There is no doubt that the church is struggling. Many statisticians agree that roughly 85% of all churches are in plateau or declining. That means that only 15 out of every 100 churches are growing. Let's stop here. Growing does not mean swapping members! Growing means adding new believers to their membership. So why is the church as a whole dying? Why are so many churches struggling? I would like to submit that the answer to that question is that the churches that are dying also have a lack of vision.
I recently become the girls head volleyball coach at the school where I teach, (this should be another blog in itself). When I took over the reigns, the first thing I did was sit down and examine three very simple things:
- Where is our program right now?
- Where do we want to be in 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years?
- And, how are we going to get there?
Why the Coach?
The coach sets the vision for the team. The first thing that I did as the head coach was sit down with some of the older girls and ask them, where are we, where are we going, and how do they think we should get there? Why did I do this? Because being a leader does not always mean cramming decisions down everybody's throat. You need to know where the people are. They need to know that you care for them, and that you are going to lead them with everything that you have. They do not expect you to be perfect, but they do expect you to lead. Here is where I may lose some of you; The coach must set the vision for the team! The players do not set the vision, the players follow the leadership of the coach. I used much of the information that I got from my girls to set the vision, because they all told me that they needed help with things like conditioning. So part of my vision was that we were going to be physically ready to compete with all of the teams that we face.
Who is the coach of the Church?
Did you know that the word Pastor only occurs once in the New Testament (Ephesians 4:11)? When trying to understand the role of the pastor, we have to look at the word "shepherd". What does a shepherd do? A shepherd keeps, cares for, and protects the sheep in his flock. Now Jesus is referred to as the "Good Shepherd", (John Chapter 10). Jesus is the ultimate authority and leader of the church today. Pastors are the shepherds of the church, who are under the authority of the Good Shepherd. So the pastor is the leader and guide of the church, under the leadership of Jesus Christ.
Why not the players?
It would be absolutely foolish for me if I were to allow the players to make all of the decisions for the team. To my knowledge no coach has ever succeeded while allowing the players to run the team. Why? Because players are NOT coaches. Some train and become coaches, but they are not coaches while on the team. The coach has to see the team as a whole, and then directs accordingly. Would a shepherd that was good at his job, allow the sheep to do what they wanted all of the time? Would he allow them to run free, without guidelines? Would he allow the sheep to come together and to decide what is best for the flock? Do the sheep decide where the flock should go and what route to take? The shepherd would be crazy to allow the sheep to determine the rules. The coach would be crazy to allow the players to run the team. Why then would it be any different for the pastor? I am hear to say that it is not. Does that mean that the pastor is the only one that makes decisions? No. Does it mean that the pastor is the sole authority in the church? No. Proverbs 15:22 tells us that "plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed", so the pastor needs to have wise counsel to help him make the best decisions, but ultimately the pastor must make the decisions needed to run the church.
Vision:
Churches that are struggling typically do not have a vision set forth by the leadership of the church. The pastor needs to share with the church where they are, where they are going, and how they are going to get there. It is very simple. I see so often now, pastors who are clueless about what their vision is. I did some work for my father in law a few years back where I traveled to Alaska and interviewed pastors about their churches and the needs of their churches. One of the questions I asked the pastors was "What is the vision for your church in the next 5 years?" I interviewed 14 pastors. All but three looked at me like I was speaking another language. Some said, "hmm
You see a vision holds the pastor accountable. It is a test to see if what they are doing is working or not. If your vision is to increase your membership by 20% in the next year through specific evangelism in your community, then you have a way to judge the effectiveness of the vision. But how do you judge the effectiveness of "the ends of the earth"?
What am I saying?
I am saying that some pastors need to lead, not just preach. Pastors need to give their church a vision, and how they are going to reach that vision. Then if the vision fails to happen you readjust the strategy. I am saying that much like the coach of a sports team, the pastor is the leader, he sets the vision and the goals, that is of course why the church calls him to be there and to lead.
We need to continue to lift our pastors up in prayer. The job that they face day in and day out requires a lot of them and their family. Pray for your pastor today, that he will be the leader that God has called him to be.
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