Tag Archives: pastors

Pastoral challenges in the next 20 years

Joel Rainey is Executive Director of the Mid-Maryland Baptist Association. He is on the adjunct faculty of two seminaries, and the author of two books: Planting Churches in the Real World and Sidestepping Landmines: Five Principles for Pastor Search Teams. Joel works closely with numerous pastors in a state not known for its evangelical values. He is a strategic thinker on many things related to the kingdom of God.


On his blog, themelios, he recently wrote on the nature of pastoral leadership in the next 20 years. Joel asked a question once posed to him, “Are we really up to this?” This post is adapted from his writing.

American society is morphing at an unprecedented rate. This means more for the church than perhaps any other area as we claim God’s unchanging truth in changing times. Rainey asks whether pastors are “up to this”? I wonder if churches are.

If Rainey’s thoughts are on target, I think three things will happen as it relates to churches (and denominations) in the United States. First is capitulation. Many will simply agree with the surrounding culture that truth is maleable, subjective and suggestive. These churches will become indistinguishable from other societal organizations whose purpose is “to make the world a better place.” They bother not with sin, judgment or a cross. Second is separation. As in every generation these are they who are not of the world, but neither are they in it. They have no actual influence and their loudly sounded trumpets of culture wars fall mostly on deaf ears. Third is contextualization as the remaining churches seek to exegete culture, relate to it and bring the uncompromised gospel to everyone in a way that both illuminates their need and introduces the remedy: Jesus Christ. For these, mercy truly triumphs over judgment.

From Joel Rainey:

Scenario One: A pastor is called to a church with the expectation that he will “help us reach the young families.” Problem is, everyone in the church is over the age of 60, and more than 50% of the community within 10 minutes of the church is also in that age range.

By 2030, it is estimated that more than half of the U.S. population will be over the age of 50. This “graying” of America is presently going almost completely unnoticed by most churches, who tend to go after the prized “young families with children” category. Yet 80% of those over 50 live in a multi-housing situation (“55 and older” apartments, duplex communities, retirement and assisted living communities), and 98% of all multi-housing residents are without a relationship to Jesus. Are you keeping pace with the generational shifts that are taking place around your church, and how your church should respond to those shifts?

Scenario Two: Multiple families visit the church who do not speak English, politely nod and smile, and never return.

By 2025, Hispanics will outnumber African Americans by 3 to 2, and will comprise approximately 40% of the U.S. population. Over a decade ago, Oscar Romo noted that America, “hardly the ‘melting pot’ described by history texts, has become a land marked more by diversity than homogeneity.” In no area is this fact more clear than in the area of language.

Scenario Three: A married homosexual couple with three adopted children visit your church.

This is one of those issues when if you are a pastor, you need to go ahead and check all your political arguments at the door. What we believe society should or shouldn’t do in this situation is of absolutely no consequence, because they are doing it anyway!

[…]

Truth is, we live in a nation and culture in which our understanding of marriage has been devolving for decades.

Now that this is a reality, how will we minister to the parents and their children? How should our children’s departments be equipped to minister to the kids? How are you equipping other couples in your church to interact with and minister to these precious souls? How can you uphold clear Biblical standards in love?

Scenario Four: A young person who has visited your church for a while repents of her sin and receives Jesus as Lord and Savior. As you prepare for her baptism, you discover through her testimony that she was born male, but had gender-reassignment surgery a few years ago.

Scripture has no category for an “androgynous Christian.” There are Christian men, and Christian women, and the discipleship models spelled out for us in the New Testament tend to be described in conjunction with one’s gender.

[…]

Are you prepared for the Biblical, moral, psychological and bioethics questions that will necessarily be part of that conversation?

Scenario Five: More and more people, it seems, are asking you to perform funeral ceremonies for their pets. You have noticed over time that the grieving process for a family losing a pet, as well as the elements of the funeral itself (pictures, memorials, poems, etc.) indicate a much greater value on animals than in the past.

We are already witnessing attitudes in our culture that betray a gravitation towards increased “equalizing” of animals and humans, and too many in the church have bought into this idea. Are you prepared to lovingly confront the false idea that “all dogs go to heaven,” and re-assert the essential distinction between human beings, who are created in God’s own image and likeness, and pets, who are not?

Scenario Six: Because of growth, your church starts a “video venue,” and begins live-streaming worship and sermons via the internet. You notice that you have a growing “online” audience, many of whom log in every Sunday, and who financially support the ministry. Through connections with these people on social media you discover that, although they may live hundreds or even thousands of miles away, they consider your church their “church home.”

