There’s a meme in which two people are digging in separate holes. The first digger finds a massive gold nugget and walks off triumphantly (sometimes it’s a diamond). The second digger quits in frustration, but we can see that if he’d gone just a little farther he would have uncovered the mother lode.
I get what the cartoonist is going for, but that’s not how life usually happens. If you’re digging for years and not finding anything … well … some holes are empty and need to be abandoned.
The Nuggets Add Up
A more accurate way of depicting real life might be something like this:
Two people are digging and finding ocassional pieces of gold, when one finds a massive gold nugget. Seeing that success, others start digging, but they don’t have the same sucess, so they quit in frustration. Another digger ignores the chase for the big payoff, staying content with small, consistent gains. Eventually he finds more than enough gold.
This is a parable about church turnarounds. Some new pastors come into a church looking for a big payoff, but almost all of them leave in frustration when it’s not big enough, fast enough. The better approach is to stay faithful in the long term, knowing that the end result, while hard, will be more rewarding.
Church turnarounds are seldom spectacular.
It Took How Many Years To Get This Far?
When we normalize exceptional turnaround stories, we can unintentionally belittle and discourage those making consistent, steady progress. Most pastors will be at a church for 3, 4, 5 years or longer with few visible results to show for it, even though a healthy turnaround is actually happening.
That’s my story. More than 30 years ago I was called to help revive a church after a decade of numerical, emotional, spiritual, and missional decline.
There were about 30 very discouraged people when I arrived and, while I wasn’t expecting to go “from 30 to 3,000 in three years!” I did expect a lot more than we got, especially since the church building is on a busy street in a very populated area. Onward and upward, right?
If you had told me the church would still be under 100 after ten years of pastoring, I probably would not have taken the assignment.
And if you’d told me we’d be under 200 after 25 years of pastoring (when we made a healthy transition to a new lead pastor) I’d have been out the door so fast there’d be a Roadrunner cartoon smoke-trail behind me.
But that’s how it happened. And I’m profoundly grateful it did.
Fast Is Not Typical
We like to feature fast, big turnarounds. Especially when we’re selling a seminar on how to do it.
Fast turnarounds are great, but they’re not typical. If my longer, slower pace resonates with your experience, you’re not broken, you’re normal.
Keep at it.
Church turnarounds are more about the direction you’re heading than the speed you’re going.
Since slow and steady is normal, those who are doing it consistently should be recognized, resourced, encouraged, normalized, and celebrated.
The Rewards Of Longevity
It can be tempting to see the apparent sudden success of others and want to make a jump. And sometimes God does call us to move elsewhere. But if we’re leaving out of frustration over a slower-than-expected pace, or envy of someone else’s success, it’s not worth it.
If you’re heading in the right direction, even slowly, keep at it until you get a clear call to go elsewhere. The relational, emotional, and spiritual gold you collect along the way really does add up.
When we’re making progress, no matter how slowly, the rewards of longevity far outweigh the thrill of the big haul.
(Photo by scott1346 | Flickr)
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