A searchable, downloadable PDF of the original article appears below. Neal Mathers is the minister of Emmanuel Church in Nottawa, Ontario.
We don’t often talk about it but he truth is that leadership has often been identified as the key factor in developing a healthy growing church. If the minister, elders and congregational leaders do not take the lead in developing goals and strategies for church growth then the congregation will reflect this non-growth mentality. If the leaders of a church are not praying and seeking God’s vision for their church, then the people perish. Vision is what gets us up and keeps us going. Vision gives us a focus, a goal to strive for, and when that vision is God-given, Holy Spirit-led and prayerfully nourished, then great things will happen because that congregation will be in the will of God. What kind of things can we say then about leadership that will help us to develop that kind of leader who can move our congregations to be vision-centred and our denomination away from decline and back to the cutting edge of evangelism and church growth?
Firstly, we have to challenge our leaders to be people of prayer. To do that we must all become people of prayer. Jesus once said to his disciples that “You do not have because you do not ask.” We do not ask, if we are honest, because we do not pray! You doubt that? Then take a survey of a few Christian friends who you can rely on to be honest. Ask them how many minutes they pray in a normal day. A normal week. If you are brave enough, ask your minister and the elders of your church the same question! Then look at your congregational life. How many hours a week are devoted to prayer? What percentage of your members attend your prayer meeting, assuming you have one? And don’t forget to be honest with yourself! Is prayer a priority in your life? The ministry of prayer is the most powerful – yet the most neglected – ministry in most of our churches. It is time that we made it our number one priority because without prayer there is no power, and without that power we cannot make a difference in the world for Christ because there will be no God-given vision. It is time that leaders called their people back to be people of prayer. It is time that our people demand that their ministers, elders and congregational leaders be people of prayer. We will need to free them from other responsibilities so this can become a clear priority of their time.
Secondly, leaders must be willing to lead. By its nature, real leadership means that people must be willing to follow! Peter Wagner of Fuller Seminary, a leader in the field of church growth, has noted that the first vital signs of a healthy growing church is a leader who is a “possibility thinker,” who has a vision, and who can impart that vision to the congregation they serve. However, a leader who cannot get people to follow is not a leader at all, whatever their job description says. We do well to remind ourselves that the Bible tells us that it is God who gives leaders to his Church, and as such these leaders are worthy of respect and obedience in the Lord. The image given in the Scriptures is of the pastor and elders as shepherds who serve and care for the flock, the people of God, under the very authority of Christ himself. Do we truly recognize this pastoral authority? If not, we will not follow. If we do, we will move forward as we work together to do God’s will.
On the other hand, leaders in the church must fully understand their role. Ephesians 4:11-12 reminds us that God gave pastors and teachers to his church to “prepare” every Christian for the ministry he has given to each one of us. It is as we work together, then, that God’s vision for our congregation will become a practical reality. When we rediscover this great dynamic between pastor and people, and really start to practise it, then and only then, will we be able to move forward effectively and turn the vision God has given us for our congregation into reality.
This leads to another vital question. Is your minister a shepherd or a rancher? By that, I simply mean do you demand that your minister deals with everyone one on one, that he or she cares for everyone personally, and does all, or most of, the visitation? Or do you only demand that the congregation is cared for, under the direction of your minister, but not necessarily on a one-to-one basis by your minister personally? There is a world of difference between these two expectations but also an important point. If you demand that your minister be a shepherd, dealing with everyone individually, your congregation cannot expect to reasonably grow larger than 150 members because at this point, if not before, the minister cannot sustain any more personal relationships. Present and future growth will be choked off at this point unless the minister is given permission to be a rancher, that is to see that the work is done but not necessarily directly by them.
Several questions arise out of the above. If you are a minister, are you willing to change your style of ministry to facilitate the growth of your congregation? If you are an elder, are you willing to encourage and to support your minister in doing that, and are you prepared to accept your responsibility towards the pastoral care of the people of God under your charge? And if you are a member of the church, are you willing to accept that God has given you gifts and calls you to use these gifts to minister to others? Are you willing to recognize that we all have a ministry given to us by Christ, and that the Bible clearly teaches that the minister’s job is to prepare you for that ministry, not to do all the ministry for you? Visions can only be turned into reality when we resolve these issues.
Finally, leadership involves getting a vision from God for your congregation, but it then means taking steps to make that vision a reality. Having the vision is not enough! In fact, asking God for a vision, getting it, and then doing nothing with it is worse than not having a vision at all. Asking for it and doing nothing with it when it comes, is disobedience and unfaithfulness. It’s a sure way to make sure that God doesn’t bless your church! Therefore, you must prayerfully develop a vision statement or a statement of purpose for your congregation, write objectives that will enable that vision to become a reality, and set practical and measurable goals to meet those objectives. You need to involve as many people as possible in this process so there will be a broad base of support for it. You need to talk about these goals and objectives, give them a high profile, work hard to achieve them, and evaluate and change them as new things come to light. You need to celebrate every victory and to remember that failure is not final. Failure simply means try again, or try some other way, or rethink your plans and come up with a better one. Again, however, understand that nothing can happen until we are willing to take the vision from God and run with it. God expects us to act and that is why Paul calls us “God’s fellow workers.”
Leading your congregation to realize God’s vision for it will not be easy. Nor will the vision God has given our denomination be easily achieved. The Evil One will try everything in his power to snatch it away from us, to frustrate it, to kill it because he knows what the power of a Spirit-given vision can do in bringing people to faith in Christ. He knows what healthy, vibrant, growing congregations can achieve for Christ. And he wants none of it. But he also knows that leadership is the key. That’s where he’ll focus his attacks. Have you asked God to give the leaders of your congregation his vision for your church? Are you praying for them every day? Are you asking God to protect them and their families from the power of Satan? If not, then the vision has already died. Why not rekindle it right now?