Page 4614 – Christianity Today (2024)

I was in my new pastorate for less than three months when one of the foundinglaymen took me to lunch.

“It seems to me,” he started out, “and I’ve confirmed this with a numberof other key people in the church, that you may not be the right person forthis job after all.” He pointed to a couple of insignificant (at least tome) changes I had made in the worship service that offended some people inour music program.

“In fact,” he warned, “a growing number of people don’t like you or whereyou’re leading the church. I’m not sure those people will remain in the churchif you stay.”

As a pastor, I must maintain healthy relationships with all the people inthe church, even those with whom that is difficult. Put bluntly, “How doI shepherd people who don’t like me? And whom I don’t really like?”

Resist what comes naturally

In ministry, doing what comes naturally is often the best approach. At thebedside of a hospital patient, with families at a funeral, or when sharingthe gospel with a non-believer, my pastoral instincts usually guide me inthe right direction.

That’s not true, however, when it comes to pastoring difficult people. Oneof my natural responses is to distance myself from difficult people. I’velearned to make it a point to seek out difficult people and spend a few momentstalking together.

Recently a woman in our church let it be known that, in her opinion, I hadacted out of anger and harshness. She voiced her criticism aftershe had sent me a letter apologizing for her role in the issue andcommending me for the way I handled it!

When I saw her at a community event a few days later, she walked past mewithout saying more than “Hello.” I could have let it pass and rationalizedthat her coldness was her problem. Instead, I decided not to do what comesnaturally. I practically had to chase her down the hallway. When I caughtup with her, I didn’t confront her about her actions or anger toward me;I engaged her in friendly conversation to make sure she knew I wanted toconnect with her.

It was amazing what those two minutes did. We ended up laughing about somethingone of her children said that week. She hugged me as I left and gave me alook that said, “Thanks for talking to me; I needed that.”

Even if our contact with the person doesn’t solve the problem, it buildsa bridge rather than a wall between us. There is something positive and healingabout face-to-face contact with people at odds with us.

Invite talk about sensitive subjects

The next time I saw this woman, we were able to talk with more ease, so Ibroached the subject of our conflict. My purpose wasn’t to make a point oradd another thought about the subject. I simply said, “I’ve been wonderinghow you are processing your frustration. I want you to know that I care.”

This second contact was easier for both of us, and it communicated to herthat we could talk about this issue. The subject didn’t need to be avoided.

It’s important to let people know that even subjects of conflict can bediscussed; they don’t end the relationship. I’ve had ongoing differenceswith one couple over the style of our worship service. I’ve met with themto talk specifically about that issue. We continue to disagree.

We see each other regularly, and sometimes, when we are talking about somethingunrelated to worship, I will intentionally bring the subject into ourconversation. I might casually ask, “I’ve been wondering if you have noticedany positive changes in the worship services lately?” Or, “Did you enjoythe extra hymns we sang today?” I’m not trying to stir up controversy; Isimply want them to know it’s okay to talk about something we disagree on.We can disagree and still work together.

Keep private battles private

One person had battled me repeatedly about my emphasis on evangelism. Ata business meeting, the subject of evangelism came up, and several peopleexpressed their excitement about how the church was finally reaching out.

I took the opportunity to say, “Of course, there are some in the church whotell me that we are losing more people than we are gaining because of thisstrong focus on evangelism.”

Almost everyone recognized that I referred to the “no evangelism” proponent.The majority of the people supported our evangelism philosophy. It was clearmy critic was part of a shrinking minority. I had scored a major victoryon this issue, and a public one at that-or so I thought.

Ultimately, the statement came back to haunt me. Just as a negative politicalad campaign can generate sympathy for the opponent, so too can a public attackagainst someone in the church. Throughout the week following, I heard commentslike, “I don’t think it was fair to say what you did about Ed. He can’t beas opposed to evangelism as you implied.”

Someone else said, “That wasn’t appropriate to raise an issue about Ed’sposition when he was not present to respond.”

I could support every statement I had made about Ed’s opposition to evangelism.That didn’t seem to matter. Even though people didn’t agree with his position,they disagreed even more with my public attack of him.

The moral is, some things are best left unsaid. Don’t make private battlespublic.

Practice kindness

There is a bumper sticker that reads: “Practice random acts of kindness andsenseless acts of beauty.” It’s a good reminder of one of the most helpfullessons I’ve learned about pastoring people I find difficult to love.

It is amazing what acts of kindness can do to build bridges to people. Aman in a former church let me know every time I failed to fulfill someexpectation of his. Whether returning a phone call within his prescribedtime limit, reciprocating a lunch invitation, or giving him an equal numberof compliments to the ones he gave me, he seemed to keep score in a way thatmade me the perpetual loser.

I found him increasingly difficult to be around. After the Lord convictedme of my attitude, I began to look for ways to show him kindness.

I stopped him after church one Sunday and said, “I was wondering if you mightbe available this next week to help me work on my fly fishing.” He was anavid fly fisherman, and I could hardly catch a weed in a stream. In the weeksafter our fishing outing, often he referred to our fishing lesson inconversations with me and others.

Fishing on my own sometime later, I finally caught a fish big enough to keep.On the way home, I stopped by my “instructor’s” house and presented him withmy first big catch as a gift for helping me learn to flyfish.

Another time, I invited him to go skiing, and he asked me to show him howto canoe. On several outings, we talked about his need to keep score of people’sbehavior to make himself the winner. He eventually admitted this was negativelyaffecting his wife and his oldest son. I offered some help on how to dealwith it.

When best efforts fall short

Of course, no approach to dealing with difficult people will be successfulwith all the people all the time. In Romans 12:18, the apostle Paul said,“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”Paul recognized that not everyone will want to live at peace with us.

In a former church, one lady seemed never fully satisfied with anything Idid. Seldom would she tell me directly of her displeasure; I usually heardit through an intermediary source.

I met with her and told her, “I’m unable to live up to your standards ofperformance and expectations for my ministry. I feel as though I can’t pleaseyou.” I told her that since I couldn’t, I was going to stop trying.

She assured me I didn’t have to please her.

I responded, “So you won’t mind if I no longer concern myself with pleasingyou with every action and decision?”

She said she wouldn’t. This took the pressure off and diffused some of herconstant complaining. I shared with our elders my conversation with thiswoman so that if her carping continued, they could address the issue withher directly and decisively.

Sometimes, of course, people leave the church. I’ve learned even here toopen the door of communication as much as possible.

One couple told me they could no longer support my ministry or sit undermy preaching. My natural response was to let them leave and not to contactthem. Instead, I picked up the phone and asked if I could stop by. Theyreluctantly agreed.

When we met I told them I was not there to talk them out of their decision.I asked them if there were specific incidents where I had wronged or offendedthem personally. I wanted to apologize if there were.

They said the issue was more a difference in philosophy and direction, sothey decided it was best to find another church. I thanked them for theiryears of ministry at our church and invited them back anytime. Before I leftI asked if I could pray with them.

As I walked toward the door, the wife took my hand and said, “I was surprisedyou wanted to visit us, but I’m glad you did. Now when I see you at thesupermarket, I won’t have to avoid talking to you.” They may not come backto the church, but at least they didn’t leave with a bitter spirit.

