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Traditions or Trends: Which Should We Follow?

 

Most of the readers of this blog know about the dangers of traditionalism.  Yale University professor Jaraslov Jan Pelikan has been credited with saying that “Tradition is the living faith of those now departed.  Traditionalism is the dead faith of those now living” [emphasis mine].  A “dead faith,” I’m sure Pelikan meant, because the traditionalist follows his traditions without knowing why; it is loyalty to nothing more than a concept, a memory. Traditionalism is continuing a practice for no other reason than the fact that it is a tradition – and that’s not much of a reason.

God’s friend Tevia in the great film “Fiddler On The Roof,” claimed that it was tradition that kept our lives balanced, even so far as being able to keep the fiddler from falling off the roof.  But most viewers of the movie would agree that Tevia’s traditionalism kept him imbalanced, loving his traditions themselves at least a bit more than he did his family.  Unable to search the Scriptures himself to discover which traditions were grounded in God’s will and which were grounded on thin air – like marital matches being made by a village matchmaker – he clung to every tradition he knew with equal tenacity.

Maybe we can concede that Tevia had a point: tradition can keep us from too quickly and mindlessly following a crowd.  Before we scrap a tradition maybe we should make sure we know why it became a tradition – for there was probably a good reason - and what we might be losing by discarding it. Paul told the Christians at Thessalonica in II Thessalonians 2:15 (KJV),  “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”

At times, traditionalism is more comic than harmful.  There are other stories to illustrate this, but my favorite is the one about the newlywed wife whom her husband found cutting off the end of the roast before putting it in the roaster.  “Why,” he queried “are you doing that?  It looks like it would fit just fine.”  “My mother always did it this way, but come to think of it, I don’t know why she did.”  A few hours later her curiosity caused her to call her mom and ask the now-burning question.  “Well, I guess, because my mother did,” was the reply.  The young bride’s curiosity was now greater than ever.  She called her grandmother, told her the story and asked her why she always cut the end off the roast.  “Oh, don’t you remember honey?” grandma answered, “my roaster is such a little thing, I’ve always had to cut the end off the roasts to get them to fit.”  Would that our traditionalism never caused any more trouble than a wasted slicing of a roast!

At its worst, however, traditionalism is deadly.  Millions are headed for an eternity without Christ because their faith is grounded on the religious traditions they have been told to rely on.  The young Saul of Tarsus was murderously zealous for the traditions of his fathers (Galatians 1:14).  Jesus spared no one’s feelings (Mark 7:1-23) when he denounced the traditionalism of the Pharisees which involved breaking the commandments of God in order to slavishly follow the traditions of men.

But we can be just as foolish in the following of trends.  A lot of young men are going to be plenty embarrassed someday when they see family photos of themselves with their pants falling down!  Eventually, removing tattoos and repairing body piercings will be a big business.  Ephesians 2:1-3 depicts lost mankind as blindly following the “ways of this world” and the “ruler of the kingdom of the air.”

Sadly, as pastors, we can be almost as foolish - and we don’t have the excuse of being under the Devil’s sway. Every few years a new church becomes the “hot” place to go for “how to do it like we do” conferences.  If it’s bringing in multitudes in Chicago or Los Angeles, it must be something God wants me to do in Omaha. We fly in by the thousands and fly home with our shiny three ring binders telling us how to do ministries that might be perfect for the host church and disastrous for our own church.

Donna and I have had the privilege of visiting churches on Sunday mornings the past couple of months.  It’s been enjoyable and encouraging but I can’t help smirk a little bit that so many churches have departed from having “traditional worship.”  That would be fine in and of itself but why is it that in our departure from traditionalism, we’re all doing pretty much the same thing?  It sure looks like a new set of trendy traditions to me.

One of our interim pastorates was with a church that considered itself very non-traditional.  I pretty quickly found out that they had their own, non-traditional traditions which were sacred to them.  I’ve now concluded that the non-traditional church can be just as traditional about it’s non-traditional traditions as the traditional church is traditional about its traditional traditions.  Is it really any better to follow trends than it is to stick with traditions?

Here’s what I’ve concluded so far, and you’re welcome to add to my understanding with your response: Traditions and trends can both be good if they are Biblical and effective.  Traditions and trends can both be worthless, or worse than worthless, if they are unbiblical or ineffective.  We should hang unto our traditions at least until we know what they were for and if they are working.  The latest trends, likewise, should be considered and evaluated with open hearts and open minds and forced to face the same test: Is it consistent with Biblical principles and purposes?  Will it work in our context?

