge that Church Growth is overly pragmatic. He contends that his pragmatism is not the kind that “compromises doctrine or ethics or the kind that dehumanizes people by using them as means toward an end. It is, however, the kind of consecrated pragmatism which ruthlessly examines traditional methodologies and programs asking the tough questions.”
I appreciate his distillation of Church Growth to the statement: “Church growth is not some magic formula which can produce growth in any church at any time. It is just a collection of common sense ideas that seem to track well with biblical principles which are focused on attempting to fulfill the Great Commission more effectively than ever before.”
Even with all its excellent material refining Church Growth in general, this is not a generalized book. Wagner focuses on the kind of leadership that produces growing congregations.
To begin, he mounts a frontal assault on the idea of the pastor as enabler-one who is out to actualize personalities-an idea whose time, he says, is past. With tongue firmly in cheek, Wagner cracks, “If you asked a pastor with this training what time of day it was, you would get one of two answers: ‘Why do you ask?’ or ‘What time would you like it to be?’ ” Wagner affirms the concept of pastor as equipper, who prepares lay people for ministry, but the enabler is anathema for a growing ministry.
Next Wagner distinguishes between authoritarian and authoritative ministry. He will not condone the authoritarian tyrant, but he does urge pastors to be authoritative.
When I asked him what keeps the one from slipping into the other, Wagner replied, “A leader must earn his role by being a servant among people. Most of us define an autocrat as ‘anybody who leads in a style outside my comfort zone.’ If people perceive the leader to be a servant, then he is not a tyrant.”
He added that it’s wise for strong leaders to temper their own biases and blind spots with a small reference group from the congregation and a peer group of fellow pastors. This precludes the abuse of power while allowing a leader to lead.
Not every ministry suddenly blossoms into growth. Assuming that solid growth comes from lengthy pastorates, he gives definite suggestions for laying the groundwork for growth. Working on morale and building loyalty among parishioners is not wasted time for the growth-minded pastor.
Technical Church Growth jargon arises when Wagner hauls out the modality/sodality nomenclature. A modality is a wide-open organization that anybody can join, like a church or a sandlot baseball game. A sodality concentrates on a given task and makes special requirements for participants, like a mission organization or a championship team.
Wagner’s thesis is that churches would be more effective operating with sodality leadership.
When I pressed him, Wagner conceded that many churches would not take kindly to sodality leadership. (The chapter is titled “Why Bill Bright Is Not Your Pastor”!) He felt that new churches and congregations willing to pay the price for survival are the best prospects for intentional, sodality-type leadership.
Wagner concludes with practical chapters on getting the right start, including calling the right pastor, and on keeping growth on course. He postulates four levels of faith, which go from Robert Schuller’s possibility thinking all the way to “fourth dimension faith,” which “trusts God for supernatural signs and wonders.” About the latter, he lamented that where once he was criticized for being too sociological and not spiritual enough, now he is criticized from the other end for venturing into overly spiritualized things.
Leading Your Church to Growth is well-done Wagner. He ducks, parries, and thrusts, all with a Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., half smile on his face. And he hits home. With a wealth of practical ideas and with a good first stab at proposing a theory of Church Growth leadership, this book is a winner, readable and witty.
I now have eight Peter Wagner books on my shelf. I look forward to coming attractions on signs, wonders, and Church Growth, and on Church Growth in the Gospels and Acts. Wagner definitely has more to say.
What Makes a Church Thrive?
Twelve Keys to an Effective Church by Kennon L. Callahan, Harper and Row, $11.95
Reviewed by Doug Beacham, pastor, Franklin Springs Pentecostal Holiness Church, Franklin Springs, Georgia
This is not just another simplistic how-to book. Kennon Callahan is charting a new direction for ministry.
For nearly twenty-five years, Callahan, until recently minister of finance and administration at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas, studied and practiced the content of this book.
Not primarily concerned with church growth, Callahan focuses on “effective” ministry, which he describes with six functional and six relational characteristics.
His six functional keys are (1) several competent programs and activities, (2) accessibility, (3) visibility, (4) adequate parking, land, and landscaping, (5) adequate space and facilities, and (6) solid financial resources.
These chapters help pastors gain a sense of the issues that many lay people focus upon. Callahan doesn’t violate his integrity by removing these bricks-and-wallpaper issues from his underlying theology of the church. Many of us can benefit from increased sensitivity in this area.
But Callahan also makes it clear that the crucial elements in the life of the church are the relational characteristics: (1) specific mission objectives, (2) pastoral and lay visitation, (3) dynamic corporate worship, (4) significant relational groups, (5) strong leadership, and (6) streamlined structure with a solid, participatory decision-making process.
In determining the mission of the church, Callahan cautions against the “data-collection” method-relying too heavily on surveys, community trends, or chamber of commerce projections. Focusing on factors outside the church “tends to enslave local churches to the alleged inevitability of demographic trends of population growth or decline,” he writes.
When I asked him why, he said, “If a church looks at the demographic data and finds it’s in a declining community, and they base their goals accordingly, the church will decline. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Callahan prefers a “diagnostic” method, with churches identifying the strengths within the congregation and basing their mission on those, not the factors outside the church.
The most important question, according to Callahan, is not “How many members do you have?” but “How many people is your church serving?” His focus is upon the work of the Holy Spirit in developing specific missions where lay people can offer concrete help to specific hurts. This “grapevine” approach can be a local congregation’s best means to spread the Good News.
