Category Archives: Pastoring

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July 29, 2014

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International Missions, Pastoring

8 Ways to Help Your Church Maintain a Missional Focus (Part 2)

By John M Galyen

Since its inception, the church has been focused on outward expansion.  We seek to win people to Christ, not just to have bigger churches or more volunteers for ministry, but because we serve a missionary God who is in the sending business.  God sent his Son to redeem us and provide a relationship with himself.  Now he sends the Church to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to a world in desperate need of a Savior.

The local church is charged with the responsibility of spreading the gospel both locally and globally.  For many churches and church leaders this may seem like an impossible task.  How can a small church is Arkansas, or Missouri, or Kentucky reach the world with the gospel?  Obviously, no church can single-handedly reach the world, but we each have a part to play in God’s plan to redeem every nation, tribe, and tongue.  As a pastor, I want to make sure my church is engaged in local ministry, but I also want to lead them to give to, pray for, and go to all nations because this is what we are called to do.  Last week, I outlined 4 ways that church leaders can help their congregation stay focused on the true mission of the church.  This week, I will go over 4 other ways to keep missions in the forefront of your church’s mind.

5. Read Scripture in Different Languages

Another important part of worship is Scripture reading.  In his book, Worship Matters, author Bob Kauflin suggests a creative way to use Scripture readings to emphasize God’s mission:  Have someone read Scripture in a different language.  This helps remind people that there are believers all across the globe who are worshiping the same God we serve.  If you have a member who can read Spanish, or French, or Russian, invite them to do a reading and then have someone else read the same passage in English.  Though few people in the service may understand the foreign language, they will appreciate the creative reminder that God is not limited in the ways we are and that someday a great crowd will gather around the heavenly throne to proclaim God’s praise in every language.

6. Flags or Banners

Flags or banners can be used to visually remind the church of its missional focus.  The church I serve is planning to hang flags for each country that a member of our congregation has visited on a mission trip.  Over the past couple of years, we have had teams or individuals serve in eight different countries.  We will spend a whole service hanging these flags and reminding the congregation of our missionary missionstask as we point them to the God who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”  The flags are not mere trophies celebrating our achievements, but are intended to remind our people of the unfinished task of reaching the world, and to encourage them to pray that the good news will spread widely through these particular nations.  Such a display will not only remind the congregation of their calling, but will also let visitors know that yours is a local church with a global vision.

7.Guest Speakers

Inviting special guests, such as stateside missionaries, is another way to promote a missional focus in your church.  This takes a bit of planning and promotion, but General Baptist missionaries love to visit local churches to share about their work.  During the summer, many missionaries come home to attend the Summit, meaning your church has the incredible opportunity to hear from an active missionary fresh off the field.  Missionaries usually need more notice than you average guest speaker, so consider contacting the International Missions department (www.generalbaptist.com or 573-785-7746) early in the summer to see what missionaries are available to speak to your church while they are home.  Have them share about their work and challenge your church to get more involved with GB missions.

Four young women from our church went on the Women’s Ministries mission trip to India last October.  When they share with our church about GB work in this faraway land, our church responded by voting to financially support the Vemulas.  Recently, Jessey and Brittany Vemula were able to join us on a Sunday morning to share about what God is doing in India.  Again, our church responded by increasing their support for the Vemula’s ministry.  Hearing from an actual missionary on the field is very powerful.  Give you people that change so they can get a glimpse of what God is doing around the world and how they can join Him.

8.  Budgeting & Special Offerings

Your church’s budget reflects your priorities.  Read that sentence again.  Sobering, isn’t it?  Churches spend a lot of money each year on Sunday School literature, media presentations, activities, and local outreach.  None of those things are bad.  But in order for our budgets to be biblically balanced, we need to spend our resources reaching people both locally and globally.  That may mean leading your church to participate in Unified Giving or the annual Ed Steven’s Day Offering.  Ideally, each GB church will do both.  You can teach the kids (and adults) in your church about missions by designating your VBS offering to the annual GBIM project (this year’s project is a new van for Faith Home).  Whatever your level of giving, make sure your church is supporting mission causes that are focused on sharing the gospel and planting churches in unreached areas of the world.  When you give to missions, you are not just donating; you are investing in someone’s eternity.

This list is by no means exhaustive.  I encourage you to think of other ways you could lead your church to maintain a missional focus.  What is more important is that each General Baptist church establishes and maintains a commitment to spreading the gospel at home and abroad.  Our calling to spread the gospel is not an either/or proposition.  We cannot choose whether to reach people at home or around the world.  Every church is called to do whatever it can, by God’s grace, to take the whole gospel to the whole world.

John is the pastor of Leigh’s Chapel General Baptist Church in Greenville, Kentucky, where he has served for the past 8 years.  He is married, and has four sons.  For more information about General Baptist International and National work, visit www.generalbaptist.com or call 573-785-7746. 

