After looking at the diverse dragons that can threaten a church, what are the best defenses?
Landscapers know the best way to prevent weeds is not to attack them individually. Uprooting stubborn dandelions or chickweed one by one will improve appearances temporarily, but within days, the troublesome plants will be back. The best way to handle weeds is a thick, healthy lawn, which keeps them from springing up in the first place.
Likewise pastors, who are charged to “see to it ? that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (Heb. 12:15), find that the best way to prevent dragon blight, or at least minimize its damage, is to concentrate on developing a healthy church.
Taking opportunities to build a close, cohesive church will produce better results than the shrewdest political maneuvers after problems sprout. Defusing potential problems before they arise is far better than troubleshooting later on.
What are the keys to dragon-proofing a church? Obviously no technique is 100-percent sure, but there are several principles pastors have found helpful in building church health.
Encouraging a Positive Atmosphere
Some churches enjoy fighting. So do some pastors. Feisty, do-or-die leaders have a way of developing feisty churches.
Columnist Joseph Bayly observed in Eternity magazine, “Fighters must fight. Generals and admirals are never so happy as when they are involved in a big or little war. Boxers are never so happy as when they are pounding opponents insensate. Battling pastors and battling churches are never so happy as when they are locked in combat, preferably with enemies without, but otherwise with each other.”
When attacked by church members, some pastors react by retaliating or at least refusing on principle to compromise. To bend would be a sign of weakness. It’s total victory, unconditional surrender – or perish gloriously in the attempt. Peacemaking, as Bayly observes, “becomes as unpopular as Neville Chamberlain’s umbrella.”
When relationships become adversarial, however, the pastor’s days are numbered. Most congregations are capable of producing more dragons than any one pastor can slay. The best defense is to create an atmosphere that breeds mutual advocates, not adversaries.
How? Not by refusing to fight, necessarily – some important battles may have to be waged, although less frequently than most of us think. More often, the best way to build an atmosphere of cooperation is to model a positive tone personally:
– by praising publicly the congregation’s strengths
– by enjoying and taking pride in the diversity among church members
– by thanking critics, at least initially, for their candor and concern
– by assuming anything uncomplimentary you say about anyone will be repeated – because it probably will be – and by trusting very few people (your spouse? a colleague?) with your private criticisms and suspicions
– by being slow to step into other people’s problems – balancing Paul’s instruction to carry, with some qualifications, each other’s burdens (Gal. 6:1-5) and Jesus’ refusal to intervene in the disputes of others (Luke 12:14).
One pastor who has seen his nondenominational church transformed from a defeated, divided group to an enthusiastic, high-morale congregation says, “Obviously the Holy Spirit is responsible for this kind of change, but I think he honored some of our efforts in that direction, too. We began focusing on the joys of life rather than bemoaning our discouragements. You don’t cover up your disappointments, failed programs, and lost votes, but neither do you dwell on them or announce them from the pulpit.”
Pastors who personify a nondefensive spirit of joy and generosity tend not to attract as many dragons. And when they are attacked, the majority of the congregation begins to notice something amiss – “That’s not the way we do things around here.”
When the fruit of the Spirit becomes characteristic of the church’s daily life, it becomes painfully clear whenever one person violates that spirit, and the body itself will work to take care of the irritation.
Excerpted from Well-Intentioned Dragons by Marshall Shelley (Bethany, 1994).
