The most insightful article I have ever read on pastoral leadership was written years ago by Calvin Miller in Leadership Journal.  Entitled “Growing Pains,” it is crucial reading for every pastor.  In it, my old racquetball partner Calvin Miller (he might look nice, but he’s mean on a racquetball court!) surveys the changes in his own leadership style that were required as he led Westside Baptist Church in Omaha from being a church plant with a half dozen families to a megachurch.

The first stage, while it was a church plant begun by a half dozen couples, Miller describes as the “You Get the Pizza, and I’ll Bring the Guitar” stage.  Every charter member had immediate and virtually unlimited access to the Pastor for counsel on any issue or answers to any questions.  Everyone knew all the details about the church, and was involved in every decision the church made.  Fellowship was the hallmark of this almost cliquish group.  Everyone knew each other intimately, and there were many times of fellowship at the Pizza Hut after church or at the Pastor’s house.

As the church began to grow, Miller found himself in the “Should We Let People Sing in the Choir if They’re Not Members” stage, because new members were coming into positions of leadership that previously were all held by the founding core group.  As more new members joined and there were more time demands on Miller to minister to them, it became impossible for the Pastor to continue to invest as much time with the original members.  The charter members lost what had meant so much to them – to be a part of the Pastor’s intimate inner circle.  One by one, some of the core families who had started the church began to leave.  Yet the congregation as a whole continued to increase in membership.This exodus of core group members is common in growing churches. It is a difficult but necessary moment in many growing church plants and missions.  The very intimacy, access to the Pastor, and sense of personal significance that attracted these people to the mission or small church is what goes away when the church increases in size.  As Miller describes, this is hurtful at a personal emotional level, but it is a necessary step if the church is to grow.

Then, as the church began calling additional staff members, Miller experienced what he called the “Oops, I Didn’t Know We Had a Softball Team” stage.  The Pastor discovered that not only did Westside have a softball team, but they were doing well in the city league.  A transition had taken place in leadership that the Pastor was no longer directly involved in every ministry.  The church’s ministry was expanding because the staff was initiating ministries that the Pastor had delegated to them that he was not directing personally.

This is one of the key transitions in leadership that some pastors never learn to make.  For most of us, our first pastorate is a single-staff church.  We are engaged in every aspect of the church’s ministry, every Sunday School class, etc.  One of the hard but necessary steps in leadership is to realize that multiple people can do more than a single person.  If the pastor must be directly in control of or engaged in every ministry of a church, the church will always be small.  The pastor only has so much time in the day.  He can’t do everything.  But if he can learn to delegate responsibilities to effective staff members, the ministry of the church will multiply.

This stage of leadership also corresponds to one of the major plateaus that churches get “stuck” on – the 150 in attendance plateau.  About 60 percent of Southern Baptist churches have 100 or fewer in attendance each week, and another 18 percent have fewer than 200 in attendance.  So, approximately three-fourths of all Southern Baptist churches struggle to get over that 150 barrier.  There are many reasons for the smallness of these churches, including realistic limits due to low population in small towns.  But one of the other challenges is just having single-staff leadership.  I believe that adding a second church staff member in church plants, missions, and small churches would be the best investment we could make in helping them get beyond the 150 barrier in attendance.  The second staff minister can lead ministries that multiply the attractiveness and outreach of the church. But there is a second issue – if a church gets a second staff member, can the pastor truly delegate authority to him so the church can multiply in its ministry?

As the church attendance continued to increase, Miller experienced the “But You Married Us, Remember?” stage.  Miller found himself introducing himself to persons whom they reminded him that he had baptized or married them.  The church’s membership had grown so large that it was impossible for the Pastor to remember each person, even though he may have ministered at a key moment in their lives.  It was simply impossible for Miller to have the time to be intimately involved in each member’s life, or even to know all the thousands of names of people to whom he had ministered over many years.  These memory lapses are embarrassing, of course, but the Pastor’s increasing isolation is necessary if the church is to keep expanding.  Otherwise, the church would have to limit itself to the names the Pastor could memorize and have ready to mind when he met any of them at the grocery store.  The Pastor engages those he can on a personal level, of course, but he simply does not have time to offer that to everyone at the same time.