Not only are these approaches helpful in building good relationships in general,they yield personal growth in my relationship with Christ. The more I seekto love difficult people, the more God uses them to refine me into the imageof Christ. After all, learning to love people is one of the ways we becomelike Christ.

Gary Preston is pastor of Bethany Churchin Boulder, Colorado.

1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.

Courage

Give us grace, O God, to do the deed which we well know cries to be done.Let us not hesitate because of ease, or the words of men’s mouths, or ourown lives. Mighty causes are calling us … But they call with voices thatmean work and sacrifice and death. Mercifully grant us, O God, the spiritof Esther, that we say, “I will go unto the King, and if I perish, I perish.”Amen.

W. E. B. DuBoisa founder of the NAACP

The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. Thehard part is doing it.

General H. Norman Schwarzkopf

Criticism

Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation, becauseyour character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely whatothers think you are.

John Woodenformer UCLA basketball coach

The secret of success is to keep the five guys who hate you away from thefive guys who haven’t made up their minds.

Casey Stengellegendary baseball manager (1891-1975)

It’s not what they say about you; it’s what they whisper.

Errol Flynn

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the art of saying, “Nice doggie!” while you are looking fora rock to throw.

Unknown

One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to doand always a clever thing to say.

Historian Will Durant

Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a man who’s playing golf with hisboss.

Kirk Kirkpatrick

Human Nature

There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus inme that wants to wallow in the mud.

Carl Sandburg

Man is certainly stark mad. He cannot make a worm, and yet he will be makinggods by the dozen.

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)

Leadership

Leadership is accepting people where they are, then taking them somewhere.

C. W. Perry

Consensus is a poor substitute for leadership.

Charlotte Beers, ceo of Ogilvy & Matherworldwide ad agency

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.

Max Depree in Leadership Is an Art

The nation had the lion’s heart. I had the luck to give the roar.

Winston Churchill

Marriage

A successful marriage is one that can go from crisis to crisis with a growthin commitment.

Phil Passon

Love is an agreement on the part of two people to overestimate each other.

E. M. Cioran

The real test of my loving is not that I feel loving, but the other personfeels loved by me.

Morton T. Kelseyin Companions on the Inner Way

Wisdom

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.

Albert Einstein

Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living and the otherhelps you make a life.

Sandra Carey

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.

W. B. Yeats

1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.

Any friend of Earl Roberts was proud to say so. But Earl and I weren’t just friends; he mentored me in ministry. He died in October 1996 at the age of 93. He picked up pneumonia on a trip to Jackpot, Nevada. Earl liked to play cards and slots now and then.

I never asked Earl for advice about pastoral ministry, and he never offered any. But during the nine years I served the Victor Federated Church in Victor, Montana, Earl always seemed to know when I was worried. He’d learned a lot about worry over the years because he took risks his whole life and saw them work out. He was a rancher, an auctioneer, owner and operator of a real estate company, and a drummer in his own dance band.

He was also head usher for fifty years at the Victor Federated Church.

I don’t suppose being an usher is all that risky, but he’d seen enough in the church over the years to know how risky a pastor’s life can be. I think that’s what we had in common.

Why worry?

Earl was raised on a ranch in the Big Hole Valley near Jackson, Montana. The Big Hole is an expansive, grassy, high-mountain ranch valley, in southwestern Montana. It is virtually treeless. On a sunny day-almost every day-you can see snow-capped mountains for 360 degrees. It frosts almost every night in summer. Such weather prospers mosquitoes, natural grasses, and trout.

Earl always took time to hunt and fish. To him it was a spiritual duty. We used to go fishing on the upper Big Hole River. He wore baggy, rubber hip waders, which he filled with brook trout. The limit was twenty fish, but he could stash more than that in those things.

On days we fished the Big Hole River, we left the Bitterroot Valley at five in the morning. We crossed the Continental Divide to the eastern slope at Chief Joseph pass, had a big breakfast in the Big Hole Valley at Wisdom, and then drove to Jackson to fish on a ranch near where he grew up. On the trip over, as we passed the landmarks of his youth, he waxed about ranch life in the Big Hole at the turn of the century. He told about driving a horse-drawn wagon full of vegetables and whiskey from Missoula to Wisdom (about 150 miles) at the age of 15. He told about neighbors and Indians and Cutthroat trout as long as your arm. (The fact that I saw him, at 80 years of age, cut, split, stack, and sell a hundred cords of wood off his property the same summer he re-roofed his huge, old barn by himself, gave credence to his stories.)

On the way home he philosophized about life and fishing and God:

“Dave, the good Lord wants a man to go fishin’ now and then because when you’re out there fishin’ there’s only one thing you can think about: the end of that hook. It takes your mind off your worries and lets you relax. When you start worrying, you only make a mess of things. I don’t worry about nothin’. The good Lord’s taken care of me the whole way, and there’s no sense in changing my course now.”

Go fishin’

Earl never bragged about how hard he worked, but he boasted frequently about the value of faith. Before a dangerous surgery for cancer, he told the surgeon: “Doc, I want you to know that I am in God’s hands. If I die in surgery, I don’t want you to feel bad; it won’t be your fault; if it’s my time to go, then there’ll be nothing you can do to save me.”

Earl never spent a minute regretting what he might have missed: “Enjoy today. There’s no guarantee there’ll be any tomorrow. I’ve known many a man who has slaved at his job his whole life, never taking time to enjoy himself along the way, so that he can have a great retirement. Then he retires and his wife dies, or he has a stroke. Then what has he got? Nuthin. You’ve got to enjoy life for today. Then you can take life as it comes with no regrets.”

Earl seemed to know when a setback in life should be fought and when it should be settled with. Knowing the difference between the two is an art, which only experience can teach. I’d like to think an hour spent with Earl was worth a year at the school of hard knocks. “When it rained on our haying operation,” he said, “and the grass got too wet to bale, I’d tell the crew, ‘Boys, the good Lord wants us to go fishing, and I intend to keep his order.'”

Earl Roberts was a master aphorist. One winter morning when the thermometer at our home registered forty degrees below zero, I asked Earl how cold it was at his place. “Well, Dave, it’s so cold that the thermometer’s hit bottom and it’s pulling on the nail.” His favorite one-liner on material possessions has helped me through many bouts with the Tenth Commandment: “If a man can’t be thankful for what he’s got, he can’t handle anymore.”

Earl taught me how to play the hand life deals and keep smiling. That’s good advice for ranchers and pastors. He’s gone now. But losing a friend in Christ is heaven’s gain.

My only advice to that great fisherman, Saint Peter, would be to make sure he checks Earl’s waders.

Dave Hansen is pastor of Belgrade Community Church in Belgrade, Montana. In this column, he explores how church leaders from earlier generations can mentor us today

1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.

In 1984, Maynard and Ruth Mathewson accepted the call to serve Paradise Valley Community Church, a nondenominational congregation of about seventy-five people, eighteen miles south of Livingston, Montana.

In the middle of Paradise Valley, the stuccoed church sits a couple hundred yards off of the Yellowstone River. The river writhes through the Montana valley floor from Gardiner to Livingston.

