Having multiple teachers/preachers…

1. Keeps your church from being dependent on one personality. How many established churches do you know that would all but close up shop if their pastor, God forbid, left the planet simply because they focused everything around that one individual? That’s anything but helpful…or even healthy. Having different people in the pulpit fights against personality-driven churches because you’re exposing the church to multiple personalities. Thus the church would have the best chance of moving positively forward facing even the harshest of realities. Think of investing in teaching teams as congregational life insurance. If you die, your church wont.
2. Allows your church to appreciate (and learn) from different styles. There are teachers who are more pastoral than others, some more prophetic; some are “preachers” while others are seen as classic “teachers” and instead of your congregation getting used to (and by default, appreciating) only one of them, team teaching helps them appreciate the differences God uses in other teachers to grow them spiritually. If you have a knife, you need a spoon, a fork, etc. This also argues for adding teachers who are different than the senior/lead pastor. Duplicate the task, not the style.  (For the record: For those who understand the prophet, priest and king personality/style categories, we have a teacher for each at CCCC)
3. Gives the lead pastor time to actually…lead. It’s amazing how much I get accomplished in the weeks I don’t have to preach. Preaching prep takes time by necessity. Freeing that time up with someone else dedicated to preaching will absolutely make a huge dent in your capacity to lead well. No question! Want to be a better leader? Develop at least one more teacher to rotate with on Sunday and see if it doesn’t make a massively beneficial change in your leading of the church. You’ve simply got to decide if preaching by yourself to the church is more valuable than your leading of the church. Trust me, you will find yourself preaching less  and leading more – and liking it (that is, if you’re a leader)!
4. Extends the endurance factor. Every preacher has a “magic number” of weeks he can preach until he’s good for nothing and needs a rest. Having a stable of pastor-teachers extends that number exponentially. I used to be running on fumes about 8-10 weeks straight of teaching. I have yet to find that number since rotating on a roughly 50-50 basis (give or take a few weeks with other teachers) on Sundays. It seems like my batteries don’t drain as much, thus they need less time to recharge. I’m able to give my sermon prep  more energy and creativity than when I preached weekly. Not only has it positive for my sermons but on my family. I find myself having to work less to stay engaged as a husband and father simply because I don’t feel the pull of developing a weekly message.

Now, let me say that there is nothing wrong with “one pulpit, one pastor” churches. My assumption is that  is how most churches have operated for centuries, if not millennia. But that doesn’t mean it has to be that way. Indeed, I wanted to give just a handful of reasons why having multiple teachers is something worth considering. Believe me, there are a lot more reasons out there. Think about it for you and the health of the church you lead.

I’ve fired up some of you already, haven’t I? Some of my friends are deleting my Twitter and Facebook connections as you read this.  Never fear, I’ll give you the context of that statement shortly.

Know from the beginning, I’m not anti-Calvinistic. The first thing I said to the senior pastor of the church I currently serve when asked to describe myself theologically was, “I’m a Calvinist.” In addition to our church’s essential beliefs, we suggest Wayne Grudem’s Calvinistic-friendly Systematic Theology to those who desire a better understanding of our general theological disposition (Our small group leaders must read Grudem’s Christian Beliefs). This spring I will begin my doctoral studies at Covenant Seminary, a Calvinistic seminary. I could go on and on about how given I am to the Calvinist understanding of biblical interpretation (e.g., I sleep with John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion beneath my pillow – okay, just kidding), but I think you get the point.

I like Calvinism but, from my pastoral perspective, it’s not helpful as a term for use in your church. So much so, that I don’t refer to myself as a Calvinist, I don’t talk about Calvinism, indeed, when someone in our church wants to engage me in a discussion about Calvinism, I usually decline. Yet I bet if you asked those in our church what we thought and taught about God’s sovereignty in salvation and all that goes with it (e.g., election, perseverance of the saints, total depravity), you would likely get a textbook Calvinistic answer. But if you said, “Oh, you guys are Calvinists,” most would quizzically look at you and unequivocally respond, “Huh?”

I hope to keep it that way.

Let me share with you a few reasons why I don’t think the term “Calvinism” is helpful in pastoral ministry.

