 In last week’s post, I described a particular leader training tension which existed at my multi-campus church of 5000. Do know, I’ve been on the other side too. At my first church out of seminary, I was charged with launching a small groups ministry from scratch. Zero groups. Zero group leaders.
When it comes to groups ministry, there are several challenges smaller churches (under 200) face that their larger sister churches do not. Here’s a short list, plus one worthy of special note.
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 When, in 2008, I began leading the adult discipleship and small groups ministry department at a very large multi-site church, I inherited a leader training rhythm that included two yearly leadership events (October and January). Attendance at these events was a stated requirement for all active small group leaders. A couple of years in, I celebrated with my team after a particularly well-promoted and well-executed training event. We had accomplished everything we had set out to do. And with 62% of our leaders participating, we had even hit our 60+% attendance goal, which meant that hundreds of leaders experienced the energy-filled room, the encouraging leadership community, and our inspiring and practical content.
Only those who have mastered 5th grade arithmetic will see what we were missing. Question: was our event a success or a failure?  Early in my pastoral career, I repeatedly encountered a piece of practical “wisdom” that went something like this: When someone comes to you with a ministry idea for the church, ask that person to become the leader of the effort. Maybe you’ve heard similar advice. Unfortunately, whether this was meant for organic leadership development, the sane preservation of the pastors schedule, or as a simple rubric to avoid the pain of saying no, it was lazy advice.
When confronted with a new ministry idea from a church member, ask three questions.  Last week I proposed the following organizational shift:
FROM: Executive Pastor reports to the Senior Pastor TO: Teaching Pastor reports to the Lead Pastor In Seminary, I was convincingly shown that all three basic church polities (congregational, presbyterian, and episcopal) can all be illustrated with New Testament examples and neither is taught explicitly. As an ordained congregational pastor, leading in an episcopal church, after serving in multiple presbyterian churches... this still makes sense to me. Description versus prescription. So I’m not arguing that scripture proscribes this org chart model for all churches. But doesn’t scripture speak timeless wisdom into our church leadership decisions? |
Dan DzikowiczChurch consultant, pastor, author, and Lectionary Press' founder. Archives
February 2021
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