What Every Church Leader Ought to Know

1. Some people will tell you it doesn’t matter if you visit certain shut-ins. Watch these people; they will lie about other things as well.
2. When you get the call at ten in the morning, and they ask, “Did I wake you pastor?” resist the temptation for a cute remark.
3. Don’t put people on committees to shut them up–unless it is a committee without real power or function. There should be several of those.
4. If you make a pastoral visit and no one is home, leave a card or note. They will appreciate your effort.
5. Don’t spend more time trying to activate inactive members than you do looking for new members.
6. Call ahead on hospital visits because they sometimes discharge surprisingly early.
7. Someone will compliment any sermon.
8. If you have a staff, let them do their job.
9. Most people who get angry at you aren’t. They’re mad at God and life.
10. If you are asked to speak in public outside your church, cut out five to ten minutes of the time you think you should take.
11. Don’t expect to be treated fairly in the ministry. No one else is.
12. Never go to a hastily called board or deacon’s meeting without a friend.
13. Never use your last sermon to settle the score. It won’t.
14. Sometimes victory is yours not because of your brilliant rhetoric or convincing argument, but by simply surviving the battle.

—R. Michael and Rebecca Sanders

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From The Pastor’s Unauthorized Instruction Book by R. Michael and Rebecca Sanders. 1995 Abingdon Press. To purchase, call 1-800-672-1789 and ask for ISBN 0-687-16895-3.

1996 Christianity Today/LEADERSHIP Journal