I had a great conversation with Curtis the other day and it lead me to this post today. A while back we made a pretty big transition of starting a college ministry called The Shift and “shifting” Curtis from our Varsity pastor to The Shift pastor. The goal of Shift is to reach those students who are graduates through 20something, helping them make the shift from home to adulthood. They have been meeting for a few weeks now. Last week they had 19 and Curtis is expecting more this Friday. His question to me after Lead Team meeting was “Do you have any advice for me if we grow really fast?” Curtis is a volunteer pastor, meaning he works full time for the USAF and pastors a ministry here at Element Church voluntarily. His question is a great one. I didn’t have a definitive answer until the following day and I feel it’s actually some things that I need to remember as well. I had him come to my office the next day and this is what I felt God was leading me to tell him (and ultimately me and any leader):
Don’t be afraid to say…
#1 “I need help”: So often in ministry I think we get the attitude that “I’ll just work harder, give more, put in more time and everything will be ok”. When in reality, I think we’d be better off sometimes just saying “I need help!” Help has become a bad four letter word to pastors. ESPECIALLY men! We see it as a sign of weakness if I can’t get done what needs to be done. MEN/PASTORS sometimes WE NEED HELP! Don’t be afraid to ask for it. Church members, DON’T tell your pastors “Isn’t that what you get paid to do!” Sure there are some lazy pastors who may ask for help cause they don’t WANT to do it, but in most cases, pastors I know are giving WAY more than what they are paid to do. Sometimes they can’t do it all and might need some help. Don’t be afraid to ask for it guys!
#2 “You do it!”: “Hey pastor I have this great idea, I think you should…” “I think our church should reach out to the…” “I think this ministry would really work…” “I wish we could do…” Most of the time when people say that, they are wanting the pastor to do it. I told Curtis, people will come to you with great ideas of what to do in The Shift, don’t be afraid to say “You do it!” When God reveals a need to me, He wants ME to do it NOT the church. When God reveals a need to you, He probably wants YOU to do it NOT the church. I said a few weeks ago in a sermon “When God reveals someone to you who is in need, it is not your responsibility to take it to the church first, but for you to do what you can to help them”. We need to learn to say “You do it!” Especially in the case of a volunteer pastor.
#3 “NO!”: Why is it so hard to say no? Our desire for people to like us? To avoid conflict? To please people? Sometimes we just need to say “NO!” It is tough, people will get mad, but we must. WE CAN’T BE ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE! “Hey I think we should do…” NO. Not always, but sometimes we need to say no. “But what if they leave?” Then they obviously aren’t committed to your vision. They are committed to their vision, and will go somewhere where they can put it on someone else. Too many pastors are controlled by vision stealers cause they won’t say “NO!”
#4 “I need a night off!”: Ministry is a tough gig, especially when doing it volunteer. I told Curtis, I would rather you cancel The Shift on a Friday night and your family is healthy, than have a HUGE ministry every week and your family suffers. We need to cheat the ministry before we cheat our families. I told him he has permission to say he needs a night off. He earned it and he deserves it. Ministry is a 24-7 job sometimes. It’s not necessarily a clock in and clock out thing. I think pastors need to learn to take time off, and churches need to learn to give it to them. Both parties are at fault too many times.
Learning these myself,
Jeff