Today’s advanced and inexpensive technology means that churches are asking questions that would never have been considered even 20 years ago, and one of the biggest questions today has to do with the legitimacy of the so-called “internet church.” In the future, how will your church ensure that the Biblical principles and practices commensurate with a covenant community are observed in this environment?

Scenario Seven: You discover through casual conversation that a yoga class has been started by leaders in the church, that participants freely greet one another with “namaste,” and that Christian meditation has been confused with the emptying of the mind that is endorsed in many Hindu communities.

Over the past decade, there has been a huge increase in ancient pagan practices, much like those that occurred in the days of the Old Testament. The digital age, among other things, presents opportunities for the “blending” of faiths that was unheard of even two decades ago. In what ways should you be prepared to bifurcate for your people between what can, and cannot, be part of the life of someone who follows Jesus according to Scripture?

Scenario Eight: You receive a call from a mainline church in town. The size of their congregation has dropped to less than 20 members. They are fearful for their future, and they ask for your help.

It is simply a statistical fact that theological liberalism kills churches. As such, expect the mainline protestant churches in your town to continue slowly bleeding to death. Yet, the people in those dying churches need someone to love them by ministering to their needs and reminding them of what their faith once stood for. Are you prepared to raise up leaders who can utilize those facilities to start a second campus for your church, or start a new church altogether?

Scenario Nine: Parents come to you for counseling regarding their son, who has been diagnosed with multiple “generic” disorders, but doctors have been incapable of specifying the problem, and the child has been largely un-treatable by psychiatrists. You suspect the presence of demonic activity.

I truly believe that we will see a sharp rise in obvious demonic activity in the west, and I believe it will unfortunately be mis-diagnosed as a solely medical or psychiatric problem. As a result, too many children will grow up expressing the personality of a psychotrophic drug unless wise and godly pastors in the west learn to recognize the presence of demonic activity.

Scenario Ten: In this “brave new world,” God continues to seek worshippers, and Jesus continues to save people from sin, Satan, death, and hell in miraculous ways.

What I’ve described above is a culture that is emerging, and that is filled with people Jesus died to save. And it is in this environment when I hear evangelical Christians having the dumbest arguments!

What would you add? Is Joel right in his assertions?

A leadership lesson from guitarist Phil Keaggy

In my work environment I am surrounded by some incredibly talented young people. (Increasingly I’m surrounded only by younger people, but that is another post for another day…)

These men and women are quicker in comprehension, more knowledgeable than me in numerous areas of social media, have better marketing comprehension then me and–sigh–the list goes on.

As I grew older in pastoral ministry I regularly ran across people more talented than I. In my last pastorate one pastor was far better than me at relationship building, another was far better at project planning and execution, another far more talented in music and management, and another was every bit my equal in preaching. Everywhere I turned I was faced with a team member who excelled me in some area.

Most all of us have some amount of ego that flinches when one better than us comes on the scene. Humility–preferring others over ourselves–is far more admired than practiced.

Phil Keaggy Dream Again Cover

Phil Keaggy [Image credit]


This is often seen in ministry when identity in Christ is too closely linked to calling from Christ. In such a scenario, an older person can feel their identity threatened when the calling of another grows more prominent, or the gifts of another are surpassing. Jealousy is usually the result.

A Kingdom mindset finds older believers rejoicing over the calling and gifts of younger believers. Nowhere is this more needed than in areas of Christian leadership. Christian leaders need to rejoice when others do well. They must repent from and reject jealousy, which are roots of evil works.

Below is a video of guitar virtuoso Phil Keaggy. It was shot before a concert. Keaggy is seated with another guitarist, James T. La Brie, who is clearly a fan. Keaggy is regarded, by those who know the subject, as one of today’s top guitarists and, perhaps, one of the greatest who ever lived. You do not even have to buy the Jimi Hendrix urban legend to hold that view. La Brie admits his nervousness, which is pretty easy to see with all the squirming he does.

What’s fun to watch, and instructive to older believers and leaders, is Keaggy’s supportive participation. La Brie starts with an instrumental he wrote. Quickly Keaggy provides guitar-body percussion, eventually playing along for most of the piece. La Brie then suggests a second effort, a Joni Mitchell song, and they play together again.

Through both of these, Keaggy makes no effort to overshadow his fan. At no point does he show anything but genuine interest and joy. I know less than zero about playing the guitar. This, however, is as much about leadership as about music.

