The only thng wrong with our church is the pastor

6:42 AM

Been noticing recently how eagerly believers from other churches are willing to take a total stranger into confidence, and share exactly what’s wrong with their church.

The central theme is almost always the same: “I don’t know what happened, but we’re not going any where. I think it’s time for a change.”

Members have divided into factions, fuming and taking sides against each other over petty, insignificant issues (egos certainly involved), often with the pastor in the middle. And in trying to be the mediator, or even worse, in trying to push forward his own vision, the pastor winds up a casualty of the congregational crossfire.

The church has become restless, irritable with itself, and senses a need for a renewed focus and purpose because “The pastor’s sputtering” and “We need a new direction.”

When there’s not much interest shown in pursing the subject, the conversation typically ends with a shrug and a hopeful glean in the eye, “I think we need some new blood in the pulpit.”

Yikes. What’re we talking about, vampires? The living dead? If I’d been listening to problems describing a boat, it’d sound a lot like:

(a) deferred maintenance, abuse and neglect has caused friction to burn up the engine
(b) in blindly steering its own course, the boat has hit bottom and lost its rudder. (“Oh no, we have a Steering Committee to handle that …”)
(c) instructions included with the owner’s manual are being ignored
(d) the engine is sputtering because the tank is low on gas … and engines can’t run on fumes … or on hot air

What do I know about these things? Nothing. I have zero experience, my theology degree got lost in the mail, I’ve never been a deacon or studied human resource management … or much less served on a church committee. And I have all the “people skills” of a sunburned hyena.

Vision? Heck, I see disaster lurking in shadows at high noon and feel certain “thar be monsters” waiting at every horizon. Nonetheless, the causes of some problems seem so clear they’re practically transparent. Maybe that’s why they’re easy to overlook.

- A church can only have one leader, one direction and one focus
- God knows how to use a member’s talents more effectively than he/she does
- Gossip isn’t a talent. It’s a sin
- Personal opinions have zero intrinsic value. That’s why they seldom generate much interest … and are better saved and invested than traded or shared
- A church is not a drive-thru restaurant or a pizza joint … you can’t “have it your way” or expect delivery to your doorstep in 30 minutes or less
- Democracy might work in politics, but fails miserably from the pulpit
- -Pointing the finger at a pastor as the cause of a church’s problems ignores the fingers pointing back at the congregation
- Not one person in your church- not the most senior deacon, not the wealthiest member, not the chairman of the most powerful committee and not the family with the longest or most regular attendance- earned their salvation or ever did a single thing to deserve it. So don’t act like you did
- Congregations with energy enough to complain are ignoring God’s plan and leaving critical elements of their mission left undone
- It’s not your church … so stop complaining, and start committing
- You won’t have any say-so about how things are done in Heaven. Might wanna start getting used to it.

Or are you planning on “finding some new blood” and “straightening things out” when you get there?