• The term is polarizing for many. Let’s face it, scores of people in your church have emotional baggage with the word not necessarily because of the truths espoused by Calvinism but because at some point in the past they got into a fight with some over-excited, under-educated kid who stumbled upon the Five Points of Calvinism and wants to bludgeon everyone in the theological octagon with their knowledge because they’ve finally arrived at the truth. Sadly, more often than not, what many of them believe (and promote) is a poor caricature of Calvinism which both offends and turns off everyone (including Calvinists). Unfortunately, that caricature is all people will remember when they hear you use the term “Calvinism.” Thus they’ll say silly things like, “Calvinism will kill a church’s heart for evangelism. No person who believed in election ever went after lost people.” Consequently,  you’ll find yourself stuck in the mire of baseless arguments and mind-numbing discussions that will slow down and hamper your mission.

• Similar to the last point, the term Calvinism excites people in my church who I don’t want excited. Dr. Michael Horton, a Calvinist theologian, describes as entering the “cage phase” those who’ve recently become Calvinists and are so enthused by their new understanding that they not only can’t stop talking about it (24/7). Like fundamentalists handing out Chick tracks at Willow Creek, they unyieldingly force themselves upon others in order to “convert them to the truth.” (The truth being their brand of Calvinism). It amazes me the boldness “cage-phase’rs” possess in talking with other Christians about Calvinism but then amazingly transform into shrinking violets when it comes to talking with non-Christians about Christ. That’s not something I want to promote on either front.

• Finally (and ultimately) I’d rather my people come to an understanding of the doctrines of grace from an exposure to Scripture than an exposure to a system. I will have failed if they say, “I believe in election because I’m a Calvinist,” when they should proclaim, “I believe in election because I believe the Bible.” I’m not anti-systems; on the contrary, everyone believes systemically whether we realize it or not. However, I want people to look to God’s Word as the final arbiter of whether something is true or false. If at any point a system doesn’t line up with Scripture then, at least at that point, we reject that system’s understanding. This isn’t a good practice for only Calvinism, but Arminianism, Dispensationalism, and likely every other “-ism” you might hold.

To be fair, I do think it can be helpful to articulate your distinctive beliefs. I often refer to my theology as having a “Reformed” perspective. Personally, I think that term is better received pastorally than the oft-misunderstood and oft-maligned “Calvinism” – it’s kind of like crossing the ocean in a luxury liner than a raft, it gets me where I need to go with a lot less risk.

So, I would sincerely ask any pastor, What do you get by using the term Calvinism with your people? I’m sure there are good reasons. I just can’t think of any.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment to play in the tulip field with my family.

However, as with most things, there are potential pitfalls associated with tribes. Most attempt to make your leadership qualities grow dormant. For example, take the tribal phenomena of groupthink.

Tribes tend to have a small number of high-powered, hyper-influential leaders who not only frame the conversation for the rest but, because of their position and/or intelligence, are seen as the leading-edge thinkers whose thoughts everyone must at least know, if not replicate. Now, this isn’t a bad thing in itself. I believe God uses “thought-leaders” to bless his church. I know that’s been the case for me.

But in some cases, the thinking of a few is good enough for the rest of the group. Thus a tribe is vulnerable to groupthink where innovation gets replaced by regurgitation. You can tell this is happening when all of the individuals in a tribe become monochromatic with how they look, talk, lead, etc. Unfortunately, this type of herd mentality may quickly become a dominant part of the tribe’s culture, quickly suffocating even the best and brightest new ideas of younger leaders.

Groupthink also produces blind spots. Tribes usually have a “Chief” (or “Chiefs”) and you can guarantee that individual, if he’s human, has a personal brokenness about him which deeply impacts both his personal and professional life. This shouldn’t surprise us. All of us have this. But if you’re the chief, often your sensitivities and reactions inform and influence the tribe’s sensitivities and reactions. Is that bad? Not necessarily. But it can be when there is a dogmatism behind those emphases which invalidates legitimate differences seen in other tribes. In other words, one group may see their pendulum on an issue as being in the middle when, in reality, it’s just swung to the other side because of the  chief’s reaction to address  (rightfully so) that specific brokenness. The truth may be that there is more room biblically over a specific issue, but the tribe has become blind to it.

Beware, groupthink makes an idol out of a tribe. It’s foregoing the blessings of a tribe for the curse of tribalism – a curse that will degenerate your leadership.