Let’s not be traditionalists or trendishionalists.  Let’s be like the God-impassioned, no-longer-tradition-bound Apostle who said “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (I Corinthians 9:22).

Issues and Emotions During The Interim Time - Download

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Characteristics Of The Interim Congregation - Download

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Metaphorically Speaking...

The new paradigms in interim pastoring can be hard for people to understand. The “new wave” interim pastor isn’t an intern, a fill in, a substitute or something less than a “real” pastor; I’m thinking of the visitor who heard me a couple of Sundays and then told me that I was good enough to be a “real pastor”! It doesn’t help that those of us who practice it can’t figure out which term to use - transitional, transformational, strategic, redevelopment, restoration, interventionist – I’ve used them all right here in this blog. 

A lot of people are helped in understanding this confusing new type of ministry by the use of the following metaphors.  I hope you’re blessed – and “unconfused” – as you read.

The Strategic Interim Pastor Is Like:

A “This Old House” crew member - If you’ve seen the long-running Public TV show you know the routine: A couple of homeowners sit down with the “This Old House” leaders and share their dreams for the remodeling of their home.  After listening attentively, the crew members inspect the house carefully from bottom to top.  After some figuring, they sit down with the homeowners again and tell them about things that need to be done to their house that they may not have known about.  It’s often kind of a shock to the homeowner who wasn’t dreaming about a new furnace or roof, but after some “reality therapy” and discussion, a plan is agreed upon.  Then everybody gets up from the table and the “This Old House” staff gets to work and transforms the old house.

In much the same way, the strategic interim pastor listens to the dreams of church members, studies the church carefully and then presents an action plan for what needs to be “remodeled” (not usually the building itself but sometimes the building reflects the condition of the church).  The willingness of the church members to let God change their church and to work hard with God in the process is the equivalent of the cash the “This Old House” homeowners are willing to spend. Ideally, everybody gets to work (with God) and a year or two later “This Old Church” often ends up significantly transformed. 

This metaphor is solidly grounded in Scripture, as Jesus said He would build His church (Matthew 16:18), Paul described himself as an expert builder who laid a foundation when he planted the Corinthian church (I Corinthians 3:10) and spoke of other Christian leaders building on this foundation (I Corinthians 3:12).  The strategic interim pastor, in Paul’s metaphor, would be an expert remodeler.

A Dog or Horse Whisperer - Cesar Milan, The Dog Whisperer (on the National Geographic Channel) doesn’t believe there are any bad dogs.  He believes that many good dogs have been poorly trained and managed by their owners.  Thus, he says, his job is to “train humans and rehabilitate dogs.” 

My viewpoint is that there aren’t any bad Christians because Christians have been regenerated by God and God doesn’t make any junk.  There are Christians who behave badly and many churches are dysfunctional (in need of rehabilitation) because Christians who behaved badly or foolishly have made them dysfunctional.  My passion is like that of the Apostle Paul who wrote in I Timothy 3:14, 15 “…I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” When Christians get trained in how to “do church” God’s way, their churches get rehabilitated. At the end of one of our interim pastorates a wonderful and spunky little lady exclaimed to me “You really straightened us out!” – and it was a meant as a warm compliment.

A Special Forces Unit – This one comes from our son Jesse, who was joining the Army at the same time we were going into strategic interim ministry.  His observation was that what we were doing was like a special forces unit which parachutes into a dangerous situation, gets a difficult job done and then moves on to do it again elsewhere.

A Surgeon – A surgeon is not your normal, long-term physician.  Instead, at a time of special need, your family doctor “hands you over” to the surgeon who makes significant changes in your body and then hands you back to your long-term physician when he/she is through.

An Emergency Room Physician – Some interim pastorates require decisive, drastic action taken right away to save the church.  The ER physician doesn’t have to have much for bedside manner; he/she needs to be knowledgeable, confident and decisive. Fortunately, most of us interim pastors don’t have to act like ER physicians in most churches – but we do in some.

The Harbor Pilot – The harbor pilot is not a ship’s captain, though he could be.  Instead, with all the skills of a captain, he becomes an expert on a particular, dangerous, harbor (often a river mouth).  When a ship reaches the harbor entrance, the pilot climbs on board, exchanges pleasantries with the captain and then temporarily takes command of the ship, guiding her through a perilous channel.  He does the same when the ship leaves the port a few days or hours later, joyfully handing the vessel back to the captain.