He consciously uses the term mission rather than ministry because “the task of the church is mission . . . the emphasis on the fact that all people in the church are called to labor in the kingdom, not just those ordained.” The most effective way to develop mission, he says, is to “grow it up from within.”
The chapter on strong leadership is noteworthy for two reasons. First, he rejects the “enabler” approach to pastoring-passive and nondirective-which he claims worked during the fifties and sixties because our society was basically churched. Today, however, we’re essentially an unchurched culture and thus in need of pastors willing to be strong though not dictatorial leaders.
Second, he urges the church to reorder its priorities when looking for leadership. Often churches plan their programs, he writes, “as though they had an unlimited reservoir of leaders,” and if those leaders don’t readily step forward, churches make the foolish assumption that leaders would emerge “if only the people in this congregation were more committed.”
Instead of looking for more committed people, suggests Callahan, recognize that leaders are in limited supply. Only a certain number are able to lead. Assess the existing leadership strength and design the church’s mission around that, says Callahan.
When looking for leaders, he suggests, reorder priorities to seek competency first (spiritual gifts, talents, and abilities), compassion second, and then commitment. Seeking more commitment won’t solve anything if the basic problem is a lack of competency or compassion.
Throughout the book, the people of God are invited to view their work from the perspective of the Resurrection with its life and hope. There is an ongoing sense of the Holy Spirit’s presence through people focusing on the gifts of God in their midst.
His emphasis is based on a theology that says, “Hope is stronger than memory.”
Perhaps the fundamental issue can be summed up by his watershed question. “Do you believe your best years are behind you, or do you believe your best years are yet before you?”
Callahan’s book can help a church move forward with confidence.
A Young Pastor’s Intro to A. B. Dick
The First Parish by J. Keith Cook, Westminster, $8.95
Reviewed by Mike Coughlin, pastor, Clough Valley Baptist Church, St. Francis, Kansas
First pastorates are often like the first years of marriage: we realize how little we know only after we’ve committed ourselves.
In an attempt to make the passage a bit easier, J. Keith Cook, senior pastor of the Presbyterian Church of the Master, Omaha, Nebraska, devoted his doctor of ministries project to the subject, and this book, “a pastor’s survival manual,” is the result.
“We know a lot about the Pauline epistles, but very little about church trustees. We know how to handle H. R. Niebuhr, but we don’t know how to handle A. B. Dick,” he writes in the introduction. “This book is meant to help the minister survive for years of fruitful and personally fulfilling service.”
The book’s usefulness applies beyond just the first pastorate.
Cook divides his book into five sections, each dealing with different ministerial functions.
“Getting Ready to Go in the Parish” covers getting church and pastor together, including effective resume writing, but more important, how to find a church that fits you.
“Finding a church that fits your needs, interests, and abilities will make a big difference in whether you will remain in the ministry, as well as in whether your congregation feels served or cynical about ministers and ministry,” he writes. He provides questions to ask during the candidating process and signs to look for, such as “Weeds around the church say, ‘We don’t care’ ” and “Leadership that is much older than the general membership says, ‘We don’t want new ideas . . . don’t rock the boat.’ “
Bad signs may not be all bad, he notes. Perhaps the church simply needs leadership. “Try to sense whether that is true and whether you’re that leader,” he writes.
The second section discusses the role, style, image, and relationships of a pastor.
Cook’s first ministry, two congregations in northeast Nebraska, where he stayed for ten years, provided him the experiences from which to draw.
“I had some painful relationships in my first parish,” he said in an interview. “But I learned unconditional love as well.”
In the book, he gives concrete tips for communicating love to the congregation, even such down-to-earth things as smiling while talking on the phone, and doing business (when possible) in stores where church members work.
The third section, “Getting the Job Done,” focuses on administration, preaching, visitation, counseling, evangelism, and social action. He stresses personal time management as a key to effective ministry.
“One thing common to most success stories is the alarm clock,” he writes.
The fourth section details problems and solutions in handling personal conflicts both within the family and the church.
He encourages spouses to be themselves. Pastors are not called to sacrifice their families on the altar of ministry. When asked how he sets aside time for his own family, Cook says, “I’m not busy more than half a dozen Sunday afternoons and evenings a year.” In addition, he confines evening obligations to two nights a week, a goal he says all pastors can reach if they really want to.
He also deals frankly with how to talk about salary with those responsible for setting it. Since the book was published, he’s already gotten a call from a Methodist pastor in Omaha who said, “Your book has already saved me money.”
Perhaps the book’s most helpful passage, however, is the section on discouragement, ineffectiveness, and loneliness.
“We thought we were called to lead a mighty army of Christian soldiers eager to march . . . but we find we’re chaplains to old warriors long since withdrawn from the front,” he writes. He suggests seeking solace in recognizing God’s call for us and in a few trusted friends who honestly reveal the impact our ministry is having.
The book’s final section, “Getting Out,” discusses when and how to leave a pastorate. The key, says Cook, is being sensitive to what you’ve accomplished in the past and what can be done in the future.
What sets this book apart is Cook’s personal, direct writing style: “I write the way I talk. It shortens the distance.”
Cook readily agrees that this book is but one approach to parish ministry: his own. He also admits not all the ideas will transfer to other situations.
But if we are successful in what Cook calls “the transfer of affection” (communicating the love of Jesus to others), then we’ll not only survive in ministry but thrive.
Copyright © 1984 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
