I'm a Struggling Pastor of a Struggling Church

29 years ago this week I and 100+ other boys went out for the freshman football team at Horizon High School.  The coach said on day one that he wasn't going to cut anyone and he was true to his word.  Yet, when the season started we had a team of 50.  The reason was "hell week."  That whole season was a struggle leading to more defections and my own weekly temptation to just quit.

Struggle is a part of life.  An athlete struggles to train and prepare to win a contest and a business struggles to earn customer trust and market share.  A church struggles to impact people's lives and meet expectations.  A marriage struggles to endure the trials and remain fulfilling.  I could go on with examples, but the point is that any goal oriented person or organization is going to struggle as long as they have a vision for more.

The past 5 years I've been struggling with how to be an effective leader without the benefit of the resources and momentum that I've always had in the past.   I already know I can lead when I have a pool of capable and mature people from which to recruit leaders and money to hire staff and create programs and facilities for meetings and events.  I've done it at 3 different churches.  However,  I've never been in this situation before.  My options are to "struggle" by faith toward the vision God has given me or to quit in the middle of "hell week."

The mistake I see so many people make is that they quit in order to escape "struggle."  God's alternative to quitting is called Sabbath.  The biblical principle of Sabbath requires a regular temporary rest from our struggles.  So, we should structure our schedules and demonstrate trust in God by taking periods of diversion, rest, and reflection.  But otherwise we're called as children of God to accept and even embrace struggle.   It may not be the struggle you expected, wanted, or chose, but because of the curse of sin, until we're in heaven we'll always face internal and external struggles.

If you need help embracing your struggles I recommend a study of Paul's "thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor 12:7.)

A Diversification of Kingdom Multiplication

Did you lose money in the 1990’s when the tech bubble burst on Wall Street or from the recent real estate market collapse?  If you didn’t pay attention in economics class then life has certainly taught you that diversifying your investments is the wise way to go.  That's why I'm excited that a mega-church just started a new campus 1 mile away from my church! 

Having spent 17 years on the staffs of a couple large churches and now pastoring a small church, I’m seeing something I never saw before… healthy churches of all sizes and styles are needed to reach the many people who don’t yet follow Christ.  That’s why I love to see a diversity of new churches started and new mega church satellite campuses launched.  One size doesn’t fit all.  Some people will visit one type of church but couldn't be bribed to visit another type.  

The church I pastor has reached many dozens of people who weren't reached by other churches in town nor by any churches out of town.  In fact, I've learned that mature Christians will drive as far as needed to attend the church that's right for them, but non-believers will rarely drive out of their community to visit a church.  So the more churches and the more variety of styles, sizes, and flavors, the better.  I recognize that there are many people in our town that we haven't been able to reach because of the type of church we are.  

The reason I refuse to be territorial is that I've learned that there’s a correlation between the number of healthy churches and the number of people who come to Christ…more churches = more disciples and less = less.  Numerous studies have shown that the best way to reach unreached people in America is through new churches of all shapes and sizes.  As long as a church has Godly leaders together with a body committed to reaching the lost and teaching them how to follow Christ, that church, no matter the size or flavor, will make an impact for the Kingdom!  

I've seen this happen in the churches I've served in and consulted... together they represent a wide variety of resource potential and wildly ranging populations.  I've seen tiny churches and mega churches reaching people.  Traditional, contemporary, non-traditional, cell churches all reach people.  Churches with multi-million dollar budgets and churches with no budget reach people.  If there is a Godly leader who is called and who is biblically qualified teamed up with a group (any size) of people who are willing to invest their money and abilities together, that is a church that can and will reach people with the Gospel.  

Of course the scale of impact and production is radically different between mega and small churches.  That being said, don't be surprised to find that based on percentages, many smaller churches are outpacing larger churches and the younger ones are reaching more people than the older ones (based on return per member and per dollar.)  This is an important point not to fuel rivalry but simply to encourage those who are called to lead or serve in a smaller or newer church...don't lose heart and remember, you're helping create a diversification of Kingdom multiplication.