The interim pastor seeks to be an expert on the dangerous waters of pastoral transitions.  This metaphor breaks down where the pilot hands the ship back to the captain, as the church has secured a new captain when it leaves the port. 

The Middle Relief Pitcher – When I was a kid (Twins fan) I only knew about two kinds of pitchers: starting pitchers and relief pitchers.  As in so many fields, there are more specialists than there used to be.  The interim pastor isn’t a starter (church planter) or a closer (nobody wants to do this!) but something like a middle reliever who “gives it all he’s got” for a couple of crucial innings in the middle of the game.

“The Miracle Worker” – I’m not saying that the interim pastor is a miracle worker, I’m talking about the extraordinary Anne Sullivan who moved in with the dysfunctional Keller family and took over the care of the very troubled and troublesome blind and deaf family member, Helen.  After transforming both Helen and the functioning of the family, Anne packed up and went her way. 

Some of our churches have members who are as out-of-control and unpleasant as Helen.  No one has taught them how to behave.  They are allowed to disrupt the entire church and scare away its guests and all of this is done in the name of “grace” or “unconditional love.” Interventionist interim pastors are used by God to restore such churches to peace and harmony for the glory of God.

“Nanny McPhee” – Nanny McPhee is the unusual nanny with supernatural powers in the movie of the same name.  She’s sort of like Mary Poppins on steroids.  She is hired by a desperate widower with a houseful of nasty children.  Initially, she looks extremely ugly to them, but as their attitude toward her changes, her appearance changes as well.  By the end of the movie the kids don’t want her to leave.  The key line of the movie (at least I thought it was) was Nanny McPhee’s statement: “When you need me but don’t want me I must stay; When you want me but no longer need me I must go.” This is exactly how some of our interim pastorates work out so I call what I do “Nanny McPhee pastoring.”

I hope these metaphors have helped you to understand what interim pastors do.  Does your church need one of these specialists to help it through a troubled time? If so, it will be some interim pastor’s great joy to help you.

The Surgical Model Compared To Nine Developmental Tasks Of The Interim Congregation

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Determining The Level Of Intentionality Needed In An Interim Pastor

Brian's note: Dr. Ken Moberg designed this grid to help church leaders determine the type of interim pastor their church needs.  A "high level of intentionality" is another way of saying, a transitional or transformational (or interventionist) interim pastor, as opposed to a traditional or "maintenance model" interim pastor (or none at all). 

 

Category	1	2	3	4	5
Relationship between Pastor and Leadership Board	Harmony and mutual support	Normal give-and-take	Characterized by tension; attempts at reconciliation	Tension without reconciliation	Open accusation
Departure of Pastor	Pastor retired out of this ministry	Pastor was called to another ministry	Pastor left without having another ministry	Pastor was asked to leave	Pastor was dismissed for cause
Length and Character of Pastor’s Tenure	6-12 years, well regarded by most	4 to 8 years, well regarded by most	4 to 8 years, mixed reviews	More than 8 years and well regarded, or less than 4 years and not well regarded	More than 12 years and highly esteemed, or less than 2 years not well regarded
Location of Former Pastor	More than 100 miles away	More than 25 miles away	Still in community, looking to move	Still in community, no plans to move	Still in the church, or planting another church in same community
Cohesiveness of Church	No families expected to leave	Less than 10% of families likely to leave	10% of families likely to leave	25% of families likely to leave	More than 50% of families likely to leave
Maturity of Leadership	Leaders mature, trained, rotational turnover	Some maturity, no training, some unplanned turnover	No training, some unplanned turnover	No training, high unplanned turnover	Elected leaders have resigned due to conflict
Nature of Leadership	Healthy turnover of leadership; former leaders become good followers	Elected and non-elected leaders aligned	Same people always elected	Elected leaders are tentative, afraid to lead	Non-elected leadership in charge
Leadership Meetings	Prayer and vision dominate agenda	Short-range goals dominate agenda	Business dominates agenda	Problems and discipline dominate agenda	Survival dominates agenda
Clarity of Vision	Vision documents are clear and agreed upon	Documents present but people can’t articulate vision	Documents present but little agreement	Old documents, vision not agreed upon	No vision documents; evidence of agenda conflict
Congregational Meetings	Congregational meetings are helpful, prayerful, worshipful	Congregational meetings are mostly business	Congregational meetings are generally considered irrelevant	Congregational meetings show tension that nobody addresses	Congregational meetings show open hostility
Growth History	Growing annually by 15% or more over the past five years	Growing annually by 10-15% over the past five years	Growing by 1-10% over the past five years	Stagnant over the past five years	Declining over the past five years
Effective Evangelism	10% conversion growth rate sustained for past five years	Conversion growth rate between 5 and 10% for past five years	Conversion growth rate under 5% for past five years	Occasional stories of conversion over past five years	No evangelistic growth over past five years
Life Cycle of a Church (Bullard)	Vision dominates; relationships and programs healthy VRPm	Programs and relationships dominate, vision okay vRPm	Programs dominate, little vision vrPm	Management dominates, relationships strained vrpM	Vision, relationships, programs, management weak vrpm
Totals