True leadership rises above the suffocating smog of groupthink by listening well to the tribe and yet thinking for themselves. That often means coming to different non-essential decisions than the tribe…and being perfectly okay with it. It means you’re comfortable with graciously asking questions that many in the tribe think they’ve already answered. It means that, as a leader, you’ve given yourself permission to get smarter.

So, join a tribe. Find a group of like-hearted, like-minded individuals to accomplish more together than you could alone. Leverage the power of a tribe, but always be aware of the potential pitfall of groupthink. Don’t abdicate your leadership to it. Lead…and lead well.

For a couple of hours every Thursday morning over the last eight months, fifteen or so of our staff and lay leaders have gathered to study Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology together. It’s really a glorified book club where we discuss our reading assignments each week (okay, there’s a little teaching here and there. I’m sorry, but I can’t help myself). This Thursday is our last meeting and it’s caused me to reflect on our team’s time together.

It has long been a conviction of mine that training in systematic theology shouldn’t be only reserved for those who preach in pulpits or have seminary degrees, but any and all who claim the name of Christ. With that said, we surely should help those who lead our major ministries (e.g., children, students, small groups, etc.) establish a solid foundation doctrinally. I believe systematic theology should be a rudimentary part of that training. Most of us wouldn’t go to a doctor who hasn’t studied gross anatomy or other fundamental medical courses, yet often churches put people in theologically-sensitive leadership who have little to no theological training. It doesn’t have to be this way. Indeed, it shouldn’t be. Unfortunately, actually seeing this happen in a local church takes work.

For my church, we needed to start with our staff and some select lay leaders. So, we took those who had completed our inaugural leadership development process (meeting monthly for nine months) and invited them to what would become the next step in our leadership development process – systematic theology (meeting weekly for eight months). Over that time we laughed, cried, prayed, wondered, shared stories, and grew in our love for Christ and his work of the gospel. I’m not much of an early-bird, but I truly looked forward to our 7-9AM meetings each Thursday, expecting God to work in our hearts and minds in ways that would glorify him, refine us and build up the church. I believe he did exactly that!

So, this is a post thanking our “Foon Sped” group (sorry, inside joke) of 2009-2010. From the first day to the last, it has been a blessing and pleasure to have led these men and women. Hopefully our call to help others grow theologically won’t end. Not only will we have systematic theology available for those completing Year 1 of our leadership development process in 2010, but we challenged those finishing systematic theology to begin their own study groups within their respective ministries because, ultimately, we want every follower of Jesus at our church to have an opportunity to learn “Systematic.”

• How impacting would it be if every one of your staff was trained in systematic theology?
• What kind of confidence would it instill in them?
• What would it communicate about your care for their development both personally and ministerially?

Ours took eight months but, I can tell you, it could have taken eighteen and it would still be worth it. Here’s our reading schedule (a simple Word document you can edit). Give it a try with your staff, ministry or small group and see what God does through it!

Honestly, it’s easier to pick out one thing you like about the church’s mission, focus on it at the exclusion of others and recruit like-minded individuals to the cause. That’s the luxury…and weakness of the parachurch ministry…and why it is never the substitute for the local church.

Unfortunately, the church can forget this as well. It happens when a pastor believes his church is called by God to pick one aspect of the mission (usually what the pastor is most passionate about) over and above other aspects, and revolve his church around it. For example, I heard a pastor tell me one time, “We are a missions church. We aren’t big on discipleship. If you want that you need to go to another church.” The only problem with that is the pastor doesn’t get to choose what the church should and shouldn’t do. The reason is that it’s not his church. It’s Jesus’ church. And being so, Christ gets to dictate what the church should be about. And he did.  Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

What is the church to do? Make disciples. What does that mean? It means implicitly that the church should be a missions church, a evangelism church, a worship church, a small groups church and everything else which flows from the mission of making disciples.  I know that every church will be better in some of these areas than others, but having strengths and weaknesses is different than neglect. That’s what parachurch ministries do. They unapologetically focus on one area to the neglect of others, and consequently, it’s why they don’t consider themselves a church. The local church doesn’t have that option.

So if you find yourself proud of the things you’ve accomplished in your church, ask yourself, Are we doing everything Christ’s mission demands of us? Are we doing whatever it takes to make disciples? Do we stress the need for corporate worship, the call to share the gospel, the role of loving our community, the grace of getting involved in a small group of believers and a whole host of other practices which revolve around leading people to becoming fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ? If you feel no need to do so and are happy letting the church exclusively ride your own personal hobby horse passions, that’s okay, you’re a ministry, just not a church.