Just outside of Gardiner, the north entrance of Yellowstone Park, a highway sign serves notice: “Day Speed Limit: Reasonable and Prudent.” Ergo: Go as fast as you like; just don’t hurt anyone.

In this ungoverned environment, Maynard and Ruth care for one of the valley’s worshiping communities. The following photos capture the work of countless pastors charged with the everyday care of souls.

Main Street in Paradise Valley

Livingston, Montana, a hard-living town that caps the north end of Paradise Valley. The town, born in 1882, owes its beginnings to the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad. At that time, more than half its businesses were saloons. Today the town sports as many art galleries as saloons. Livingston is increasingly populated by suburban refugees looking for the Montana good life.

Command-and-Control Center

A lot of pastoral care happens on the phone. Maynard and Ruth’s breakfast bar (top) doubles as their ministry hub. The Mathewsons’ charges include ranchers, young professionals, small business owners, retirees, and this little girl (left) who is wearing a hunter-orange camouflage. It is “orange” night at AWANA, so most kids are wearing hunting gear.

Making Room for Office Visits

When Maynard sensed the youth (left) needed some special attention, he assisted the youth leaders for several weeks. He led Bible studies on finding purpose in life.

In Montana culture, people tend not to make appointments to see the pastor; they just drop in. So when the church remodeled, Maynard requested a room adjacent to the sanctuary. He uses this bare office when someone (bottom) asks to speak to him in private, such as during Wednesday evening’s busy schedule.

Pastoral Nuts and Bolts

Within the first two weeks of his arrival at the church, Maynard read the history of Park County. “I know the history of these people better than they do,” he says. In the late eighties, Maynard moved his ailing parents (now deceased) to a trailer house behind the parsonage. Octogenarian Anna Mae (top, on right) says that when Maynard arrived as pastor, the church liked him. “But when he brought his parents here, we knew he was all right.”

In all, Maynard speaks seven times a week (bottom left): Wednesday evening prayer service, Sunday morning and evening services, a Sunday school class, two Bible studies, and a weekly radio program sponsored by the church.

One Soul at a Time

Every Wednesday morning, Maynard drives the eighteen miles to Livingston and picks up Bruce, a young real estate agent. Along the banks of the Yellowstone River, which makes a sharp bend through town, Maynard shuts off the engine, and he and Bruce spend the better part of an hour working verse-by-verse through a book of the Bible. Common Bible study insights include bald eagles, Canada geese, mallard ducks, and white-tailed deer.

How to Gain a Hearing

Maynard rarely conducts home and hospital visits without his wife, Ruth (top left). She functions as Paradise Valley Community Church’s “other pastor.” Says Maynard, “We had to be here eight years before we gained a hearing.”

Hospital care (bottom left) is one way Maynard and Ruth gained a hearing.

The Solitude of Preparation

In his office at home (right), Maynard has a card taped over a small desk calendar. The card reads: “Look Beyond the Critic.”

God Is in the Details

Sunday liturgy commences with early morning snow shoveling (top), which Maynard, 57 years old, doesn’t chafe at: “I live only a couple hundred yards from the church.” Maynard then completes last-minute worship details, scribbling a note to the organist (bottom) about a transition from a chorus to a hymn. Then he returns home to change into his worship attire and read through his sermon one more time.

The Gospel in Motion

With a deep-timbered radio voice, Maynard leads the worshiping community in song (top). The mural behind the pulpit depicts a cross lying across an abyss of smoke and flames, with pilgrims safely walking across to eternal life. In the pine-paneled sanctuary (bottom), men, women, and children become reoriented to the world of the gospel.

1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.

Whether you admire or dislike his ministry techniques or possibility-thinking theology, probably no one has shaped the way pastors relate to the unchurched more than Robert Schuller.

Forty-two years ago, Schuller and his wife, Arvella, moved from Chicago to Southern California to start a church—and, unintentionally, a new way of doing church. With about 50 people attending the first service, Garden Grove Community Church (affiliated with the Reformed Church of America) was born.

Today the legendary Crystal Cathedral sits on a sprawling oasis of palm trees and fountains and statues in the middle of Orange County's concrete jungle.

Schuller pioneered the use of marketing techniques to reach the nonchurched. It would not be overreaching to say that without Schuller and the Crystal Cathedral, there would likely be no Willow Creek Community Church, no Saddleback Community Church, or the thousands of other seeker-oriented churches around the country. The cliche—the pioneers are the ones with the arrows in their backs—is certainly true of Schuller. "I didn't know I was going to get criticism," he says. "I thought I'd get pats on the back."

In the modern era, he was the first to:

• call his denominational church a "community church," since most seekers didn't understand or relate to a denominational label
• call a sermon a "message"
• use a nontraditional setting for church worship—in his case, a drive-in theater
• conduct door-to-door research, asking, "Why don't you go to church?"
• use marketing strategies to reach nonchurched people (about the time George Barna was born)
• train pastors in leadership (1969)
• televise a weekly church service.

Leadership wanted to hear Schuller's insights on reaching a changing culture. Like Schuller in 1955, editors Kevin Miller and Dave Goetz traveled from Chicago to Garden Grove, California, to sit with the pastor and possibility thinker.

How has Southern California changed since you arrived in 1955?

Robert Schuller: Forty years ago, this town had a population close to sixty thousand. Orange County was largely white, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant. It had a few barrios and no ghettos.Today Garden Grove has a population of a hundred and fifty thousand, of which 38 percent are Asians—Vietnamese, Japanese, Cambodians, and Chinese. Thirty-seven percent are Hispanics, and 20 percent are people like me. The balance includes blacks, Ethiopians, Turks, and other groups.

When I started, many nonchurched persons were conditioned by a culture dominated by Judeo-Christian values. Their collective memory systems were still receptive to a message from the Judeo-Christian value system. That's no longer true.

Has your strategy changed?

I came to Southern California to start a mission. I think we still have to be a mission church; I said that at the first Institute for Successful Church Leaders in 1969. But if you're going to be a mission church, then you have to dare to stand in the center of a contradiction, because it's a contradiction to be a church and a mission. Jesus was a contradiction: he was God and man. How could he be both? But I believe he was.

You haven't stepped into truth until you dare to step into a contradiction. But if you succeed as a mission, you create a church.

It seems as if you have put more energy into the mission side than the church side.

That is true. But there reaches a point where you've got a church. It's a constant process, a constant balancing act.

To succeed as missionaries in the next century, we have to integrate mission into evangelism. I'm against evangelism that doesn't have a mission heart.

You're against evangelism?

No, I'm against the type of evangelism that doesn't include compassion. People in our culture think everybody is selling something. Evangelism can come across as selling. But mission is totally different: "May I wash your feet? Can I help you? We don't share the same faith, but I'm so sorry your little daughter died."

When you think of it, Jesus' spirit was more a spirit of mission than it was of evangelism. He didn't rattle off numbers like we do today. Evangelism often focuses on numbers like business focuses on sales. I think we have to abandon that type of evangelism and let mission take its place.

People living out the gospel—is that what you mean by "mission"?

Yes, yes, yes. Without counting numbers. I'm a friend of Billy Graham and of the evangelical movement. Everyone says, "We've got to win the world to Christ." But that can't be done. Robert Schuller, a possibility thinker, says it can't be done.