Circle the box for each category that best describes your church situation.  Then add up the points down the columns and determine a total score.  Add up the scores of all the columns for a grand total.  The higher the grand total, the greater the need you will have for an intentional interim pastor.

Used by permission of Dr Ken Moberg

When Church Members Leave

For many of us, the very mention of the subject of church members leaving knots up our stomachs faster than a phone call from the IRS. Painful memories flood my mind as I sit down to write - and I thought I’d gotten “good at” letting people go. Not that we really want to get used to losing people, but most of us would like for it to be less painful for ourselves and we’d also like to see our departed ones have a quick turnaround time: to get fully engaged quickly in a new church without cynicism or bitterness.

Why is this so hard for us?

Church Secretary Occupational Hazards

1. Church secretaries need to be carefully protected (mostly by the Senior Pastor, but others can help) from “secretary abuse,” such as:

• Expecting the secretary to do too much. Secretaries are frequently servants in their spiritual giftedness (Romans 12:7). Servants gladly take on more and more because they are so motivated to help. Wise bosses watch secretaries carefully to help them to say “no, I can’t do anymore” when they need to say it.

• People expecting the secretary to be on the job on Sunday morning (or any other time she’s in the building)

• People calling her at home - She is an hourly, not a salaried employee

• People who are not her “boss” acting as if they are (walking in and giving her work, etc.). The secretary has one supervisor, the Senior Pastor. Those approaching the secretary with work requests can be told by the secretary, “Pastor _______ wants me to refer requests for my time to him, so please wait here while I go and ask him about this.”

• Pastors telling them too much about church problems or problematic people and so weighing them down with troubles they are not given God’s grace to handle. (I’m sure I’ve been guilty of this.) Some secretaries grow into wonderful counseling partners for the pastor – particularly when he has to speak to other ladies alone. But be careful! This can lead to a good relationship becoming too close. (For the same reason, I avoid praying with church secretaries/administrative assistants one-on-one. Praying together really draws people together!) In some cases the pastor’s wife is a more appropriate partner for counseling females. Other secretaries are simply not gifted by God for this ministry and will be discouraged by trying to perform it. Of the many secretaries and administrative assistants I’ve had the joy of working with, only one became an occasional counseling partner.

2. Church secretaries frequently “morph” into telephone counselors, which can be wonderful but can also become too much of a good thing.

• Protecting the pastor from having to hear about minor problems that the secretary can help with is a wonderful ministry. See Acts 6

• Providing a listening ear is great; many secretaries save their pastors hundreds of hours by just listening to and praying with the troubled people who call or stop in.

• But some people need to learn how to open their Bibles and get down on their knees and find the answers to their problems. If the church attendee is now leaning on the secretary too much (instead of leaning on the pastor too much) somebody, (more than likely the pastor) needs to teach this dear brother or sister how to find some answers on his/her own.

• No one needs a counselor who becomes an enabler, whether or not the enabler is a co-dependent person or a healthy and well-meaning but mistaken person.

3. Church secretaries can tell people too much, they can hear too much, they can pass things along that shouldn’t be passed along - See I Timothy 3:11

• Some people go on "fishing expeditions" when talking with the secretary.

• A secretary must be able to keep confidences, even from the spouse who is a board member!

• The secretary needs to get very good at saying, “Whoa, wait a minute, you need to talk to so and so about that,” the phrase I teach churches (with hand motions) to stop gossip.

4. Church secretaries, like young pastors, can develop a habit of well-intended meddling: volunteering to solve problems for people which they ought to be solving themselves (Proverbs 26:17 & I Peter 4:15). Teaching people to handle their problems God’s way is part of the ministry description of every mature Christian.

5. Church secretaries frequently “morph” into administrators. Most often, they need some training in administration to avoid the pitfalls inherent in management. Their authority as administrators needs to come from the pastor (or whoever conveys authority in your church) and be clearly communicated to the church before the secretary begins acting in that capacity. In one of my interim pastorates, a staff member had morphed into a capable but overzealous, micro-managing administrator. Many in the church, besides being offended by her management style, did not feel that she had received her authority legitimately.

