In this article, I’d like to share a journey for me and why it has been so necessary to my own health to walk away from a modern church mentality when it comes to leadership. From the beginning of my ministry years, I have been in conflict internally with this modern church approach, although I haven’t always known why. As a church planter, the circles I run in tend to champion this approach, but I kept having reservations which continue to be validated. Maybe my journey can help you toward a healthier vision of church and church leadership, as well. Let’s start here:
The Buzzword
The primary, most important, highest-echelon buzzword in the modern church has become the word “growth.”
Numerical growth, to be specific.
When did this start? Seventy-five years ago, around 1950, is when the “church growth” movement and ideologies began to take shape. One can take the church growth literature from that time and re-write it slightly and it’ll fit in today seamlessly.
We are still parading this lingo right now. Most churches are still functioning out of that paradigm. We must change to grow more. We must be cooler to grow more. If we have good enough music, a cool enough speaker, hip enough graphics, modern enough advertisements, etc., then we will get people interested in church! Yay!
This way of thinking is blared right into every preacher’s soul.
No one is blunt enough to say this sort of thing today (even if most church leaders would agree with it), but this is a real statement written within the church growth movement literature: “A shrinking church is a sinning church.”
Yup. That was said.
We’ve become cleverer with our lingo now. “Healthy things grow.” “If you’re doing God’s will, you’re going to grow.” “If you’re a better leader, your church will grow.” The implication: “If you go to all the conferences, buy the right books, and learn the system, you’ll grow.”
“We’ve become cleverer with our lingo now.”
What Is Wrong With Me?
And if you’re not growing, here’s what sets into a leader’s mind: “Am I doing it all wrong?” Or worse, “Am I all wrong?”
In other words, panic sets in. If it’s my job to create people’s interest in church, then…
- “Oh man, we had less this Sunday than last Sunday.”
- “Oh man, our giving was lower this month than last month.”
- “Oh man, people aren’t serving this year like last year.”
Which leads to: What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with my leadership?
This mentality was hammered in at most every conference I would go to, as the leaders of the fastest-growing churches were always the speakers for the week. “Healthy things grow,” they would let us know. (Thus, by implication, if we could only just be more like them, we would naturally see that kind of growth, too.)
Yet to put the burden of “growth” upon the leader results in two catastrophic paths:
- I begin to take credit when church growth happens.
- I begin to take blame when church growth doesn’t happen.
Either way, it’s on me. Either way, it’s a pressure I can’t escape. Either way, it spells disaster for me. Whether I’m pridefully taking credit or ashamed that I’m not enough of what this church needs, it is a remarkably ugly path. It’s a path that ends with, when speaking to other church leaders, “If the rest of you would be as amazing as me, your church would grow, too.” Or, if the numbers don’t line up, “I bet my people are wishing they only had a better leader for a preacher than me.”
“It’s a path that ends with, when speaking to other church leaders, ‘If the rest of you would be as amazing as me, your church would grow, too.'”
Who Makes the Church Grow?
For me, here’s the rub: I was convinced early on in ministry that the Holy Spirit is the one who creates interest in someone’s heart for the Lord. Not me. And no one has convinced me otherwise yet.
In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul says, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.”
Paul didn’t negate his responsibility to do his job and exercise his gift, but ultimately, it’s the Holy Spirit doing the inner work of drawing someone to Christ.
We still invite, still reach out, still initiate, still shine, still prepare, because we love all people, but at the end of the day the responsibility of creating people’s interest in Him is not on me. Therefore, I don’t get the credit or the blame when numbers go one way or the other.
Yes, I LOVE it when people come to him! I celebrate when people come to Him! We aim for people to come to Him! But the freedom to not live or die on “growth” and to simply walk with Jesus and help others walk with Jesus is what makes ministry fun.
“I was convinced early on in ministry that the Holy Spirit is the one who creates interest in someone’s heart for the Lord.”
Exactly What I Don’t Need to Hear
I’ve never been to the Bill Hybels, Willow Creek, Global Leadership Summit.
There, I said it.
Ten years ago, to say that would have been embarrassing. These days, I’m feeling like I made the right decision.
For the past 30+ years, the “Christian leadership industry” has been captain of the ship. I was out of the loop. Still am, by choice.
It seems that every leadership conference, spiel, talk, workshop I have been to is teaching me how to do better, perform better, achieve better.
Here’s the problem. That’s terribly toxic for me. I already have a drive within me to achieve, win, and succeed. One might think sitting through a speech about how to do better would be music to my ears. No. I know that’s only going to pull me farther away from my walk with Jesus, where he gives me rest, peace and contentment.
“I already have a drive within me to achieve, win, and succeed.”
What They Need from Us
The terms the writers of the New Testament use for us such as “shepherds, stewards, heralds” all speak of relationship, intimacy, care, and responsibility.
This quote from Henry Nouwen may need to be taped to my inside windshield:
“More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.”
“‘I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own.'”
My urging to every preacher, minister, etc. is to…
Be present.
Herald the Word.
Steward the gospel among us.
Love us. Eat with us. Listen to our stories.
Laugh with us. Hug us. Welcome us.
And watch God impress us all with what only he can do.
