Karl Vaters, Author at KarlVaters.com

The 6 Types Of Small Church Pastors (Descriptions & Cautions)

February 23, 2015 / 6 minutes of reading

There are so many types of Small Churches in the world! The variety is staggering.

Correspondingly, there are a great variety of Small Church pastors, too. But as I talk with more of them (us), I’ve found that there are some patterns that keep repeating themselves.

Specifically, I’ve discovered that Small Church pastors tend to fall into one of six categories. Or some hybrid of two or more.

If you’re a Small Church pastor who doesn’t fit into any of these categories, that’s fine. Maybe there’s a seventh or eighth one I haven’t run across yet.

But I offer these six to you for three reasons:

First, to let you know you’re not alone. There are others who feel what you feel and know the challenges you struggle with.

Second, as a way of supporting each other. Once we know there are others like us, we can reach out and help each other.

Third, each type comes with areas of caution to be aware of. I offer those cautions today as well.

So here they are. You might be a Small Church pastor…

The 6 Types Of Small Church Pastors (Descriptions & Cautions) Read More »

Church Is Not Efficient – And 5 Other Other Messy Truths

February 20, 2015 / 7 minutes of reading

As a pastor, I was taught never to wrestle with difficult truths in front of the congregation. Give them simple three-point, alliterated answers to life’s problems.

That may have been the right thing to do years ago. Perhaps we really did live in a simpler era when answers were easier, God made sense and the church always did things well.

But not any more.

Today, people don’t trust answers that come too easily. At least not when we’re dealing with the big questions of life.

That has led some people to give up on the idea that we can find truth at all.

Not me. More than ever, I’m committed to the reality that there is a God. He does exist. That Jesus is the only way to heaven. And that the bible really does mean what it says.

But.

The details are messier than we’d often like to admit. So here are a few of those messy details that I’ve come to be OK with in recent years. I’m even OK with acknowledging them to my church, from the pulpit.

Just don’t stop until you get to the end of the story. The road may not be as smooth as it once was, but the destination is more than worth the trip.

Church Is Not Efficient – And 5 Other Other Messy Truths Read More »

Want to Build a Great Church? Stop Burying the Lead

February 18, 2015 / 3 minutes of reading

No church can do everything. Not if we want to do any of it well.

But every church can do something really well. Maybe a couple things. That’s what makes a church great. Knowing what we’re called to do and doing it really well.

Especially in a Small Church.

But too many churches waste unnecessary time and energy trying to copy other great churches instead of doing what they’re called to do. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it’s no way to build a great church.

So how do we build a great church? Find out what you’re called to do, then do it really well.

And make sure that the thing you do well isn’t buried beneath things you don’t do as well. In publishing, that’s called burying the lead.

Churches bury the lead all the time. We hide our best stuff beneath layers of things we don’t do well at all.

Why? Because we have a template in our head of what a church is supposed to look and act like. But, more often than not, that template is based on churches we look up to, or churches we were raised in, instead of what God is calling our church to be and do.

We all need to figure out what our church is supposed to be about, then feature what we do well.

Want to Build a Great Church? Stop Burying the Lead Read More »

5 Cautions About Emphasizing Leadership Over Followership

February 16, 2015 / 4 minutes of reading

Leadership matters. A lot.

But sometimes I wonder if we’ve elevated the value of church leadership over a much more important biblical trait – followership. Also known as discipleship.

Before any of us are leaders, we’re all supposed to be followers. Followers of Jesus. Together.

At best, any leadership authority we have in the church is reflected and borrowed leadership from Jesus himself.

Paul encouraged the Corinthians to “follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” The very strong implication of that statement is that if the leader stops following Jesus, we should stop following that leader.

That’s why church leaders need to be very careful to be followers of Jesus first. In fact, our followership should be more on display than our leadership.

Another phrase for this is “servant leadership.” And the order of those words matters. Being a servant always comes first.

When we forget this, bad things can happen. I don’t need to go over the list of Christian leaders that have fallen. But it’s hard to think of any Christian servants that have fallen.

If you’re in church leadership – a high, noble and important calling – here are five cautions we should all be aware of:

5 Cautions About Emphasizing Leadership Over Followership Read More »

The Immeasurable Influence of Encouraging Leadership

February 13, 2015 / 4 minutes of reading

As a leader, I’ve always believed that one of my primary roles is it try to say “yes” to people’s ideas. This week, I heard a story that reinforces that principle in a very powerful way. For all of us.

As a boy, Mitchell loved to draw. When he started first grade, he walked up to his teacher and told her “If you’d like any drawings or artwork done for the classroom, I’m your man.”

Upon hearing this bold proclamation, the teacher went to her desk, pulled out a box of multi-colored chalk, removed one piece and drew a square in the corner of the chalkboard at just the right height for little Mitchell.

She then leaned down to him, met him face-to-face and told him. “I would like that. Whenever you’ve finished with all the assigned work, you may draw whatever you would like in that square.”

Mitchell was in heaven. He worked hard at his studies every day, then drew in that square. Getting better every day, he completed hundreds of pieces of chalk art by the end of the school year.

The next year, he went into second grade. Feeling confident, he walked up to his new teacher and told her “If you’d like any drawings or artwork done for the classroom, I’m your man.”

The teacher looked down at Mitchell, placed her hands on her hips and scowled, “Get back to your seat!”

Thankfully, that second grade teacher didn’t stop Mitchell from drawing. The inspiration he had received from his first grade teacher had buoyed his spirits enough to overcome the negativity from his second grade teacher.

Mitchell Tolle went on to become a great American artist.

The Immeasurable Influence of Encouraging Leadership Read More »

How to Drop Your Church’s Secret Menu and Make Your Guests Feel Welcome

February 11, 2015 / 3 minutes of reading

Every church has a secret menu. Things we say and do that our regulars take for granted, but can be confusing and frustrating to newcomers. Here’s an example of how frustrating a secret menu can be.