6. Church secretaries need to communicate to their families that phone calls to “mom” are limited. “Mom” is not helping her church or her children if she spends long periods of time counseling her family. Family member “visits” also need to be limited.

7. Church secretaries need to be zealous protectors of the pastor’s time. The Sr. Pastor needs to convey clearly how he wants the secretary/receptionist(s) how to handle:

• Walk in salesmen – “If you want to leave some literature regarding your _____ I’ll show it to Pastor So and So” or – at the secretary’s discretion – “If you’d like to show me your product that’s fine but Pastor So and So is not available for product demonstrations.”

• Phone salespersons – “Our church doesn’t purchase anything as the result of a phone solicitations. If you’d like to send some literature for your ______ I’ll pass it on to Pastor So and So”

• Walk in “counselees” – “Pastor So and So can’t see you right now, but he’d be happy to make an appointment with you.” (I always tell secretaries that my exception to the “walk-in counselee” policy is when someone’s life is in danger, i.e., if the person appears homicidal or suicidal.)

• Phone calls for the Pastor. Simply asking “Can I ask what this is in reference to?” or “Can I ask why you’re calling?” can protect the pastor from many calls from those who want, but don’t need, to talk to him.

8. Church secretaries/receptionists/administrative assistants need to be carefully protected from the complications that result from multiple relationships.

• In many cases, the employee’s spouse is also a church attendee and sometimes a leader. Spouses must sometimes be asked by the Pastor to not interfere in the employee/employer relationship but to encourage the employee to handle his/her problems in normal (but mature Christian!) ways.

• In many cases, handling these situations takes grace and tact and the guidance of God. In one ministry the administrative assistant was (1) my employee (2) an elder’s wife (3) my friend (4) my wife’s friend (5) a church volunteer in several capacities (6) the mother of a girl who was my son’s age (7) my son’s teacher (8) the mother of kids in classes I was teaching. This gets complicated. Fortunately, God can and will help us make these situations work!

Our secretaries are precious people (not quite an endangered species yet, but precious people). Let's help them to serve God (their real boss) joyfully and productively.

Biblical Principles Related To Conflict and Unity

1. The glory of God is of paramount importance. It’s what the church is for. We have been left here as the body of Christ to make God look good, to improve His reputation, to “do Him proud.” There is something very wrong with us if winning, or if defending our own “name” is more important than God’s Name (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14).

2. Love and unity are to be the prominent “marks” of the church, not “rightness” (Matthew 5:23-26, John 13:34,35, John 17:20-23, Ephesians 4:3). Making the church a “stench” in the community is to be avoided almost at all costs (without betraying the gospel or the “fundamentals of the faith”). Unity is so vital that it must be pursued with zeal and haste. Problems left to themselves seldom go away; they usually worsen.

3. Loving, respecting, being patient with, seeking to live at peace with, all persons involved, are Biblical requirements (John 13:34,35, Romans 12:9,10,16,18, I Thessalonians 5:14).

4. Humility, meekness and “sweet-reasonableness” (Galatians 5:22,23; Philippians 2:3,4, 4:5) are always expected of all of us. There is no place for “turf wars.” There is no room in any church, however large, for anybody’s ego. There is no time when it is appropriate to talk about “my church.” The church belongs to Jesus (Matthew 16:18). If the church you are a part of is now “your church” then you must have stolen it from Jesus!

5. The Bible teaches what I call “no excuses Christianity,” “no excuses counseling” and “no excuses pastoring.” Being in Christ, with the persons we used to be crucified with Christ, with the Holy Spirit within us – and willing to control us – we can do what Scripture says. We can be what we have been called to be. The commands of the New Testament are all promises (Romans 6:7,7, 8:9; Galatians 2:20, 5:22,23). We do not have to have churches full of gossip and conflict. Our churches do not need to be never-ending soap operas – though some people would like to star in them.

6. Closely related to the above, we are each 100% responsible for our own actions. Pastor So and So’s carnal actions are no excuse for my carnal reactions. We will stand before the judgment (reward! Thank God!) seat of Christ, one at a time. Our excuses will look ridiculous on that day (I Corinthians 3:10-4:5).