If you are a younger person, what are some specific things an older person has done to encourage your leadership track?

If you are an older person, how can we avoid the pitfalls of jealousy toward younger, more gifted people who might ultimately take our positions?

An open letter to a fired waitress: I’m sorry we are so stingy

Chelsea Welch is a former Applebee’s waitress, recently fired for uploading a picture of a receipt from her work. Said receipt had been issued to a party served by one of her co-workers. The paying customer, Alois Bell, a St. Louis area pastor, went well out of her way to avoid a tip.

The large party had triggered the 18% auto-tip on the meal. Rather than paying the tip, pastor Bell marked out the auto-tip and added “$0” to the bill. Making matters worse, the “pastor” wrote “I give God 10% why should I give you 18?” across the receipt. She made sure to add the word “Pastor” above her signature.

After the story went viral The Smoking Gun heard from Bell,

“My heart is really broken,” Bell added. “I’ve brought embarrassment to my church and ministry.”

A spokesman for Applebee’s said it apologized to Bell for violating her “right to privacy” and confirmed that Welch “is no longer employed by the franchise.”

Look closely at the receipt and you will see the party of 8 people spent only $34.93 on the meal. That is an average of $4.37 each. Have you ever eaten at Applebee’s? Spending that little means

sharing meals or eating only appetizers. Typical menu entrees can exceed $11 each. The current special is 2 for $20. A party of three people eating a normal entree with tea or soft drinks can easily spend–before tip–as much as Bell’s entire party. [A friend suggested the $34.93 was only Bell’s portion, not the entire party. This seems to be the case. 2nd Update: A CNN interview claims the 18% was included in the total and charged to Bell’s credit card. The image does not seem to support the report. -MD]

Sad as it is that one server was chastised and stiffed by a customer, and Welch fired by her employer, I am incredibly thankful they brought this nonsense to light, and I’m compelled to write this open letter to Chelsea:

Dear Chelsea,
On behalf of some followers of Jesus Christ, I apologize. One dirty little secret of Americanized Christianity is how badly some of our tribe tip at restaurants. This is a terrible reality, but I am thankful you have brought it to light. Whether you realize it or not you have done us a great service.

Even though pastor Bell is embarrassed now, we should have been embarrassed for years. We have known about this attitude for a long time. Even though our Savior was generous, too many of us are stingy.

In fact, the excuse given–“I give God 10%”–is something I have heard in the past. After reading your story a friend of mine posted to Facebook about family members, both of whom are restaurant servers. They know servers must split tips with staff who do not work the floor. They know Sundays are the worst days to work, since many Christians do not order expensive drinks or tip well on what they do order.

Before the annual meeting of my own tribe social media becomes a flurry of reminders to tip well. I often wonder why the stinginess of many followers of Jesus is so well known it creates this cause for concern, but it remains so common.

I know it’s likely you made less than $3.00 an hour from the restaurant. If your former employer is like most restaurants your tips are part of your salary. Our chintziness is certainly no blessing to you.

It is obvious such poor character on our part is evidence that every negative thing you have heard about followers of Jesus might be true. Believe me that it is not a universal problem, but it is far too widespread. According to Yahoo you said, “I’ve been stiffed on tips before, but this is the first time I’ve seen the Big Man used as reasoning.” The “Big Man” is not the reason; He’s a convenient excuse for our own lack of generosity.

For many years my wife and myself have tipped 15, 20% or more on almost every meal. We have given gift card balances to our server far exceeding a regular tip. Only utterly awful servers do not receive good treatment. I dined with one pastor who left a $100 tip, well exceeding the cost of the entire meal. Many of us “get it.” I am so sorry you had to deal with one who does not.

Believe it or not, the God we (and pastor Bell) claim to serve is not chintzy, cheap or stingy. He is, in fact, extravagant. That we do not follow His lead when dealing with hardworking people in your field is to our shame.

I have no idea whether you will see this. The Internet can be a strange beast, so maybe you will. If you can email me through the “Contact” link above I will send you some money to help offset your loss of income. My family is not rich, so this will not be like that Nicolas Cage split-the-lottery movie. But, I will send you something. Please consider it a tangible apology for our pitiful habit in this area. Jesus is a lot better than how we tip.

Very Sincerely,
Marty Duren

The original image upload was on the sharing site Reddit.com under the title, My mistake sir, I’m sure Jesus will pay for my rent and groceries.