I was at a Starbucks this week, when the man in front of me ordered short latte. The employee responded “a tall latte”. Then they went back-and-forth with these exact words.

Short
Tall
Short
Tall
Short
Tall

I leaned in and told the man “tall is the shortest one they have”. He thanked me. The Starbucks employee looked perturbed.

I posted this on Facebook and got quick responses from friends about how funny and frustrating that sounded. Then Jonny Craig, from 200Churches.com commented, “As a former Starbucks employee, I am appalled! Short is, in fact, a size option! (it’s 8 oz).”

It seems Starbucks has a secret menu. So secret that this employee didn’t even know about it. In addition to the short option (as seen in the above photo, supplied by Facebook friend Lou Covey), they also have a super-size called a Trenta.

How to Drop Your Church’s Secret Menu and Make Your Guests Feel Welcome Read More »

How to Stop People from Playing On Their Phones In Church

February 9, 2015 / 4 minutes of reading

“Pastor, does it bug you when you see people on their cell phones when you’re preaching? Does it make you wonder if they’re on Facebook or playing a game?”

A church member asked me that question last week.

My answer? No. It doesn’t bother me at all. Honestly.

As I told her, people on phones in church could be using their bible app, taking notes or tweeting my last point to their friends (I know that happens, I’ve seen the time-stamp).

Sure, some of them are playing Words With Friends when they get bored. Years ago, people doodled on the back of the bulletins when they got bored. They still do. Different technology, same problem.

Cell phones in church don’t bother me because I’ve discovered an ancient secret that keeps people from getting bored in church.

Do church better!

The answer to people being bored in church isn’t to get upset at them for being bored, it’s to give them a less boring church experience.

How to Stop People from Playing On Their Phones In Church Read More »

Are You a Slave to What’s Popular? Or to What Used to Be Popular?

February 6, 2015 / 4 minutes of reading

“People don’t want good teaching anymore, they just want what’s popular!”

That statement was made on a Facebook page for ministers recently. The conversation was about using the King James bible in church. Looking for a fight? That’ll get you one.

The pastor was insisting that the decline in the use of the KJV was a sign that the church has grown weak and shallow.

As soon as I read that line, my gut reaction (which I did not write in the comments) was “But the KJV was the most popular bible on earth for centuries! What does its popularity have to do with its value?”

Things become popular because people like them. Things used to be popular because people used to like them.

Sometimes when we complain about the way church is done today, we’re just longing for things that were popular when we were young. But, instead of admitting that, we try to convince ourselves and others that we’re sticking with the old ways because they’re better. And if the old ways were better, the new ways must be wrong.

So we blame “the church these days” for following the latest trends and putting popularity ahead of truth.

Certainly there are churches that bend their theology to suit the latest fad. But more often than not, churches are just adapting their methods to speak the Gospel in today’s language.

So what’s worse? Being a slave to what’s popular? Or being a slave to what used to be popular?

I say we stop doing both. And do what works.

Are You a Slave to What’s Popular? Or to What Used to Be Popular? Read More »

9 Essential Elements of a Healthy Small Church Experience

February 4, 2015 / 6 minutes of reading

When someone goes to a healthy Small Church for the first time, what should they expect?

That’s an easier question to answer for big churches, because they have a lot more in common with each other. Once any group – church or not – is serving 1,000 or more people at a time, certain systems have to be in place. So, while big churches each have their own personality, there is a level of quality control that we all expect to see. Age-appropriate Kid Ministries, high-end musicianship, professional-quality graphics and printed materials, etc. It’s like going to a brand-name restaurant when you’re travelling. There’s a comfort level in knowing what you’re going to get.

But the kinds of experience you’ll have in Small Churches vary widely. It’s more like visiting a new town and deciding to check out the local diner. You don’t know what you’re going to get, but you take the risk because you want local cuisine. And you’re hoping for an experience you can’t get anywhere else.

But, even in a Small Church, as varied as they are, first-time guests have the right to expect certain things that tell them the church is healthy. Like a local restaurant should observe standard requirements for cleanliness, service and food quality, Small Churches should have a baseline of quality that people can rely on.

In one of my most-read posts, 23 Non-Numerical Signs of a Healthy Church, I wrote about some of the ways we can tell if a church is healthy, even if we don’t have the numerical growth that many seem to believe is a requirement.

Here are a few things that I think are a baseline that every guest has a right to expect in any healthy Small Church. These are universal. The standards every church needs to observe if they want to create a great worship experience that people will want to come back for.

9 Essential Elements of a Healthy Small Church Experience Read More »

A Healthy Church Should Always Look Something Like This

February 2, 2015 / 2 minutes of reading

Last Sunday, Skylar and Gene chatted in the hallway between services at our church. I took this picture of them without them knowing it. It was Gene’s 90th birthday. Skylar is in her early teens.

Three-quarters of a century separates their ages. Gene has great-grandchildren older than Skylar.

On Monday through Saturday their lives could not look more different. But on Sunday mornings, that distance gets reduced to no wider than the space between their chairs.

Gene can’t always make it to church any more. And when he does, he can’t sit in in the folding chairs we set up in the main room. So, while Skylar and the rest of us sit, stand, clap and raise our hands in worship in the sanctuary, Gene sits quietly in an armchair in the lobby and listens.

When the service is over, the second part of church begins for Gene. He can’t get up and walk around as people chat, laugh and hang out in the lobby, so he sits quietly in his chair. But he’s seldom sitting alone. People like Skylar stop and chat with Gene, soaking in his quiet friendliness and wisdom.

A Healthy Church Should Always Look Something Like This Read More »