You mean "winning the world for Christ" is too ambitious?

It's not biblical. We're to witness to the whole world for Christ, not win the whole world to Christ.

I've said we have to think from a market mentality. And that's still true. But it had better be non-manipulative. There are different forms of marketing. There are dangerous marketing principles, and there are smart marketing principles.

If the dignity of the person is the core of our anthropology, then we need a theology of evangelism that wins people without manipulating, without threatening, without appealing to their negative emotions.

Instead of "winning the world for Christ," what motto would you put in its place?

The "positive remnant." That phrase is coming to me with tremendous power and force. It's a great Old Testament concept—the people of God as a blessing to others.

What are some needs today that the church can be meeting?

The same needs that have always been there. I don't think persons change.

"How did I get into self-esteem theology?" was not a question you asked, but it's very important. My Uncle Henry was a missionary to China. He got me to think like a missionary. From him I learned, "Give them a bowl of rice." In China, the people were not Christians and didn't want to hear about our religion. They had a religion older than ours. So, what do you do? If they're hungry, you feed them.

I asked Uncle Henry, "Where do I get the rice, the basic food you need to live?" I concluded that the rice of the soul is dignity; you cannot live without dignity as a person. So, everything in this ministry has been built around that.

Architecture says, "Find your basic building block." Theologians have never done this; they haven't asked, "What's the ultimate, final building block?" I believe it's dignity. God didn't start by creating a loser and then getting him born again. That's backward. Adam was created in the image of God.

What are the ministry values you hold dear that perhaps haven't gotten any press?

What do you think they are?

Well, for one, the use of architecture and statuary to communicate. We noticed that the church campus has several statues. There's the Job statue, which communicates, "If you're suffering, you're welcome here." Also, there is the statue of the woman caught in adultery—"If you're a sinner, you're welcome here."

I picked the images I think are at the heart of the gospel. One reason I put them on the campus was to try to preserve the tradition of this ministry for future centuries.

I made a decision never to leave the denomination. I feel strongly about that. I am real concerned about losing our heritage. That's why I tend to be confessional. It's the only reason why I wouldn't dare to be independent.

In Your Church Has a Fantastic Future, you write about your conscious decision while building the Crystal Cathedral to bolt the cross into the wall instead of making it removable. Why?

It was a way of saying, "This is a church. We're going to be a mission, but we're not going to be doing it with duplicity. I think duplicity is a form of deception. I don't think I would advocate operating a mission, even though it's in hostile territory, and taking down the cross.

Through TV, I speak to more Muslims today than anyone else in the world. And the cross is what offends the Muslims. But I have to let people know who I am and then treat them with dignity and respect.

What advice do you have for the emerging generation of church leaders as they attempt to reach the culture for Christ?

First, be point people, but don't abandon tradition. Creativity will always fail if it ignores tradition. I think a leader is a point person. But leadership is the force that sets the goals. In all the books on leadership, everyone assumes that leadership is in a person. That's not necessarily true.

Second, don't imitate; innovate. An amazing amount of energy in Christian ministries is repeating what has already been done.

Third, don't compete. Explore what isn't being done. See all positive Christian ministries as your ministry, as if you owned them. If we are Christians under the lordship of Christ, we should view other positive Christian ministries as our own.

Fourth, don't let eschatology stifle your long-term thinking.

Fifth, be beautiful. If I had one prayer, it would be that in seventy-five or one hundred years, Christianity in its renewal and its revival would become known by the love of the followers of Christ—so that if someone uses the phrase "he's a Christian" or "she's a Christian," everybody would think, They're such nice people. That's not true today.

Sixth, remember you're in a mission age, and that's never going to change. It will be a mission age until the trumpet sounds. If you realize that, it changes everything.

Seventh, focus on the remnant.

Eighth, don't try to win the whole world to Christ. Just witness to the whole world for Christ.

1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.

As a service, Leadership offers summaries of all articles three pages or longer, so you can:

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THE BUSINESS OF MAKINGSAINTS (p. 20)Eugene H. Peterson, long-time pastor, author, and now professor of spiritual theology at Regent College, discusses what it truly means to give spiritual care.

Today, people come to pastors for help with addictions, abuse, incest, and other complex problems that didn’t seem as common a generation ago. What can a pastor do for someone that a mental health provider cannot?

The previous century suffered just as much; in fact, probably much more. The big difference today is that we have this mentality that if something is wrong, you can fix it. The pastor is in the front line of people who get approached: “Make me happy. Make me feel good.”

What do you do, then, when a parishioner assumes you can fix his or her problem?

You have to go back a step and ask, “Why am I a pastor? What is my primary responsibility to this congregation?”The most important thing a pastor does is stand in a pulpit every Sunday and say, “Let us worship God.” If that ceases to be the primary thing I do in terms of my energy, my imagination, and the way I structure my life, then I no longer function as a pastor. I pick up some other identity.I don’t ever want to convey that our primary job as pastors is to fix a problem. Our primary work is to make saints. We’re in the saint-making business. If we enter the human-potential business, we’ve lost our calling.

When would you refer someone to a counselor?

My process was to refer-but not too quickly. I always spent at least two or three times with people, regardless how bad their problem was or how out of my depth I was. They deserved a pastor who knows them.

A lot of pastors would say, “My job is to make sure that pastoral care takes place in the congregation, not to provide it all myself.”

I don’t like that. I don’t think it works. You lose the unity and wholeness of pastoral ministry. The person who prays for you from the pulpit on Sunday should be the person who prays for you when you’re dying.

But don’t you want to equip the saints for ministry, including the ministry of pastoral care?

Certainly, one task of the pastor is to form people into Christians who know how to care. I’m not saying a pastor has to do it all. But nothing exempts a pastor from the work. Pastoral care can be shared, but never delegated.

WHY PASTORS MAKE GREAT COUNSELORS(p. 29)Robert J. Morgan, Pastor of Donelson Free Will Fellowship in Nashville,Tennessee, lists six reasons pastors are better counselors than they think.

Pastoral counseling is helping people resolve their problems, facilitating positive changes in their lives, and helping them grow toward greater wholeness.No one does that better than pastors. Why?

Pastors care as friends

When people come to me with problems,they come to someone who loves them. I’m not just a professional; I’m an extension of the love of Christ, a channel of his grace.

Pastors build on an existing relationship

A therapist recentlytold me, “You pastors have a real advantage because you’re part of a person’s life more than I can ever be. My role is short-term; yours is long-term, and it’s the long-term role that usually proves most valuable.”

Pastors preach care every Sunday

Our person-to-person ministryrests on a public role of preaching the Word, correcting, rebuking, and encouraging.

Pastors give biblical solutions for spiritual issues

Thereis no better tool than Scripture for penetrating soul and spirit. It is the Bible in all its authority-specifically the promises in all their sufficiency-that revives the soul, makes wise the simple, gives joy to the heart.

Pastors are accessible

I have learned to build safeguards into my schedule, but I’m generally more accessible than a listing in the Yellow Pages under “psy—.”

And one more reason

I’m free, so to speak. Even that counts for something.