Don’t let your church become a parachurch. Let it be what Jesus called it to be.

Initially this might appear to be an arrogant assumption. It is true, I cannot see into the heart. I can’t make guarantees for who has or hasn’t genuinely received Christ as God and King. But I am reminded of Christ’s sobering words in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…” There will be those who think themselves converted by God in Christ only to find out in the end that they were alienated from God and his grace. Dare I say I encounter some of those individuals every week at my church – the ones who see Jesus as another accoutrement to their life, not wanting him but only the gift he gives, ready to abandon him at any moment of discomfort or inconvenience. In the West, it’s hard to pastor churches full of rich young rulers (cf., Lk. 18:18-23).

I’m further reminded of this sad reality when I hear parishioners talk about their confidence in morality as justification for their right standing with God, or how he loves them less when they drop the ball spiritually, or why their religious activity is an indication of their favor with him– and all this while holding big, thick Bibles faded and tattered not from neglect but consistent use. All of it grows my conviction that, especially in the South (i.e., Bible Belt), part of my calling is to convert the converted. What does this mean for a pastor?

Chiefly, I believe it means he should be tireless in the proclamation of the gospel from the pulpit. Like many of my Reformed forebears, I am persuaded that the gospel isn’t just a door we walk through but the room where we live. In other words, Christ crucified doesn’t only show me where eternal life begins but from where (and whom) it continues to flow. Thus, the gospel is for both the unbeliever and believer and should proceed from the pulpit with great regularity. However, I sense neglect from some preachers of gospel-oriented preaching because it may feel remedial for the older believers in the congregation. They’ve heard this before and need something different, something more. My earlier comments notwithstanding, let me encourage you to keep faithfully and consistently reminding your congregants of the gospel from the pulpit if only for the fact that the continual ringing of the grace bell will, over time, be a clarion call finally heard by many of those who already think they’ve received the gospel…but haven’t.

In a world given to a consumer, pseudo-faith called Christianity, Inc., my dear pastor, make it your mission to convert the converted.

Theology, ministry and the church are, needless to say, good things in my life. I would seek to learn about them whether I worked at a church or not. Indeed, everything I do in ministry isn’t because I’m paid for it as much as the fact it is who I am…it is what fuels my fire.  In addition to that, I want to live a life that maximizes my redemptive potential. In fact, it’s so important that this is the case for me, that every so often I ask myself if I’m really maxing out my talents and gifts for God. Often it puts me in short seasons of deep and honest reflection. The latest season brought me face-to-face with something I thought I would’ve done a long time ago but didn’t because I never felt it was the right time.

Until now.

What is it? Getting a doctorate. Yes, I’m planning on going back to seminary. Something about my redemptive potential, my love for my church and things I can’t yet put a finger on has me feeling that this is the right time for pursuing a degree. It’s funny. I’m generally a thinker, but when it has come to the bigger decisions of life, it has to feel right to me. I’d like to think that feeling is the culmination of many things, not the least of which is the Holy Spirit’s movement in my heart and life. Running after a doctorate finally feels right to me. So I’m going back to school.

My Senior Pastor, who is more partner than boss and also has a doctorate, encouraged me to think about getting a Ph.D., saying it would better match my intellectual abilities and need for challenge. His sincere counsel blessed and flattered me. But I’m not going to take him up on it. I love the local church (specifically my local church) too much to leave it for an extended amount of time (can you say “years”) on a seminary campus. Besides, I want a doctorate that best parallels my working and serving the local church, which in my opinion is a Doctor of Ministry. Therefore, this spring I will hopefully begin my doctoral studies.

So today I’ve submitted an application to the seminary, written a personal essay for the admissions office and distributed referrals to friends (even my wife has to write a piece on why she’s okay with me pursuing a degree). It’s been somewhat different for me, being that I haven’t done anything officially academic for almost 15 years. But that’s okay. Now’s the time. It’s back to school. Again.

What about you?

Is there anything God is calling you to pursue? Or do you find yourself tempted to simply run in place, walled in by that which is too comfortable, too relaxed, too easy? Are there stories you keep telling yourself to justify living a life that’s less than you know it needs to be? What does “school” look like for you? What do you need to do to maximize your redemptive potential? You only get one life to live, so ask God to give you the courage to do it!