The final stage Miller described as “If the Flag Is Flying, the King Is In” (taken from the fact that when the Queen is at Windsor Castle, the flag is flying).  As Miller became a nationally known speaker and writer, he was often out of town speaking at Pastor’s Conferences and other such events.  The church staff largely did the ministry of the church in lieu of the Pastor.  He preached on Sundays, but the staff oversaw the primary daily ministries of the church.

So, the point of the article is, if a Pastor is going to do his part in helping a church grow, he is going to have to change his leadership style from time to time. He can’t be everything to everybody.  Some pastors have ego needs such that they need that sort of personal affirmation, but those pastors will not grow churches beyond a set circle of people.  The pastor will have to make some tough choices, and realize that some people may leave the church because in order for him to be available to all the church’s members he cannot be at their beck and call at every moment.  For the church to change, the pastor’s leadership style must change.  Think on these things!

Steve Lemke

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Here are some links that came up during this week’s conversation:

• IMB leader Jerry Rankin announces retirement
• Morris H. Chapman announces Executive Committee retirement
• Blog debate on baptism
• The Acts 1:11 Conference

The words that resound from the mouth of the young pastor today are often a lament that, due to their age, they are not taken seriously. Casting stones at the generation that has gone before, the young pastor lambastes the outdated practices of a foregone generation. Pleading for respect, the impetuousness bred into a generation that seeks to live in the culture of immediate satisfaction demands a seat at the table now and not later. If those pleas for immediate attention go unheeded, they threaten to abandon the ship in favor of a raft thinking it will provide much more ease of control and rapidity of movement. However, arriving at the shore quicker may lose its advantage if the cargo is disproportionate to what is required to sustain those who the vessel has brought.

Perhaps the concern of the generation that has gone before is simply that once we reach our destination, our cargo may prove to be quite disappointing, even inadequate. Paul had written young Timothy two letters to remind him of precisely what is important. Apparently, Timothy was facing significant opposition that entailed concerns in regards to his age. Whatever age Timothy was (Interestingly, Guthrie says he could be up to age 40) is of less importance than the truths which Paul communicates to Timothy. Respect is gained through lifestyle, not demand.

If we heed Paul’s words to Timothy as our own, we must understand that there is a certain ministerial ethic that is demanded of us before respect can be demanded for us. Here, Paul lists five necessities for Timothy to follow if he will gain the respect of the older generation.

First, Timothy is to practice a ministerial ethic that is evident in his manner of speech. Though this includes Timothy’s official actions in preaching and teaching, it does not limit it to such. Timothy’s day to day speech is as important as his official activities as pastor.

One prominent blog in recent weeks contained a post asking the question, “Do potty-mouthed preachers belong in the SBC?” This post was complete with videos of differing views of this recent phenomenon. One in particular sought to simply dismiss “curse-words” as nothing more than cultural mores that are impositions upon a person’s freedom of speech. Essentially, in his idea, the only reason a curse word is a curse word is because culture has defined it as such.

Whatever the linguistic development of such words happen to be is irrelevant. The culture, by and large, sees such language as offensive. A pastor need not utilize offensive language to either shock an audience into attention or make a connection with an audience by removing the barriers. In essence, for a pastor to use what is culturally agreed upon as gutter language is to communicate that a person can come to Christ with no change of their heart producing a change of speech. I have ministered to people from many different walks of life in many different cultures and not once have they been offended because my language was different than theirs. As a matter of fact, they seemed to have the idea that my language SHOULD be different than theirs. Timothy was instructed to gain the respect of the senior generation by practicing a ministerial ethic that is revealed, at least in part, by his speech.

Secondly, Timothy was told to have a visible conduct that earned respect. Legalism is often the charge that is leveled at the ones who ask for a life that demonstrates nobility. Paul uses the verbal form of this word for conduct in 3:15 of this same epistle so that Timothy would know how to act in the household of God which is the community of faith. The use of the word as a noun is translated elsewhere as “manner of life” in some translations.