STAYING CLOSE TO YOURENEMIES (p. 32)Gary D. Preston, pastor of Bethany Church in Boulder, Colorado, shows how to pastor people who don’t like you.As a pastor, I must maintain healthy relationships with all people in the church, even those with whom it’s difficult.

Resist what comes naturally

My natural response is to distance myself from difficult people. I’ve learned to seek out difficult people and spend a few moments talking together.

Invite talk about sensitive subjects

It’s important to let people know that even subjects of conflict can be discussed; they don’t end the relationship.

Keep private battles private

One person had battled me repeatedly about my emphasis on evangelism. At a business meeting, I took the opportunity to criticize my “no evangelism” proponent. Ultimately, the statement came back to haunt me. Even though people didn’t agree with his position, they disagreed more with my public attack of him.

Practice kindness

A man in a former church let me know every time I failed to fulfill some expectation of his. I began to look for ways to show him kindness. I asked him to share his expertise in fly-fishing. I invited him to go skiing, and he asked me to show him how to canoe. He eventually admitted his need to keep score of people’s behavior was negatively affecting his wife and his oldest son. I offered some help to deal with it.

When best efforts fall short

I told one critic, “I’m unable to live up to your expectations for my ministry.” I then told her that I was going to stop trying. She assured me I didn’t have to please her. This took the pressure off and diffused her constant complaining.

The more I seek to love difficult people, the more God uses them to refine me into the image of Christ.

WHERE HEALING BELONGS (p. 37)

Psychologist Larry Crabb wants to return soul care to the church.Crabb has coined the term eldering to describe what he believes ought to go on in the local church between older, wiser members and younger, struggling men and women. He believes this interaction can often be more healing than traditional psychotherapy.

You’ve called for new ways that the church can help people change. What’s wrong with the current approach?

Much of the church has had a limited approach to helping people change. I would describe it as, “Do what’s right.”The counseling community came up with a model that I dub, “Fix what’s wrong.”My understanding is that because of the New Covenant, there is something good God has placed within us-his Spirit and a new heart. Rather than fixing what’s wrong or doing what’s right, we need to release what’s good.

Are you really advocating that “eldering” can replace counseling?

There will always be a place for good therapists. But what they are doing is closer to what the Bible calls “shepherding” than what our culture calls “therapy.” I envision a community of shepherds and friends with the power to address the underlying issues beneath most of what we call “psychological problems.”

How are pastors identifying these shepherds?

One pastor asked, “Whom do we know in this church who seems to have a shepherd’s heart?” He identified ten or twelve people and formed “The Society of Shepherds.” They meet once a month to swap stories about how they’ve been involved in somebody else’s life. They’re also getting training in how to listen well.

WHEN IS A BROKEN PERSON READY TO LEAD? (p. 41)

Pastor Daniel Brown, with writer Bob Moeller, lists ways to determinewhether the hurting are ready for responsibility.

A man who recently joined our fellowship came out of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Three months after his conversion, his daughter died. Then the woman he had been dating broke off their relationship. If that weren’t enough, his business collapsed; it’s now half what it used to be.

Today, this man comes to three services on Sunday. He can’t seem to get enough of God. He’s obviously not ready for leadership right now.

When will that be? Here are five tests I use to measure whether someone is ready.

Are they honest with themselves?

I can work with broken people who recognize they’re broken. People who can’t admit their sin make me nervous.

Are they plugged into community?

If a person can’t build deep friendships that include accountability, that person is not ready for responsibi-lity in the church.

Will they labor in obscurity?

A person isn’t ready to lead until he or she is willing to accept an obscure position and find fulfillment in that.

Are they flexible?

One of our associate pastors lacked flexibility, the willingness to yield to others. He was asked to resign. We then rehired him as an assistant pastor. Today, he’s becoming more flexible.

Is there a history of faithfulness?

Readiness to lead begins months and years earlier when a person is asked to do something as simple as passing out bulletins. Once they’re found faithful doing that, we move them to something more demanding.

CHRONICALLY WOUNDED AND NEEDY (p. 46)

Matt Woodley, pastor of Cambridge (Minnesota) United Methodist Church, gives guidelines for helping someone with an unending string of personal problems.

Pastors see a growing number of what I call Chronically Wounded and Needy parishioners. How can we minister to the chronically wounded and needy without feeling chroni-cally tired and used up?

Practice Christlike acceptance

Cwns may drain me of resources, but Jesus continues to weep and wait for their healing. So I must begin my ministry with the wounded and needy by quietly, humbly accepting them as Jesus accepts them.

Communicate clear boundaries

If I don’t, people will assume availability. Boundaries must be specific, clearly defining when and where I will be available.

Pursue servanthood, not “success.”

For the first six years of my ministry, I assumed I could solve every cwn’s problem. It never occurred to me that some deeply wounded people might go backward. Ministering to cwns involves an openness to failure.

Encourage spiritual growth

I like to support spiritual growth by asking two questions: (1) What goals would you like to set? (2) What gifts would you like to share?

Connect with other resources

I need to network with the medical community, good counselors, and social service agencies. But we often neglect one handy and free resource-the body of Christ.

Keep bringing them to Jesus

Too often I’ve neglected the incredible resource of healing prayer. It reorients the wounded and needy, directing them to the proper source of healing-Christ.

THE TRUTH ABOUT DEBT AND SALARIES (p. 84)

Leadership’s nationwide study revealed four, mostly pleasant surprises.

The median salary of pastors is about $33,000.

1. Pastors don’t resent their pay

Seventy percent of pastors indicated they rarely or never feel resentful.

2. Pastors struggle with debt-but not as much as most Americans

While 55 percent of pastors pay off their credit card balance each month, the median balance for those who carry one is about $3,000. That’s about half of the average American’s ($5,800).

3. Pastors who ask for raises usually get them (but most don’t ask)

Only 13 percent of those who asked for a raise said they didn’t get one. Too bad that of those who felt discontented financially, 63 percent have never asked for a raise.

4. Pastors tithe-but they don’t ask others to

Almost two-thirds of pastors-63 percent-say their family practices a 10 percent, pre-tax tithe. If you add those who say they give 10 percent after taxes, the total jumps to 76 percent.

Oddly, while pastors tithe, many don’t tell their congregations to. In general, pastors seem reluctant to speak about money.

PREACHING A DOUBLE-HEADER(p. 96)

Wayne Brouwer, pastor at Harderwyk Christian Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan, shares how he delivers one sermon at two completely different services.

Over the last decade our congregation has developed two rather distinct worshiping communities. Though the message title is the same, my preaching is not immune to the marked distinction between our worship services. Sometimes I’m too crafty with my words. The traditional group loves it-they can see God in the art of wordplay. The contemporary group hates it-they think it is trying to put on a show that isn’t real.

The similarities

When I preach best for both communities, I do three things well: exegete faithfully, tell stories, create vision.

The differences

For the traditional worshiping community, I basically read the manuscript in an engaging, conversational style. With the contemporary worshiping community, sometimes I jot notes on a slip of paper or even wing it with no notes or manuscript. There I walk back and forth, mostly hitting the high points and telling stories.

At the best of times, this exercise taxes my powers of communication. At the worst of times, I feel I have failed one of the worshiping communities. Usually I finish Sunday morning somewhere in between.