]]> http://blog.yanceyarrington.com/2009/12/04/back-to-school-again/feed/ 9 http://blog.yanceyarrington.com/2009/09/27/the-pastor-centered-church/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-pastor-centered-church http://blog.yanceyarrington.com/2009/09/27/the-pastor-centered-church/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:10:17 +0000 Yancey Arrington http://blog.yanceyarrington.com/?p=915 I like to frequent church websites. It’s a good way for me to see how congregations other than mine do the things they do (services, membership, preaching, etc.).  I find it to be very informative and helpful as I discover many churches who do things much better than mine. But every once in a while, I run into sites which make me feel a little uncomfortable for a very specific reason – the gratuitous parading and promoting of the senior pastor.

Maybe you’ve seen those sites. The pastor’s face is anchored everywhere – blog, sermon series, Facebook, Twitter, men’s retreat, even women’s retreat – ad infinitum, ad nauseum. In addition to his omnipresent image, how he’s portrayed also raises an eyebrow or two. This is pastor as celebrity - highlighted hair well-streaked and coiffed, a mouth full of veneers so perfectly aligned and incredibly radiant that his smile can be seen from 40,000 feet, and decked out in the latest and greatest offering from Urban Outfitters. In other words he looks just like the people he shepherds, right? Now before someone reminds me of my glass house address,  let me say that I’m not suggesting pastors who really love Jesus are those who look like they stepped right out of a time warp, caring nothing about their appearance. I’m also not saying that churches shouldn’t ever leverage the personality of their pastor. Consumers have always better related to a person than a product (e.g., Bill Cosby’s Jello, George Foreman’s grill, etc.). It may be very well that churches use this cultural inclination advantageously for the gospel. I simply wonder if the advantage is really about the gospel or just the pastor. Is this for Jesus or simply to fulfill his desire for fame? After a few minutes on these types of websites, one gets the feeling that the senior pastor is the most important part of the church. Like the sun to the the solar system, he is the person (or should I say persona) about whom everything in the church revolves.

This, I’m afraid, is the pastor-centered church.

The problem though is that the center of the church isn’t the pastor, it’s Jesus. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be. The apostle Paul summarized his message to the church in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 saying,

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The message, and center, of the church is “Jesus Christ and him crucified.” In other words, it’s the gospel. We don’t want to have pastor-centered churches. We want to have gospel-centered churches.

Now, let me shift gears here. I think in reading my over-generalized and  poorly parodied description of a pastor-centered church many readers who are lead pastors of blossoming new church plants have connected with what I’ve said and think, “Yup. Those kind of pastor-as-celebrity churches truly are pastor-centered congregations. My church isn’t like that at all.” Indeed, you may have felt led to plant a church because you wanted to offer something in direct contrast to those types of churches. Good! But can I add that yours can be a pastor-centered church too? And you don’t even have to buy veneers. In fact, you don’t have to do anything that fits the description I offered earlier. The reason is because there are other roads that lead to the pastor-centered church.

For example, take your leadership. Another way to have a pastor-centered church is to lead in such a way that you never really “pass the ball” of leadership to others. You make all the final calls, remind everyone the buck stops with you, and spend more time making decisions instead of developing decision-makers. You are a pastor-centered church when you spend more time working in the ministry than on the ministry. Now, it’s one thing to endure this type of pastor-centeredness when you are starting a church. Frankly, it’s likely necessary for more reasons than this post will allow. But if over time, you’re not willing to expand the circle of leadership responsibilities to include others (and yes, this includes preaching), then it doesn’t matter if you buy your clothes at Walmart and sport a $5 Pro-Cuts mullet, you lead a pastor-centered church. This goes for churches of 70 to 7,000. Think about it, if Pastor [fill in the blank] suddenly dies, will his church “die” with him? Will people leave in droves to saddle up with the next latest and greatest pastor? If so, maybe the reason is due to the fact that the church built its ministry around the wrong person?

So take heed when you see a church website that looks more like the pastor’s personal brochure, you may be doing the same thing by the way you lead.

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
- 1 Corinthians 3:5-7

What kind of church do you lead? What kind of church do you attend? Is it gospel-centered or pastor-centered?