The people who like you most are the ones you least try to please.
We are all like magnets. We draw some people to us, others are repelled or at best unmoved. No matter how hard we try to please some parishioners, we cannot. Conversely, some people like us no matter what we do. Go figure. The only people we can really please are the ones we don’t have to work very hard to please.
The most dependent people in the church tend to wield the most power.
Our desire for unity creates a dilemma: it places the power in the hands of a cranky, critical few. We accommodate the weakest, most demanding members in our attempt to achieve concensus. The result is that the church only crawls, hobbled by its misapplication of the goal “one in the Spirit, one in the Lord.”
The more often you preach, the less you have to say.
Passion is like a steam bath, according to Diadochus of Photiki. This desert father is quoted by Henri Nouwen in his book The Way of the Heart: Leave the bath door open and you will lose the steam. If we continually leave the door open by speaking, we lose our passion in preaching. Only regular silence and solitude can keep the passion hot within us.
The more you plead for money, the less you will receive.
Mark Twain recalled hearing a preacher make a plea for money on one of the humorist’s rare visits to church. At first, Twain said, he wanted to give $50. But the longer the preacher talked, the less he wanted to give. When at the end of an hour the plates were passed, Twain reached in and helped himself to a quarter! We should teach stewardship regularly and at times make special appeals—but beware lengthy pleas!
The busier you are, the less you will be able to accomplish.
“Busy pastors” are usually the ones who have lost their focus. Trying to be all things to all people, trying to “run the church,” we forget the essence of our calling—praying, preaching, listening, and dreaming. Being called “busy” is more an indictment than a compliment.
The less you worry about the church, the better it will do.
Calm begets calm. Edwin Friedman contends that being a “non-anxious presence” is vital to pastoral work. The more we worry about the church, the more anxiety we generate in the congregation. And the less we worry, the less anxiety there will be among our people. It’s strange but true—the best pastors don’t sweat the church too much.
Judson Edwards is pastor of Woodland Baptist Church 15315 Huebner Road San Antonio TX 78248
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