WHAT’S REALLY BEHIND OUR FATIGUE? (p. 108)

John Ortberg, a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, says that when we feel like we’re on a treadmill, there may be an underlying reason.

In a discussion with other pastors, one of us said, “I actually found it easier to pursue spiritual health when I was not involved in ministry.” Almost everyone agreed: we felt hurried, overloaded, drained, and often taken for granted. But usually behind much of the fatigue and overscheduling in pastoral ministry is a sizable dose of a subtle sin: grandiosity.

This sin may involve saying yes when I ought to say no. It often involves being preoccupied with my job and failing to be fully present with my wife or my children or with God. A few aspects of ministry have become increasingly important to me in fighting grandiosity.

I must minister in community

Some time ago, I’d had a run of too much travel, too many meetings, too many talks. I was complaining to a friend who asked, “Why do you choose to live like this?”

The only honest answer was, I was afraid that if I said no to opportunities, they would stop coming; and if opportunities stopped coming, I would be less important; and if I were less important, that would be terrible.

Out of that conversation developed a small, “personal schedule group,” with a covenant that we would not take on commitments without discussing them with each other and with our families.

I must practice ministry of the mundane

Sometimes I must be interruptible for tasks not on my agenda. I need to be available to pray with troubled people whom I will not be able to cure and who have no ability to contribute to my success. Sometimes in meetings I need to remain silent even when I have a thought that might impress somebody.

I must regularly retreat from ministry

Sometimes it simply involves days off; sometimes it involves a day of utter solitude; sometimes it involves sheer play. When I engage in the ministry of withdrawal, I am reminded that I am not indispensable to the church.

I must bear with others

Bearing with people means learning to wish people well, releasing my right to hurt them back, coming to experience our common standing before the Cross.

God’s great, holy joke about the messiah complex is this: Every human being who has ever lived has suffered from it, except one. And he was the Messiah.

HOW SCHULLER SHAPED YOUR MINISTRY (p. 114)

Leadership editors interviewed Robert Schuller, the grandfather of the seeker movement, who has changed the way pastors approach culture.

How has Southern California changed since you arrived in 1955?

Forty years ago, Orange County was largely white, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant. Today in Garden Grove, 38 percent are Asiatics, 37 percent are Hispanics, and 20 percent are people like me. The balance includes blacks, Ethiopians, Turks, and other groups.When I started, many nonchurched persons were conditioned by a culture dominated by Judeo-Christian values. That’s no longer true.

What advice do you have for the emerging generation of church leaders as they attempt to reach the culture for Christ?

1. Be point people, but don’t abandon tradition. Creativity will always fail if it ignores tradition.2. Don’t imitate; innovate.3. Don’t compete. See all positive Christian ministries as your ministry.4. Don’t let eschatology stifle your long-term thinking.5. Be beautiful. If I had one prayer, it would be that in seventy-five or one hundred years, Christianity would become known by the love of the followers of Christ.6. Remember you’re in a mission age, and that’s never going to change.7. Focus on the remnant.8. Don’t try to win the whole world to Christ. Just witness to the whole world for Christ.

1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.

His latest book reveals the methods to his consulting madness.

Will anybody buy that new Lyle Schaller book, The Interventionist (Abingdon, $14.95, 205 pp.)?” asked Dr. Shepherd, pastor of the historic First Church, blowing steam from his coffee. “I mean, how many people plan to do what Schaller does?”

“Plenty,” replied Stella Whyel, “including me. As an intentional interim, intervene is my middle name. And, Shepherd, if you don’t do something soon, historic First will become, well, history.”

“I’ve already read the book!” chimed in Ona Weigh, with flying doughnut crumbs punctuating her remarks. “Schaller’s convinced me to seek my next call differently—more like a consultant than an applicant.”

Showing off, Ernie Points, rector of Shepherd of the Hummock, tossed out some figures: “Did you know that this year, approximately seven thousand Protestant churches will hire a consultant, and the demand will increase fivefold before 2025?”

“Get outta here! How do you know that?”

“Schaller said so in The Interventionist,” triumphed Ernie. “Look it up!”

The Schaller factor

This conversation illustrates four of the nine precisely enumerated types who will benefit greatly from this book: (1) pastors of (a) stagnant or (b) declining churches; (2) interim pastors; (3) pastors wanting to be effective change agents immediately in their next call; and (4) (a) persons or (b) denominational officials who hang out the “church consultant” shingle.

To that list should be added: (1) Schaller groupies (we are legion!), (2) Schaller wannabes, (3) ministry students, (4) congregational leaders who can’t afford Schaller himself, and (5) (a) list-tolerant, (b) non-question-challenged, and innovatively thinking pastors intent on improving their ministry skills.

Which means just about everybody.

For more than 35 years, Schaller has examined, cross-examined, analyzed, compared, grilled, repaired, directed, advised, and even knocked churches upside the head when necessary. With humor (often printed on his T-shirt), amazing insight, a remarkable grasp of church culture, a broad curiosity, more pertinent statistics and benchmarks than you can shake a stick at, and a traveling case full of penetrating questions, Schaller has changed the American church. He tells us that every year in the U.S.-despite mainline decline-the combined church attendance record is broken.

Might Schaller be a factor?

No magic dust

In The Interventionist, Schaller divulges his methods. Just what does he do when he calls on a church?

First, he makes it clear he cannot sprinkle “magic dust” to perfect everything immediately, although it’s equally clear that many churches expect it.

Second, Schaller mainly asks questions. “More can be learned by asking questions than by giving answers,” and “the most effective way to influence both individual and institutional behavior is to ask questions.” Schaller considers it more effective “to be perceived as curious rather than judgmental.”

Thus, the book bulges with questions—questions for candidates to ask, questions to send ahead, questions on church culture, questions on finances, questions for youth groups, questions about “Seventeen Syndromes” of church ill health, questions for civic leaders, questions of context, and tough, penetrating questions to follow up previous questions.

Pity the question-mark key on Schaller’s typewriter after he writes chapters with titles such as “Twelve Questions for the Interventionist” (he’s only warming up on that one; he can profitably extend a list farther than anyone else) and “393 Diagnostic Questions” (quintessential Schaller)!

Third, to the questions Schaller adds analysis. While Schaller learns and even influences others through questions, his genius is his ability to sift and compare. Somewhere (he hints at prodigious reading) he has gathered an astounding trove of knowledge: He can tell you to multiply worship attendance by $1,000 (1995 buying power) for a benchmark of decent giving; he knows that 67 to 80 percent of churches founded before 1970 are static or shrinking; he introduces the concept of “splintered attention” to explain modern pastoral realities; he can quote the figure that in 1995, 32 percent of teen drivers owned cars, compared to 7 percent in 1960. Whew!

Fourth, Schaller envisions new realities. What are the alternative futures for the church? What must happen to make each case a reality? What are the big hurdles to cross? He keeps his recommendations to a minimum: “As a general rule, two recommendations are better than four, four are better than eight, and eight is too many.”

Fifth, Schaller becomes persuader, determining who the decision makers are, discerning allies, making a reasonable, logical case for the future the church must pursue.

