I’ve recently had some great conversations with a couple of preachers who are thinking about moving to new churches. I’ve shared with each of them the following principle.
When considering a new church, make sure you love the church as it is before you say yes to their invitation to become their preacher. Here’s one way to test your love before you go:
1. Make a list of all things about the church that you’d like to change once you get there.
2. Now look at the top three items on your list and assume those things will never change. No matter how long you’re there or how hard you try, these changes will never happen.
3. If you can’t stand the thought of these things never changing and if you don’t think you could ever really love and serve a church that couldn’t embrace these changes, don’t go.
Because it’s likely that the things you most want to change about your new church will be the hardest things to change. If you can’t love the church as it is without these changes ever happening, then you have no business going there. You’ll be miserable and you’ll make them miserable by trying to change them into the kind of church you want them to be.
Just as it’s always a bad idea to marry someone with the hope she will change after the wedding, its also unwise to talk yourself into taking a ministry job because you see the potential for a church to change once you get there. If you don’t love her for who she is before the wedding, don’t go through with the ceremony. You’re setting yourself up for a frustrating journey if you do.
I’m not saying your new church can’t or won’t change while you’re there. Churches change all the time. But the best changes in a church won’t be forced by the new preacher who moves into town with an agenda. They’ll be led by the Holy Spirit and may take both the preacher and the church by surprise. “We didn’t see that coming!” is not necessarily an admission of visionless leadership. It could be a declaration that the Holy Spirit is at work in the church.
Assuming that many of the changes you would want to bring to your new church will never happen will not only help you figure out if you can love the church as it is, it may also put in you in a position to be delighted by the unpredictable moves of the Holy Spirit.
Warning: Embracing this principle might also lead you to stay at your current church and start loving it.
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Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
Wade,
Excellent! You hit on something every minister needs to hear before they move from one congregation to another. I personally do not feel we should leave a congregation until two things happen: (1) we have completed the work God has called us to do at our current congregation and (2) we are called by God to move somewhere else. If we cannot love a congregation for the way they are when we arrive, will we love them after they change or will we expect more? To me, what you kind of point out is that our love is conditional upon changes being made or not made. I appreciate your thoughts and ministry. Blessings and Peace brother!
Because Jesus is LORD!
Shannon
This is a wonderful post, Wade. I really like your tie in to marriage. That is an excellent way to look at it (and excellent advice for young people wanting to get married).
You are becoming VERY wise!
Dee
Shannon and Dee–thanks for your comments. I’m afraid I’m much better at sharing this principle than at practicing it.
If “we didn’t see that coming” is an indication of the Holy Spirit, what is “Because we’ve always done it that way” or “That’s not the way we do things here” or “We just hope the Spirit will lead you somewhere besides here come next Sunday!”
Well said, sir.
Thanks Wade for reminding many ministers of this wise advice, me included. After being a disciple for 39 years and 17 in the ministry, I wholeheartedly agree. I’ve been a Senior Minister at 5 churches, and if I had learned this at my first church, perhaps I would only have served at 2 or 3? I love many diverse churches now, but it has taken many years to develop that love. It sounds like your experiences have taught you the same. I hope many young ministers will take this advice of yours as a prompting from the Holy Spirit, so they can have greater and longer ministries at their churches. May our Lord continue to bless you in your quest to serve Him!
I have always understood it is the elders responsibility to direct affairs of the church and not the minister.
Good points. However, I have had the opportunity during the interview process to discuss needed change and I was told how “open to needed change” they were, how unified they were in the need for change. I saw these areas as necessary issues that had to be addressed or they would be one generation away from extinction. 5 years now and the fear of how change will effect the “status quo” is keeping the board from releasing people into ministry and is actually trying to keep control so no one is upset. Many churches are trying to reach the world on “their terms” with attractional approaches….not relationally. The days of putting a sign up that says “Eat at Joe’s” and watching them pile in is over. They aren’t impressed with our signs, nor are they impressed with us saying, “come in here and be like us”..when Jesus has stated , “Go out there, and be like me!” Thank you for letting me share a bit from my corner of the world! I just know that if I would have to let the existing ministry of a church continue on without change..I would no longer be a pastor and never accept an invitation to minister there..love has little to do with that. I love Her and the lost enough to say, “Not acceptable on my watch”. I was at my prior pastorate for 11 years, so I am not an impatient pastor. I know how to move the piano one foot at a time to the other side of the platform:) Blessings! BP