A Leadership Problem

One of the biggest problems in the established church today is that so few really understand leadership. Even our best supporters tend to think our primary job as pastors is to keep the church members happy. They even report to us, “Pastor nobody is saying anything bad right now.  Way to go!” Or “Pastor, so and so didn’t like what you said about this or that,” and it’s like a tally mark in the column where enough tally marks means it is time to find a new job. And yet we are called to lead like Jesus, who constantly whittled down the crowd with harsh statements of truth designed to drive off mediocre followers. 

Jesus was never about keeping people. He was about finding people. Me too.

This really is a big problem. There is an assumption that upsetting people in the church with what we say or do is a very bad thing. This is a double standard. “Pastor, lead on and we’re with you, as long as most people keep liking everything you do and say.” But leadership is all-but precluded in the requirement to keep people happy, especially since the modern church is so far off from what Jesus envisioned. Still, everyone seems to know that the pastor has obviously messed up if the church is upset with him, right? But think about what this means. Think about what this means for our sermons. Think about what this means for our decision making. 

The people of any given church, presumably, are in that church because they already like the way things are and I’ve noticed most of them are fairly happy with themselves, as a general rule, so what happens when the pastor wants to change things or, heaven forbid, change them? I’ll tell you what happens. Those same people assume you must not be very fond of your job. 

Why on earth, preacher, would you be so stupid as to say and do things that are not particular pleasing to your parishioners? Don’t you understand that you are constantly on trial and that others are waiting to take your place? Don’t you know that everyone is always trying to decide whether they like you as their pastor or might like someone else better? Isn’t there some way to grow the church and keep everyone happy while actually making a difference for the Kingdom of God?

And so we do not lead. We do not follow Christ. And usually those who are good at diplomacy and relationships and who can preach a pretty good sermon are allowed to stay for a long time. And so most of our churches stay roughly the same. And we continue to fail. And the world continues to go on without us as we stay happy in our little Christian clubs that don’t resemble the revolutionary missionary organism that Jesus called us to be.

I have decided not to settle for this.   

Why do I feel like I just placed a target on my forehead?