7. Closely related to the above, we must fight spiritual battles with spiritual weapons (such as prayer and speaking the truth in love, as in Ephesians 4:15). We do not chase out a pastor or church member we don’t like by behaving badly. (This really is done.) God has given significant spiritual authority to churches and their leaders to judge justly, oppose sin and resolve disputes (Matthew 18:15-20; I Corinthians 5 & 6; II Corinthians 10:1-6). However resistant modern Americans (including evangelicals) are to submission to God-ordained authority and spiritual leaders “telling them what to do,” church leaders must nevertheless, calmly but firmly exercise their God-given authority for the health and purity of the Church of Jesus Christ. No team of church leaders should put up with gossips, power-plays, petitions (written or unwritten). People who cannot follow their duly elected leaders gladly should be asked to find another church. In the words of former Evangelical Free Church District Superintendent, Gus Bess, “It’s not a sin to change churches; it’s a sin to stay in your church with a bad attitude.”

8. Gossip is a serious sin. It is an attack upon our brother and an attack upon God, as our brother bears the image of God (James 3:9-4:12). We should never empower, encourage or reward gossip. Gossiping new believers need to be confronted with great patience and carefully taught how to practice Matthew 18, Ephesians 4, Galatians 6, etc. Hardly anyone learns to not gossip just by hearing about it in a sermon; almost everyone needs to be confronted on this and “steered in the right direction” before they actually begin handling their conflicts in God’s way (“Speak to, not about” Amy Carmichael). Older believers need to be confronted more firmly, as they certainly know better. Some churches are full of people who know better but keep handling their conflicts in worldly ways because for decades, their leaders have allowed them to do so. Some divisive individuals need their “mouths stopped” (Titus 1:11). Some people are what Kenneth Haugk (in his book, “Antagonists In The Church”) refers to as “antagonists.” As Groucho Marx sang, “whatever it is” they’re “against it.” The psychological world might label them persons with personality disorders. Whatever they are, these people must be stood up to with great grace and great strength. They must not be empowered.

9. In listening to our critics and even in confronting gossips, we must be ready to forgive freely, sometimes “settling for” improved behavior, even when we’d like to hear a thorough-going apology (Ephesians 4:32).

10. In listening to our critics and even in confronting the worst gossip, we must be willing to listen for the “kernel of truth” that is probably there. God uses even our carnal critics to change our lives and ministries.

11. Congregational meetings during times of conflict should be held only with great care and careful planning. There is strength in numbers. Allowing people who are behaving badly to “gang up on” a pastor or church leadership team in a congregational meeting is to court disaster. Allowing people to sin by continuing on in their gossip or by “making charges” in congregational meetings is not doing them any favor; we are only enabling them to sin and throw away their future rewards. We must not in any way reward people who have been talking with each other, signing petitions or holding secret meetings. The church is not a democracy and we are not holding “New England Yankee” town hall meetings. (I am not against “listening session,” information gathering meetings which do not reward gossip.) Many wise pastors are moving their churches in the direction of having “family gatherings” with church members placed at round tables with elders or other leaders spread out among the tables. People are allowed to share their opinions freely on important topics as leaders listen to them carefully, but are in the “friendly” context of a table of brothers and sisters they have just dined and laughed with instead of in the confrontive atmosphere of a church business meeting with people lined up in rows and Robert’s Rules of Order. (I ask churches where we ever got the idea that the church “business meeting” is a venue where it’s okay to ignore everything Scripture teaches about how we should speak to one another!)

12. Duly elected church leaders, by whatever title, should be respected and, generally speaking, followed, because of their office. Leaders who are inviting disrespect should be confronted in the spirit of Matthew 18, Ephesians 4 and Galatians 6. Charges against elders (and pastors are “elders who are paid to be old”) should be brought in accordance with I Timothy 5:17-22, which assumes that the instructions of Matthew 18 have been followed first (I Thessalonians 5:12ff; Hebrews 13:7-19).

13. Church leaders must stand together. The NT picture is that of elders functioning as united teams (Acts 20:17ff). Elders who cannot stand with their brothers and stand by decisions they themselves were a part of making should resign gracefully. Every church board on the planet should study “The Unity Factor,” by Larry Osborne and “High Impact Church Boards” by Tim Addington.

14. Symbiotic (helpful to all concerned) solutions should always be prayerfully sought. Acts 6 gives us a wonderful example. There was murmuring. The murmuring probably wasn’t right (God dealt with this quite severely in OT times and in the New Testament gave us the admonition of Philippians 2:14ff.) But since, in this case, there was a very legitimate complaint – widows being neglected - the Apostles did not pay much attention to the murmuring, they went to work on a solution which resulted in a better church. Did they ever address the murmuring? Perhaps. We don’t know.