Suffice it to say that Paul was calling Timothy to understand that, should he gain the respect of the people, he will do so by the visible walk that he has. Thus, the command is not one of legalism, but one of witness. If Timothy will conduct himself in the manner worthy of a minister, he will gain the respect of those who surround him.

The charge of legalism is most often leveled at the contemporary debate concerning alcohol consumption among Christians. Some pastors have argued for moderate consumption of alcohol in recent days. Newspapers regularly carry reports of churches willing to buy the first round in order to gain an opportunity to meet the people.

Of course, it will be quickly pointed out that Timothy was instructed to take a little wine for his stomach. There are men much more adept at arguing the meaning of that passage than am I, thus I will simply refer you to them. Mine is a simpler question. Why? Alcohol is an industry that is responsible for more abuses, adulteries, and deaths than anything else. So, why? Why do some insist on its consumption? Why? Do we really think we can fulfill the Great Commission more efficiently if we endorse moderate drinking? Will it really make us more relevant to reach a culture steeped in drink if we join in with them? Is there really one person out there who would not have come to Christ if the pastor had not joined in drinking a glass of wine? So why argue for it? Why?

Thirdly, Paul instructed Timothy to have a ministerial ethic that demonstrated itself in love. The first two qualities focused on the outward nature of the minister, this one begins a focus on the inner nature of the minister. Allow me simply to say that our love must not only be demonstrated for the lost of the world, but also must be demonstrated for the generation of the saved before us. It is true that doctrinal errors have been made in the past. It is true that methodological failures have occurred. But the only difference between theirs and ours is that our errors haven’t all come to the surface. I am unaware of any of the generation that precedes this one who is claiming inerrancy for themselves. Let us be warned, love heeds wisdom.

Fourth, Timothy is told that gaining respect from an older generation requires exemplifying faith. Ours is a tradition that champions faithfulness over popularity. The Anabaptists sought to worship freely in accordance to a full obedience to the Bible. The English separatists sought free worship without state mandated restrictions. The Conservative Resurgence generation has stated that in the early days, they did not expect success. There is at least one common thread that bound all of these together. Their measure of success was primarily faithfulness to God’s word, and secondarily numerical increase; and only then as more of a blessing of God than a concoction of man.

Many of the under 40 movement are demanding a voice with more appeals to their creativity and natural ability than to an active demonstration of faith. Faith is not simply an inward state of belief, but it is an outward action. In other words, faith is observable. It demonstrates loyalty to the Lord. As a matter of fact, the New English Translation translates this word as “faithfulness.” As my colleagues walk in faithfulness to the Lord, I have no doubt that those who have risked much for the rescue of a Convention will not prohibit the passing of the baton at the appropriate time, but will be excited to have the opportunity to do so.

Finally, Timothy is told that by living a pure life, the senior generation will be moved to respect. Towner says that this word corresponds primarily to the sexual nature of mankind. Through the demonstration of sexual purity, Timothy will demonstrate himself worthy of leading the church into the next generation.

The contemporary church finds itself in the difficult situation of a sexually saturated culture that desperately needs a word from God. Homosexuality is gaining in acceptance, fornication has become the norm, and pornography is much of the world’s entertainment. The job of the church is to lift high the beauty of the marriage bed while speaking prophetically against the lusts of the world. Pornography has no justification regardless of the context in which it is utilized.

For a minister to fail to reflect an ethic that is in line with a message of holiness for the sake of cultural connection is to invite antinomianism to rest on our front door. One day we will emerge thinking the animal is at rest, only to find that in our emergence, we have seasoned ourselves with the sugar of compromise, making us a delightful dessert indeed.

Respect is a by-product of the ethic that seeks to be an example. It is not a demand that is gained because of position, prominence, or ability. If the young pastor will consistently demonstrate a ministerial ethic that seeks to exemplify Christian conduct and faith, he need not demand a place at the table, for someone will reserve one for him.

Interaction with this blog is at www.johnbmann.blogspot.com.