Discipleship

5 Cautions About Emphasizing Leadership Over Followership

/ 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:

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How to Stop People from Playing On Their Phones In Church

/ 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.

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A Simple 5-Step Discipleship Process for Any Small Church (That Won’t Wear Out the Pastor)

/ 6 minutes of reading

For many Small Churches, discipleship just becomes one more item on a pastor’s already full agenda. Few Small Church pastors are happy with the way discipleship is being done in their church – if it’s being done at all.

But it doesn’t need to be that way.

If you pastor a Small Church without a discipleship program, or with one that’s not working well, I have some good news. You don’t need an expensive, staff-heavy discipleship program to do great discipleship. And it doesn’t need to kill your already-over-busy schedule either.

After a few hit-and-miss attempts, our church has discovered a simple 5-step process that can work for any Small Church. And it looks suspiciously similar to what Jesus, Paul and many other early church leaders did.

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Discipleship Looks More Like Sacrifice Than Success

/ 4 minutes of reading

I’ve chosen to be a follower of Jesus. A disciple. From the moment I did that, I gave up ownership of my life.

My life is no longer mine. It’s his. So my goals don’t matter anymore. My potential is not enough. Not for me, my church, my family or my ministry.

I don’t want my best. I want God’s best. Because his best is so much better than my best.

Of course that’s what so many of these self-help gurus are claiming. That, whatever my dreams for my life are, God has 10 or 100 times more than that for me. (The really holy ones will use old-timey bible terms like 10-fold and 100-fold).

But the difference between my best and God’s best for me is not a matter of scale. It’s not that I’m asking for 100 and God wants me to ask for 1,000 or 10,000. Getting more of what I want is not God’s best, it’s just more of my best.

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Transition Without Relocation: 8 Ways to Stay Fresh In a Long-Term Pastorate

/ 7 minutes of reading

Behind every great church, large or small, is at least one pastor who has been there long enough to outlast the bad times and build on the good times.

It is the most common thread for great churches. Pastors who stick around.

But pastoral longevity has its dark side too. The tendency to become stale.

Every time I talk about the value of long-term pastorates, as I did in last week’s post, Small Church Ministry: A Stepping Stone Or a Place to Stand?, people remind me of horror stories about churches that withered into ineffectiveness because a pastor stayed too long.

That’s a reality which can’t be ignored, so today’s post is about that dark side – and how to overcome it.

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Some Advantages and Challenges of Building Your Own Small Church Leadership Team

/ 3 minutes of reading

I am an unapologetic fan of pastors and churches finding, training and building leadership teams from within our churches, instead of hiring them from the outside. Yes, there are exceptions to that, especially in larger churches, when there may be a need for ministers with some very specific skillsets. But in a Small Church, building

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7 Steps to Start Becoming a Church People Want to Commit To

/ 7 minutes of reading

People are not less committed than they used to be. They just commit differently. But too many churches haven’t caught up to that reality. So how do we get people to commit to the church we pastor? Especially when our church is small and struggling?

I don’t have all the answers, not by a long shot. But I’ve learned a handful of principles over three decades of ministry that have helped our church become a place people are excited to be committed to.

These steps won’t cost you any extra money and very little extra time – the extra time because of the learning curve. It’s not about adding to your already limited schedule and overtaxed budget. It’s not about doing things bigger. It’s about focusing on doing church better. Working smarter, not harder.

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People Aren’t As Loyal to Their Church Anymore – Good For Them

/ 5 minutes of reading

The so-called “good old days” when a person committed to a church, then stuck with it no matter what, have come to an end. Many churches just don’t know it yet. Maybe that’s why I keep hearing ministers harping on the same old complaints. “My church can’t get good volunteers any more!” “People aren’t as faithful as they used to be.” And, my personal [ahem] favorite, “What’s wrong with this generation? You can’t count on them for anything.”

If those complaints sound familiar (as in, you’ve heard them come from your own mouth) please take this in the way I’m giving it – with all the love in my heart. Stop whining about people’s lack of commitment to your church and give them something worth committing to!

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