For a very long time I have been concerned that the church is wasting a lot of resources and accomplishing little towards our Lord’s command of Matthew 28:19-20… to make disciples. If your church is spending the majority of its resources, 80% or more, on salary and benefits to maintain a preaching minister, then you are not doing all you should be doing to proclaim the gospel, period. If your church has gone into debt to maintain the salary of a preacher who does little more than preach to the “saved” then you are wasting the precious resources God expects His church to invest in outreach and evangelism. If the preaching minister is not leading the charge of evangelistic outreach and producing results in outward community facing efforts, people coming to Christ, then the congregation is wasting its resources. That's what you pay him for, right?
The things that should concern every Christian… does your building sit empty most days of the week and is there a steady decline in baptisms and Sunday attendance for the Lord’s supper and teaching from the pulpit? The preacher who had served my church for more than 20 years once asked me a direct question... if I thought “he” was the reason the church was not growing. At the time, I could not see what I could not see, and responded with encouragement… “of course you are not the reason for our stagnation.”
Encouragement aside, I was still very concerned there was little to no momentum in the church and that if something didn’t change and soon, the church would be gone. Maybe the core problem was in fact the leadership of the church… the preacher and the elders. But who?
Statistics tell us almost 90% of churches in America are in decline or plateaued. I’m told it takes 20 years for a declining church to finally die.
During times of stagnation, people will begin to point fingers and assign blame to one or more of the those in leadership, including the preacher. Leaders are out front and easy targets. Keep in mind, it could be that some people have a difference of opinion in regards to how the church should be led and how the preacher should be operating. Many times these opinions are more philosophical that biblical and serve to foment the strife that surely comes when members of a congregation really don’t know what they either don’t know or refuse to accept.
Certainly, however, leadership is a critical part in the success of any organization — including the church. Let me be clear here — I believe Jesus is the head (and the leader) of the church, but God uses men to lead people within the church. Our job is to humbly serve and get it right more often than we get it wrong. Leadership among God’s people and the church, is exemplified throughout Scriptures and we can hardly miss what God has said about getting it right.
I’m a firm believer, however, until you identify the problem, you have a hard time understanding why the congregation is floundering, let alone finding a solution. In a declining church, members are concerned about the direction of their church as they should be. That concern always involves criticism of leaders and it comes with the job of shepherding.
The number one issue churches face though, is the integrity of leadership, specifically the man out front… the preaching minister. Who is he really? Maybe he's not who you think he is. He wants you to see him in a certain way, he wants you to believe he is who you want him to be… but who is he with all his masks removed? Is growing the congregation, seeking and saving lost souls his priority, or is “He” his priority?
In fact, we all have to accept the reality that if the preacher isn’t leading well, if he’s distracted and preoccupied with personal interests, harboring personal resentments towards individuals in the congregation or dissatisfaction with his own tenure at the church, maybe experiencing burnout … the congregation will likely suffer serious divisions and decline.
When a preaching minister isn’t leading the church well, there’s usually an answer as to why. Let’s examine a few that you may want to consider if your church is experiencing decline and you can’t figure out why. I’ll start with the preacher.
Next time: When a preacher's apparent motive is money... what then?