15. Leaders should always lead as servant-leaders of their congregations. We must make our decisions on the basis of what will be best for our followers. (What is best for our followers is that which glorifies God.) Congregations need leaders who have strong mandates to lead from their congregations. Chaos and confusion result when leaders do not have the “coupons” they need to lead. Sometimes we pastors must pack our books and move on, in love, so that we can get fresh starts and so that our congregations can get fresh starts with leaders who have the ability to lead, even though we were blameless.

16. With our propensity to sin and deceive ourselves (Jeremiah 17:9), all of us, pastors included, sometimes need rebuke and correction from those who are able to view our situations with a degree of objectivity which we do not have. One of the best reasons to have church fellowships (or denominations) is to provide pastors with a measure of accountability. All of us have reacted sinfully to our critics at one time or another.

Gaining Restoration Authority

Where do strategic (or “restoration” or “redevelopment”) interim pastors get the authority to change so much so fast in the churches they lead?

A church-health expert once told me that “all an interim pastor can do is to give a church a good slap in the face.” As one who has been doing interim pastoring for several years now I’m so glad this isn’t true! Frankly, I’m amazed at how much God has changed the three interim congregations I’ve served. I’ve given some thought to the question above and here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

1. Pray desperately. I don’t want to slap churches; I want to be used by God to change churches significantly for His glory. While I do believe that interim pastors have some ability to change organizational dysfunction through their own interventions, lasting change that honors God comes from the Spirit of God (John 15:5; Zechariah 4:6). If this is true (and it is), then the most important thing I can do is to pray. Seriously. Desperately. Comprehensively – which means – for every sermon and class of course, but also for every church member, every meeting, every encounter. I’ve come to believe that it’s the kind of prayer that takes hours, not moments, that moves God to transform churches. The battle is not ours, it’s the Lord’s (I Samuel 17:47). To the degree that I really believe that, to the same degree I will pray.

2. Tell the truth. All Bible-believing pastors are “about” change, of course. It’s the business we’re in. Many long-term pastors believe in introducing significant church change incrementally and that’s fine for them. Transitional or transformational interim pastors however, don’t have the luxury of having years to change things. The churches we are leading are sinking ships, dying patients, crumbling facades. We have to move fast. We are more like emergency room physicians – for whom bedside manner is not much of a concern – than family doctors. I believe in telling congregations the truth before they vote on us. They can take it and they’ll respect you for it. I explain what interim pastors like me do, tell some stories of our previous adventures and then challenge them to commit themselves and their churches to God, unequivocally. “Leave your guns at the city limits (like the Earp brothers in Tombstone), leave your swords at the door, lay aside your idols and put your church on the operating room table with a willingness for God to change it in any way that He wants to.” Most people who are truly God’s people know that this is the right thing to do and will respond well. Tell them the truth.

3. Be approachable. Most of us are kind of scary to most lay people, at least at first. If we have to walk in the door calling people to repentance for their gossip and disunity – and we must sometimes do this – we can be very scary. We can mitigate this by being physically small – ‘works for me but it might not work for you – and by being as warm as possible, loving kids, dogs, cats, goldfish, home cooking and especially, by listening.

Listening is a wonderful gift which we can give to our church members liberally. It costs us in time, but that’s all. Everybody loves to be listened to, so start listening a lot, right away, before you even arrive on the scene. People will love you for it. I have the blessing of having a wife who is a better listener than I am. She more than doubles my listening power and greatly increases my “leadership coupons” (I’ve also heard these called “pastor points”). Listen to the people who you know you’re going to disagree with. Try to hear their hearts. What are they afraid of? How can I reassure them? Remember that in some cases, they’re not expecting you to agree with them, they just want to be heard.

4. Forgive liberally. When you start changing things people are going to take some “whacks” at you. People are going to gossip about you. Some will say some tacky things in classes or meetings you’re leading. While many behaviors should be lovingly confronted by the interim pastor – especially if they represent patterns of behavior - other things should be simply covered over with love (I Peter 4:8). Pray for the wisdom to know when to confront and forgive and when to simply forgive. If you forgive liberally – and we all have the ability in Christ to do this - some of your strongest and most affectionate supporters at the end of your interim will be people who treated you disrespectfully at the beginning.