The number one quality an interventionist needs, according to Schaller: “the willingness and the capability to earn the trust of the leaders.” Number two is credibility, and number three is openness to a range of diverse opinions.

“Can there ever be another Lyle Schaller?” Ona muses. “His book gives away all his secrets, but I wonder … “

“Think of it this way,” interjects Ernie. “Would any of you know that in 1950, 21.2 million American cows produced 116 billion pounds of milk, but in 1992 just 9.9 million produced 152 billion pounds? Schaller does.”

“Udderly astounding!”

James D. Berkleysenior associate pastorFirst Presbyterian ChurchBellevue, Washington

WHY PEOPLE GIVE

A new book on giving trends confirms the importance of vision.

The church I serve is in the middle of an expansion project. The volatile mix of ministry and money keeps me awake at night. Twenty percent of my people give 80 percent of the money. People tell me they can’t afford to give any more.

John and Sylvia Ronsvalle’s monumental, three-year study, Behind the Stained-Glass Windows: Money Dynamics in the Church (Baker, $24.99, 384 pp.), statistically verifies what we all suspect:

—Americans are making more and giving less.
—Giving has been declining since 1968.

Behind the Stained-Glass Windows includes hundreds of quotations from financial consultants and denominational executives. Each underlines the point that a change in how giving is approached is critical if we are going to affect the consumers in our churches.

What changes can we make? Preaching alone isn’t going to do it.

Although taking 300 pages to reach this conclusion, the Ronsvalles remind us that we can’t rely on tradition, denominational loyalty, or teaching on tithing. Our best hope is a vision for reaching people that is so compelling that the 80 percent who aren’t giving realize that it won’t happen without them. Even better, they don’t want it to.

In 1994, I wrote a “dream statement” for our church. Recently, almost three years later, a layman came to our luncheon meeting driving a new car. I noticed he had replaced his foreign luxury car with a less expensive American sedan. He could probably buy any car he wants. I asked him why he didn’t replace his luxury car with the same model.

“I wanted to be able to give more to the church,” he said.

Money does follow vision.

Bill OudemolenFoothills Bible ChurchLittleton, Colorado

STUDY IN AN ELECTRONIC MUSEUM

A CD for pastors who use The New International Version.

Compton’s Interactive Bible CD-ROM (Zondervan, $49.95) is a virtual Bible museum. Without tired legs and whining children, you can view charts, maps, and short movies that add interest to the background of the Bible. Like a museum, Compton’s includes experts to explain nuances of the subject.

The tableau, the central feature of the Interactive Bible, is a three-window format that links everything with hypertext. A click of the mouse zips you between a search window, commentary window, and text window. Most verses have a hypertext link to a commentary. The commentaries, in turn, have cross-references back to the Bible.

Compton’s Interactive Bible CD-ROM (to order mention product 006416: 800-727-3480) has both expert and inspirational commentaries. The expert commentary is helpful for background and history of a passage, but most of the time, it leaves the original languages alone. The inspirational commentator provides some good illustrations that connect with life. I was disappointed that the documentation failed to divulge who the commentators are.

Compton’s ability to do word studies is limited, by electronic standards. Its concordance works like a book, searching only one word at a time, not a whole phrase. It will search every tool on the CD simultaneously, but this slows the search.

The ability to cut and paste from the New International Version of the Bible is handy—perhaps the best feature for pastors. As a reminder you copied the text from Compton’s Interactive CD, an endnote is placed in your word-processing text.

Compton’s Interactive Bible CD-ROM functions like a museum, but it takes a while to go through a museum, and most people don’t visit one every day. For now, I still go elsewhere for in-depth study.

Scott ReavelyWest Linn Baptist ChurchWest Linn, Oregon

REPERTOIRE UPGRADE

A worship CD to spice up a contemporary service

My wife, Jana, straddles the buster/boomer age divide, but when push comes to shove, I think in her heart of hearts, she’s really a boomer. Why?

She doesn’t like alternative music. I do, which is the only glitch in our otherwise perfect marriage.

In the spirit of marital harmony, I asked her to listen to Pour Over Me ($18; to order: 817-752-1401), a CD of worship songs produced by leaders at University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. Since University Baptist purports to be a buster church, I thought, Hey, I’ll see if Jana likes it. “It’s certainly not alternative,.” she said after listening to the CD four times through while cleaning the house one Saturday. “That’s for sure.”

I think she meant: “I really like these songs.”

They may not be alternative, but they are worshipful. Most of the fifteen selections on Pour Over Me are new, written by David Crowder, worship leader at University Baptist Church. Even one of the few moldy oldies, “I Have Decided,” has a fresh, contemporary sound. Buster or no, you’ll appreciate the freshness and longing of University Baptist Church worship.

David L. Goetz senior associate editor, Leadership

1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.

Does it bother you, as it bothers me, when people criticize the church?

To take one example, how many times have you heard, “The church is the onlyarmy in the world that shoots its wounded”?

That’s nonsense. Most congregations I know care for people through disease,divorce, and sexual sin. And even if the accusation is partly true, is thechurch the only army to shoot its wounded? People who say that must haveno contact with business “restructurings,” family feuds, lawsuits, and coachesof losing sports teams. In every arena of life people shoot the wounded.The church stands out as one place that doesn’t do it as often.

Sometimes people lob shots at individual congregations-usually a megachurchor a church in town of a different theology. Theological differences areworth discussing, but let’s have the courage to express our position faceto face or in a signed letter, not behind another pastor’s back.

Once I was studying Ephesians 5, which compares the relationship betweena husband and wife to the relationship between Christ and the church. Paul’smetaphor struck me: the church is a bride with feelings, and she has a devoted,powerful, and watchful husband. I wrote in my journal, “May I always speakreverently and tenderly of her.”

I’ve sometimes slipped with unkind words about churches. But I’m trying toimitate Jonathan Edwards, America’s greatest theologian, who made thisresolution: Whenever he heard of another person’s sins, he immediately examinedhimself, repented of similar sins in his life, and prayed for the person.What if, when we heard people criticize a church, we repented of similarways we have fallen short?

Some people can’t help but see areas for correction, because they possessthe gift of discernment. But that gift needs to be trained. Oswald Chamberswrote that God gives us discernment about others not so that we will criticizethem, but so that we will pray for them.

A pastor I know dreads her church’s staff meetings, because each week thesenior pastor criticizes people in the congregation-sometimes to the pointof railing. So tempting, but so dangerous. Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned, “Apastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to otherpeople, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to himin order that he should become its accuser before God and men.”

Since its beginning, Leadership has stood committed to being pro-churchand pro-pastor. At times, our love for the church and for pastors has meantpublishing hard truths-for example, that 22.8 percent of pastors have beenfired or forced to resign at least once during their ministry. But we alwaysaccompany such truth-telling with realistic and practical proposals for reform.

We live in a time when smearing people is sport. May we lead the charge theother way, speaking chastely and constructively about the congregations weencounter. As Leadership adviser Fred Smith reminds our staff, “No one evererected a statue to a critic.”

Kevin A. Miller is editor of Leadership

1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.

A man who joined our fellowship came out of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Threemonths after his conversion, his daughter died. Then the woman he had beendating broke off their relationship.

