Well, tomorrow we are off for our Elder/Staff retreat for NewSong Church. So far all our staff members and Elders are attending - that is eleven of us. I am very excited at this opportunity to synchronize our efforts by clarifying, aligning, and focusing in our mission as a church. One of our four strategic ministry priorities for 2009 is what we called “Empowering Leadership” and is about expanding our leadership base. This is critical in order for us to move from being essentially a single cell church with me at the center to being a multi-celled church with multiple points of entry and several leaders as hubs for people to latch onto.
Church leadership gurus call where we are the “Shepherd-Rancher” threshold. It's an indisputable fact that the leadership style that works well with a church of 35-50 people will most likely hinder the growth of a church with 150-200. The little church pastor knows everybody, does all the praying, all the baptizing, all the teaching, and becomes a bottleneck for growth at some point because everything has to be run by him or her. He or she is the only one who knows everyone else in the church, and this person ends up with his hand in everything that happens at the church. The problem is there is a limit to how many people one person can personally shepherd. As the church grows the pastor must change roles from “Shepherd” to “Rancher.” The Rancher helps oversee the farm, mainly through under-Shepherds.
We have been at the threshold where this needs to be addressed for some time now at NewSong. The time has come for me to be more “hands off;” I must learn to delegate more, trusting the people to make what needs to happen transpire. The “sheep” for the pastor become the leaders he/she is mentoring and equipping for ministry. While shepherding only a few, they continue to serve as rancher to the entire flock.
Can we make this transition at NewSong? My experience has been that not too many pastors are able to do this. Most of the fault for this lies with the leader who is unable or unwilling to give up the responsibility and authority they presently have. But the people in the church who are not willing to be unselfish enough to let their pastor’s leadership style change share in the blame for this as well.
Theologically and practically most of us recognize it is not good for people to look exclusively to one person, a pastor, for all their spiritual guidance, answers, and leadership. The same Spirit that rested on Christ came down on all believers at Pentecost. On the flip side, it is also unhealthy for pastors to lose touch with their people and begin treating the congregation like widgets or numbers. Pastors can never let themselves become so “hands off” that they don’t know what is going on in the church. A disengaged leader can be disastrous.
Ideally, a pastor would be able to adopt a different style to match the different phase of development of the congregation. He or she should be find a way to grow along with the church. This assumes the pastor wants to stay, of course, which I want to do at NewSong. Flexibility on the part of the pastor and a willingness to continue to expand on the part of the church are the keys. A leader who feels he or she cannot adopt a different style as the church grows should recognize this and find a new church where his or her leadership style is needed. Likewise, the congregation that is plateaued or declining must decide if they want to be unselfish enough to grow, or if they want to remain comfortable where they are. A word of caution: Biblically-speaking such a congregation (one that opted for "comfortable") would be standing on shaky ground.
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