First, I have this really annoying habit of buying lots of books, reading 1 or 2 chapters, then piling them on top of each other, and going on to another book. So, I have about 10 half read books on my desk. Eventually, I'll finish the ones I like or feel are valuable. But the challenge, if they don't grab me, I don't bother...
Yesterday, I cracked open one that's been waiting to be read, The Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley. Laura was out with some ladies and the girls were in bed, so, with some alone time, I sat down to read. Right off the bat- wow!
Now, for my confession. I love the quote and have made it a core value at Lifehouse Church: Pray like everything depends on God, work like everything depends on you (Martin Luther). My tendency is to pray, then work, and if that's not enough, I'll work harder and harder. So, I'll put in too many hours.
I know that I must train leaders, give away ministry responsibilities, and I'm doing that to the best of my ability. However, while reading the first chapter, Stanley challenges the reader to evaluate what 2 or 3 things you are good at and are passionate about doing and do that. Give everything else away to others!
I thought I'd already done this, but it's time to re-evaluate. My new mission is to evaluate better what I'm currently doing, narrow down my scope of ministry to only a few things, then develop other leaders to do what they love doing and trust them with ministry.
Here's my list of things I'm passionate about and will focus my energy on at Lifehouse:
- Preaching- to relevantly and creatively communicate the Truth of the Bible,
- Vision casting- to lead Lifehouse in toward our God-given Cause and to inspire as many people as possible to join us in fulfilling this cause,
- Leadership development- to raise up new leaders as pastors, ministry leaders, and influencers; also, to develop new church planter.
So, here's what we need:
- pastor or leader of pastoral care- counseling, pre-marriage counseling, visitation, hospital visits, personal mentoring, etc.
- administrative assistant/ book-keeper.
2 comments:
I too believe that pastors have too much on their plates, either of their own accord or because the church expects none the less from them. Pastors are not the church's employee as some may think, but rather the visionary from God who is to lead the members of the church to fulfill God's calling in their own lives.
Where has the church gone wrong in its understanding of the pastors role? It has looked to take the pressure off itself in fulfilling God's call to go into the world, to take care of the widow and the orphan, to disciple the spiritually immature, by placing it upon the shoulders of the one they pay.
Where has the pastor gone wrong in his understanding of his role? It has come when he failed to stand for what is right in God's word, or more extreme, when he, in his pride, failed to believe that others can do the tasks at hand.
I once shared with a former pastor exactly what Pastor Patrick has shared about focusing his talents on two-to-three ministries of passion. This pastor told me that I should not pursue what I'm passionate about because God's call does not mean you will always be doing things you like to do. And I can see the logic in that statement. But, I also tend to disagree with him. My mind says that if I have no passion for what I am doing, I will struggle to do the job well and effectively (most likely because I won't give my best effort due to lack of energy).
So I agree with you Pastor. Those pieces you want to give away, do. There's someone else out there that God is calling to do just those things because it's in their DNA.
Amazing!!
I've been praying for God to fill these voids in the life of our church, less than a week after posting, both of these roles are filled. Wow! You'll be meeting our new pastors of pastoral care soon. And we just brought on a PT administrative assistant- perfect fit for the role.
God is faithful. I never doubted, but it's cool when it happens so quickly.
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