5. Work hard. Get your hands dirty. We all know that we should “give ourselves to the ministry of the Word and prayer” like the Apostles in Acts 6:2-4, but sometimes we have to violate that a bit by shoveling snow, moving walls (with permission), pulling weeds, tarring roofs, etc. Most of the best people in your church are hard working people; make sure they know that you’re a hard working person too. The worst thing you can do is to come across like a dressed-up, professional technician – and yes, I’ve seen this. You are “messing with” what they consider to be their church. (Of course we all know that it’s really Jesus’ church, but it’s still their church more than it’s your church and you’d better let them know that you know this.)

6. Show up. Be fun. Okay, maybe you’re like me - not much fun – but you can try anyway, while making fun of yourself for not being much fun. People will give you credit for trying. Attend the parties you’re invited to. Attend the soccer games, wrestling matches, concerts and whatever else you’re invited to. This is such a simple thing, but it means so much to people. Woody Allen said that “50% of success in life is just showing up.” He was right. Show up.

7. Learn names. Everybody loves to hear their own name used...everybody. A few people I know are really good with names. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. I have to work at it. When I meet a visitor at church I’ll not only repeat his/her name out loud, but after walking away, right it down as quickly as possible. We start every interim pastorate with visiting and getting to know as many people in the church as are willing to get together with us. We ask them twenty questions (literally) and hear their life stories. Most people love it. If people don’t want us in their homes, we try to meet them at restaurants. Very few people don’t want this attention. At my next assignment I’m going to carry a digital camera and take photos of family groups on every one of these visits. As soon as I get home, I’ll print the photos and try to get the right names written on the right people, dogs, cats – whoever ended up in the photo.

8. Move to the area. I know that many interim pastors live in a metro area and do a lot of driving to a succession of interim pastorates. I know that they do effective work in this way, but we believe that our work is a little more effective because we move, “lock, stock and barrel” to every community where we interim. We waste no time in learning the history and distinctives of the area. We often know more about the area (within a few months) than the natives who have lived there for decades. This is going to be hard for some of you to hear but we even believe in “cheering for the home team” as much as possible. After fifty years in Wisconsin, I cheered for Arizona teams while in Arizona (even the Cardinals!) and Minnesota teams while in Minnesota. (There are limits to this of course, such as when the Vikings play the Packers.) For the most part though, you will increase your ability to affect change if you will totally move to the area. And, by the way, I’m sure the author of I Corinthians 9:19-23 would recommend this.

9. Choose your battlegrounds. This is also called “choosing the hill you’re going to die on” and it’s oh-so-important for the interim pastor. There are serious problems in the churches we pastor which must be met head-on. These things affect the effectiveness of the church and thus, the glory of God. There are other things which we simply don’t like. Especially as interims, we have no business making issues out of things which are simply not “our style.” Maybe they call the communion table an “alter” and insist on having a pot-luck dinner on the last Sunday of every month. Maybe their music isn’t exactly our cup of tea. Do these things really matter?

I recently had an elder board ask me about my music style. My answer was that “my” music style was irrelevant. The church should be like Paul in I Corinthians 9 and adapt itself in its music to reach the people in its mission field. The pastor – interim or long-term - should adapt himself to fit the church which has adapted itself to reach its community. I can play my style of music at home, all I want.

10. Praise exorbitantly. Somebody said that “nobody ever died from an overdose of encouragement.” The churches we interim pastor are troubled and generally have many faults. They also are not without their strengths. Almost every church has at least some really fine people doing some really fine ministry for all the right reasons. Praise and encourage these people liberally. You will empower them and they, in turn, will empower you. At one of the churches we interimed we discovered a staff member (I’m withholding details to protect the guilty) with an extraordinarily good ministry. It came as a shock to learn that the former senior pastor hadn’t encouraged this brother for years. All it took was some praise and encouragement to see him take his ministry to a whole new level and I was rewarded with his support and cooperation.

11. Ooze faith. I’m not sure if it’s because I (1) have the gift of faith, (2) have walked with God as long as I have, (3) am silly enough to believe the Bible, or (4) all of the above, but I find it pretty easy to walk into some pretty damaged churches with complete faith that God is willing and able to transform them into vibrant, joyful, effective ministries. In each church I’ve served I’ve had people ask me, in great pain, “Do you think our church is going to survive?” I answer that, “If some of you are willing to give it completely to God, it will not only survive, it will thrive.” If you can’t do this you probably shouldn’t be a strategic, transformational interim pastor. If you’re pretty sure that you can do this then you might be able to gain “restoration authority” and be a candidate for this intensely difficult but richly rewarding ministry.