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July 3, 2014

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Executive Office, Leadership, Pastoring

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To Change or Not to Change

By Clint Cook

I recently had a very important exchange with a young pastor who has just taken a position at an established, traditional church.  Since arriving, he has discovered that the church is severely outdated in a number of ways which limit its impact on the community.  This young pastors can face many obstacles when initiating changepastor desires for his church to be an important influence within their community and wants to lead the church into the 21st century.  He proceeded to ask me what is perhaps the most common question a young leader asks when beginning a pastorate at an older, established church: “Is there ever a point in a pastorate when all the needed change is simply too risky?  Is there a point when you say it’s just not worth it?”

My response was that he should ask and answer the following questions regarding his church:

1.  How long do you anticipate staying in this church?

If a pastor doesn’t think he will stay very long in a church, this its not worth encountering resistance and (most likely) causing friction due to change and new ideas if he isn’t going to see it through.  If your personal preference is to stay in a church only 2-3 years, then leave the church’s methodology alone.

2.  What is your opinion of the church leaders?

You will need a lot of influencers to be able to pull off major change.  When a pastor first comes to a church, he is only the nominal leader.  This existing church leaders are the ones still in charge.  If you want to initiate change and survive the process, you have to carefully assess the mindset of your church leaders.
3.  How much change do you believe the church can withstand?

Maybe the best way to analyze this is to break down the age groups of your congregation.  If you congregation is predominately a 70+ congregation, then they are less likely to handle change as easily as a 40 and under age group.  Know your age groups and their percentages before implementing change.
4.  Is the facility designed in a way wherein you could offer an alternative contemporary service at a different time and leave the main worship hour in its current traditional style?

Change can be made easier if you first add something new, but leave the existing service alone to maintain stability and continuity for traditional worshipers.
5.  What has God put in your heart to do?  Are you diligently searching His will?

There’s no other biblical book that can help a young leader approach change in a church than the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.  Read it and learn.

When all of these questions are answered, a young leader is in a much better position to truly evaluate whether or not it is worth leader a church through major change.

Do you think this list is missing some elements to consider before implementing change?  Do you know of other ways to help make a transition smooth when undergoing important shifts?  Click on ‘Leave A Comment’ at the top of this article to share your experiences and opinions.

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June 26, 2014

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Congregrational Ministries, General Baptists, Pastoring

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Eight Point Eight Two: How long do pastors stay in one church?

By Dr. Franklin Dumond

A recent research poll from Lifeway Research suggested the average pastor’s tenure in a local church is 3.6 years (See Dennis Cook, July 18, 2011). Other studies and informal polls suggest the average or typical tenure may be a bit longer, while studies of effective leaders suggest an average tenure of 11.2 to 21.6 years. Trevin Wax suggests that most studies of the average tenure in a local church show the number to be between 5 and 7 years.How long do pastors stay at one church?

A survey of General Baptist pastors suggests the average pastoral tenure of those currently serving a church is 8.82 years. This number comes from reports submitted by 107 pastors in response to a survey mailed to approximately 700 General Baptist pastors. Bivocational pastors who responded indicated an average tenure of 7.77 years while fully funded pastors indicated a current tenure of 10.79 years. The report only measured length of service in the current ministry setting rather than average length of stay in several ministry settings.

A similar poll of Cooperative Baptists in South Carolina found an average tenure of 9 years while Barna Research reported that mainline congregations are served by the same pastor for only about 4 years.

Noted researcher and church consultant Lyle Schaller pointed out years ago that while longer tenure does not guarantee church growth, shorter pastoral tenure almost always insures lack of growth.

In an ironic twist on the numbers Gary McIntosh suggests in a blog post from June 14, 2013 that long pastoral tenure may hurt a church. His observation, based on several interviews with pastors who stayed for 25 years or more, was summarized as “The first ten years were great; the second ten years were good; I should have left in year twenty!”

This cycle is rather normal, since pastors come with a vision for the future but over time there is a natural tendency to focus more on the relationships within the church rather than those outside it. Further, pastors come to a church with a briefcase full of ideas but over time these ideas may run their course. Thus a wise pastor must reinvent himself every 7-10 years to remain effective in his leadership.

Leonard DonohoLooking back on nearly 60 years of ministry Rev. James Trotter remarked “I left some of my pastorates too soon.”

At age 95 Rev. Leonard Donoho passed along the same advice given to him when he started ministry in 1943 “I was a young minister in the association and had some good brothers to advise and guide me in my ministry. The best was to ‘stay in there and preach the Word.’”

Are there keys to staying in there? Cecil Robertson, looking back over nearly 70 years of ministry, indentifies perhaps one important key to staying in there when he says “I love people because God does.” In addition to this love for people there must also be a love for the task as he goes on to say, “I love preaching, seeing souls saved, and all that goes with ministry.”

James Black, with more than 60 years in ministry, remarked about starting over again, “My goal would be to have longer pastorates.” To accomplish that he suggests, “I would rearrange my priorities. My priorities were God first, then ministry, then family. If I could go back, my priorities would be God first, family next, then ministry.”