Tell Me Where We're Going - Christianity Today

In her interview for director of our town’s community education program, Chris was asked by the hiring committee, “What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do in management?”

Her response: “Fire a volunteer.”

She got the job.

Which of us hasn’t struggled with the need to replace or reassign a volunteer who doesn’t want to move? That’s why I appreciated last week’s comments regarding Jim Collins’s book Good to Great and the idea of “leadership by the bus.” The idea of reassigning seating for some passengers on my bus is quite appealing—maybe too appealing. (At our last stop a few reassigned themselves right off the bus—a move I applauded.) As Kevin Miller suggested, however, it can be difficult applying Collins’s principles to the church, made up with volunteers. However, the other side of the challenge can be equally as difficult—motivating the right volunteers to board the bus and sit in assigned seats. That’s why, as I see it, there are at least a couple ways that leadership by the bus becomes problematic for pastors working with volunteers.

Should my focus be on passengers or the destination? Collins talks of choosing the right people so together you can decide the destination. He places the people before the purpose. In The Purpose Driven Church, however, Rick Warren makes a case for focusing first on the purpose of the church (its destination). I agree. Think of it this way: the passengers on the bus don’t go to the Greyhound depot, walk up to the ticket window, and ask, “Which bus has the friendliest driver? The best looking? The most experienced driver?” Instead, they ask for the bus that will get them to the desired destination. Before they buy a ticket and get on board, they want to know the direction the bus is going. As pastor, being able to articulate my vision (where I’m going) is key. To appeal to the right people, I need to convince them I’ll take them where they want to go. And if I want to take them to a place they’ve never been before, I’ll need to convince them—show them a few travel brochures to heighten their desire for the destination. Ultimately, attracting people who will fit in becomes easier when they understand why our church exists and where it’s going.
Whose bus is it, anyway? Another issue for most pastors is that they got on the bus long after it left the depot. I boarded my current bus mid- route. Other drivers brought the riders to a certain point and then got off. So the riders formed a selection committee and chose me to be the new driver. This complicates matters considerably. When the riders recruit the driver—or the volunteers recruit the pastor—the dynamics change. I’ve learned that a new driver can’t just announce a new destination without working closely with the riders. When I candidated at the church I now pastor, they asked me, “What is your vision for this church?” Though I rephrased the Great Commission, I dodged the specifics by saying, “Before I can answer your question, I need to learn where you’ve been—and where you think you’re going. Then we can work together on determining our destination.” They were clearly driving the bus, not me. I had to work with them awhile before they let me sit behind their steering wheel.

I know—you can’t push metaphors too far. I suppose that’s what I’m doing by quibbling about the bus metaphor. Certainly, I want to recruit the right people for the trip. And I want them assigned to the right places on the bus. But as long as we have riders who are volunteers, I guess we’ll have plenty of opportunities to deal with these issues.

Rich Doebler is pastor of Cloquet Gospel Tabernacle in Cloquet, Minnesota and a regular contributor to Leadership.

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