If that weren’t enough, his business collapsed; it’s now half of what itused to be.

Today, this man comes to three weekend services. He can’t seem to get enoughof God. He’s not ready for significant leadership right now. But he’s onthe way toward the healing that could one day make him a powerful servantleader.

When will that be?

I don’t know for sure. The goal is not to get him well enough so he can geton with the real business of the church. He is the real business of the church.But as his brokenness heals, his potential for leadership rises.

Knowing when a broken person is ready to lead can be difficult to determine.Here are five tests I use to measure whether someone is ready.

1. Are they honest with themselves?

Recently, a former Navy pilot stood in a meeting and said that his charter-flyingbusiness had gone bust. He lost everything-his planes, his income, his dream.

He told us how he had struggled with bitterness and disillusionment untilsomeone at church made an offhand comment: “The reason God can’t do anythingmiraculous in your life is because you want to control everything.”

That bracing remark caused him to search his soul. He admitted to the Lord,“This whole thing has been about me and my goals for my life.” He asked forGod’s forgiveness.

This story shows the pilot’s true spirit. I can work with broken people whor*cognize they’re broken. People who can’t admit their sin, though, makeme nervous. This pilot is now on a trajectory toward becoming a cell groupleader.

2. Are they in community?

Several years ago a dynamic man, who possessed a number of spiritual gifts,started attending the church. He had an uncanny insight into what God wasdoing in a person’s life (what some call “a word of wisdom”).

As he moved into more visible leadership, I told him, “If you’re going tohelp people, you’ve got to be in relationship with them. Otherwise, you’llnever convince them you’re just an ordinary guy working for an extraordinaryGod.”

Over time, I sensed he was balking. I recommended he offer training in discerningGod’s will from the Scriptures to several cell groups. I said, “Why don’tyou go out to dinner with the leaders of these cell groups? You need to establishfriendships.”

His face reddened. “Look, I’m 51 years old,” he said. “What I want to dois ministry. I don’t have time to waste on anything as frivolous as buildingrelationships.”

“Then you won’t minister at this church,” I replied.

He had failed a critical test of leadership. Community is essential to biblicalleadership. If a person can’t build deep friendships that include accountability,that person is not ready to lead in the church.

3. Will they labor in obscurity?

Katherine has the poise and stage presence of Snow White and was on our worshipteam. While never flashy in her song leading, people began to stumble overher seeming flawlessness. My concern was people were beginning to think ofher more as an image than as a real person.

I asked her, “Katherine, why don’t you do something other than sing in theservices for a while? Maybe you could work the sound board or something likethat.”

She intuitively understood my concern.

“That’s a super idea,” she said. She gladly took a job out of the publiceye.

After months of working in an obscure slot, she and her husband eventuallybecame our worship leaders.

I no longer worry about Katherine’s stage presence; I know she doesn’t haveto be front and center in worship.

A person isn’t ready to lead until he or she is ready to disappear, to acceptan obscure position and find fulfillment in that unseen role.

4. Are they flexible?

One of our associate pastors tended to overreact to people when he feltthreatened. At times, his defensiveness would almost cross the line intobelligerence. I had been patient with him for years, but by allowing himto be pushy with people, I risked communicating to our congregation: “It’sokay to be brusque and rude with people if you’re a spiritual leader.”

The situation was complex, but as a direct result of this problem, I askedhim to resign.

The rest of the story is that I asked the church leadership to participatein his restoration. We hired him back as soon as we fired him-but as an assistantpastor, not an associate. His secretary and some of his perks as an associatewere taken away. Today, he’s becoming more flexible and patient with thosehe serves.

5. Are they faithful in little?

Jesus said, “If you’ve been faithful in little, then you will be made masterof much.” I view readiness to lead as a process. It begins months and yearsearlier when people are asked to do something as simple as pass out bulletins.Once they’re found faithful doing that, we move them to something more demanding.

I recently told a woman who works on our staff, “In my mind, I actually hiredyou about three years before you came on staff.”

She looked at me quizzically. “What do you mean?”

“I decided to hire you after I watched you and your husband carry those big,silver coffeepots up and down the hallway week after week. No one else knewwhat you were doing, but I saw how eagerly you took on the task. That’s whenI decided you were someone we needed on our staff.”

Daniel Brown is pastor of Coastlands Churchin Aptos, California.

Bob Moeller is interim pastor of First Baptist Church inElmhurst, Illinois.

1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.

Television personality Garry Moore had a marvelous comeback to those who sent him crank letters. Whenever he received a particularly nasty letter, he would send it back with a note: “The enclosed letter arrived on my desk a few days ago. I am sending it to you in the belief that as a responsible citizen you should know that some idiot is sending out letters over your signature.”

I confess: My mouth watered when I read that. I know it’s wrong, but I have spent an embarrassing amount of time replaying in my mind angry encounters I have had with people in the church-mental polemics in which I parry all their hostile thrusts with the devastatingly witty repartee I wish I would have delivered. Of course, my words leave them a quivering heap on the floor, begging my forgiveness. Mea culpa.

If all this shocks you, and you can in no way relate, you should turn the page and read something else in this fine journal. But if you can relate, please read on.

Thank you, I knew you would.

Paul too, faced a lot of harsh and unfair critics, the people in the Corinthian church being second only to the forty-some Jews who vowed not to eat or drink until they killed him (Acts 23:12). If there are two top put-downs a congregation can lay on its minister, Corinth delivered both: They said he couldn’t preach and that the other pastors they had were better. That stings. I know.

But instead of indulging a comeback, Paul wrote, “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any hu-man court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent.”

Translated: “I don’t care what you think. And I don’t care what I think, either.”

Though blunt, Paul’s words were a reminder that only one opinion counts in the church-not theirs, not his, but God’s. And God hasn’t spoken yet. For Paul continues, “It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes” (1 Cor. 4:3-5a).

It’s tough to be a pastor. The needs and expectations of a congregation can be like water, filling up every unclaimed and undefined space in our lives. What we don’t know about ourselves and our calling, someone or something in the church will try to tell us.

Then there are the hazards of the public side of ministry, preaching in particular. Former nhl goalie Jacques Plante was asked how he liked his position. He said, “How would you like a job where, if you made a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?” That’s how preaching can be and often is. The only hope is to carry each sermon before the tribunal of the one and only wise and righteous judge-God; to care not what they think, or what you think, but only what he thinks.

So, what does God think about what we are doing? Paul’s counsel is to take a wait-and-see attitude: “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes.”

Does that mean we can know nothing now of what God thinks about our work? Almost, I think, or at least nothing final or definitive.

There are times, however, when I preach, that I am sure I feel what Olympic champion Eric Liddell said he felt when he ran: God’s pleasure. I know that I know that I know that God is pleased with me. But what I feel is not about how well I compare to another or to some standard of homiletic excellence. It is, I think, God’s gracious delight in his child working in faith to please his Father. Paul hints at this when he speaks of God’s judgment as the time “each will receive his praise from God.”

We were saved by grace. We also work and will be judged by that same grace. God’s standards are infinitely higher and purer than any human standard. They are also infinitely more gracious.

Ben Patterson is dean of the chapel at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.

1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.