THE 5 REASONS PASTORS DO NOT LEAD THEIR CHURCHES
(Guest Article – Credits at bottom)
I know this sounds like an upside down topic but bear with me as I share with you 5 Reasons Pastors Do Not Lead their Churches. Many senior pastors all over the country have the title of Senior Pastor/Leader but many do not have the authority to truly lead the churches they serve. The consequences of this lack of leadership at the local church level are too devastating to ignore.
Many churches are run by outstanding pastor/leaders. Too many, however, forfeit leadership either because of the pastor’s own propensity to not lead or the church’s propensity to usurp leadership from them. Whichever the case, the church suffers.
Here are the five (5) reasons senior pastors don’t lead their churches.
1. The board runs the show and the pastor lets them.
2. The congregation wants to vote on everything and the pastor lets them.
3. The staff runs the show and the pastor lets them.
4. Nobody runs the show and the pastor is one of the nobodies.
5. The pastor leads by consensus – takes a vote on everything from everybody and until everybody agrees.
So which one are you? After you sufficiently get over the shock of thinking of yourself in one or more of these terms give the following recommendations your consideration in navigating to a higher level of leadership in the church you serve.
The board runs the show and the pastor lets them.
At Issue: Typically the smaller the church the larger the influence of a church board and its individual members. In the smaller church, the pastor can sometimes be seen as a “hireling.” He or she is hired to preach, marry, bury, visit the sick and the elderly and be at every event and personal happening of everyone in the congregation.
In too many of these churches, the board directs the future of the church. Frequently, the board is the permission granting group for the pastor’s vision. If a real pastor/leader comes to the church oftentimes a conflict ensues as to who is going to lead.
SOLUTION: When this is the case the pastor/leader will likely be in for one or more show-downs with a board member or the entire board. I certainly suggest you determine this on the front-end. However, if you discover it after you are onboard you must set the record straight as to who will lead. Be wise but move forward.
When the culture has been consensus-building in nature, the prudent pastor/leader will take his time re calibrating how the senior pastor’s leadership is viewed. The pastor/leader must spend time re-educating the board and congregation on the issue of leadership.
Many board members are happy to have a real leader step forward. Those who are not will not last long on your board. Do not coddle controlling board members. If they cannot understand that the church will not grow unless the senior pastor leads, then they will need to step aside. This will be very confrontational. If you can confront and win, then your leadership is being received with respect. If you cannot, then you will not be able to make the changes necessary to move the church forward. You will either be asked to leave or you will sit and stagnate.
My suggestion is that you pick your time, confront the detractors to your leadership and community clear and concise leadership. It had better be you!
The congregation wants to vote on everything and the pastor lets them.
At Issue: The stronger the congregational form of government the harder it is for the church to grow and definitely becomes one of the reasons pastors do not lead. The congregation becomes the ridiculous extreme of a committee-driven church. When the congregation needs to vote on everything from the color of carpet to whether to change the prayer room into a junior high game room, the church is slated for no growth and decline.
SOLUTION: When you face the congregational leadership model, you need to slowly start turning the ship by beginning to make decisions yourself. When you do that initially, start communicating to the congregation of your actions in a growth-excitement manner, keeping them fully in the loop so that they feel less a sense of “we are not voting anymore” to “we still are hearing the inside scoop on decisions.” This may go on for a few months until such point that the congregation sees that the decisions that emanate from your office are good ones and that the church is growing. If you have this congregational model at your church, start turning it to the growth-oriented model. If you do not have the congregational model, do not let it get started. You are the leader. Act like it.
The staff runs the show and the pastor lets them.
At Issue: Multiple staff churches look like a senior pastor’s dream-come-true. When the right staff is in place and the senior pastor leads it can be a dream-come-true. However, in many cases the senior pastor is so bent on developing a collegial relationship with staff the senior pastor forfeits their responsibility to lead. Likely, the staff has been built with some very strong leaders. When that is the case, the staff begins to step up and lead in the absence of the senior pastor’s leadership.
SOLUTION: When a new pastor comes into a culture with an existing staff the pastor has the opportunity to learn new people while trying to demonstrate his own leadership. Never should a pastor, whether new or entrenched, forfeit his responsibility to lead. Unfortunately, there are staff members who build coalitions of people around them. They look for opportunities to lead. The pastor/leader must gain buy-in from his partners on the team while never letting go of the senior leadership responsibilities. If the pastor/leader has already allowed this to happen they must begin to turn that around by slowly and deliberately communicating the intended leadership style to the current team. The pastor/leader cannot be seen as a dictator but he must communicate that input is critical from staff members. However, at the end of the day regardless of the decision or direction, the team must coalesce behind the senior pastor/leader. This leader gains buy-in and then steps out and leads.
Nobody runs the show and the pastor is one of the nobodies.
At Issue: This is one of the saddest scenarios. The church is on autopilot with everyone, including the senior pastor, taking turns being warm and friendly with everyone. No one challenges anyone or anything. No one leads. The senior pastor does everything by making sure everyone is happy and that no one ever gets upset. Nobody leads and that includes the senior pastor.
SOLUTION: When this is the case the pastor/leader must begin to step up and make decisions. This leader cannot be tentative in his decisions even if he feels tentative. The good thing is that because no one has been leading, just the fact that someone is stepping up to lead generally is received well. Nothing is worse than no leadership from anyone. The pastor/leader cannot be seen as just another “nobody” sitting by watching nothing happen. Make a small decision and then stand by it. Then make another one … and another one… and another one. Ultimately you will be able to make a larger decision and it will stand and be good for the church. If you get resistance to this approach then there really is someone else (likely a current or board member) functioning in a passive leadership role. You need to find out whom that someone else is and put in place the elements we spoke of relative to board leadership of the church.
The pastor leads by consensus – takes a vote on everything from everybody and until everybody agrees.
At Issue: The senior pastor is the ultimate consensus builder. He takes a vote literally or figuratively on everything. The senior pastor mistakes “gaining buy-in” for “consensus building.” They are very, very different.
SOLUTION: Stop trying to build consensus and start gaining buy-in. Consensus building waters every decision down to the most palatable level for the lowest level leader. Buy-in has strong staff leaders hearing, understanding, challenging, debating and buying into the pastor/leader’s vision or adjusted vision. When that vision or decision is flawed the smart pastor/leader does not dig their heels in, rather, retrenches and moves out again with an even better vision, plan and/or strategy for the future.
Strong pastor/leaders must come to grips with the difference between consensus building and the creation of buy-in. When buy-in is successful, the church has the greatest potential for incremental and then ultimately exponential growth.
At the end of the day, it is critical that the senior pastor have the ability to lead and that he does so. As well, for a church to grow, it must have strong senior leadership. Churches that do not grow have fallen prey to one of the five reasons.
Senior Pastor, it is your job to lead. Mitigate the reasons as articulated above. If you have others in your church culture mitigate those as well. The stakes are too high for you to simply sit by and stay with the status quo. Your mission is the greatest on the planet. Act like it and lead your church.
If you fail at this task the church loses. If the church wants to lose, then shake the dust off your feet and move on. Do not cop out to this but where the entrenchment of leadership other than the senior pastor exists the church lacks vision. We all know what happens when there is not vision. But don’t forget, when you lead there may be fireworks but if you are still standing at the end of the debate, the Kingdom wins.
Do everything you can to remove these reasons from your church culture. When you do, the kingdom will win!
Dick Hardy is the Founder and President of The Hardy Group, an Executive Consulting firm for senior pastors of churches. Everything but preaching is his theme. Dealing with the stuff that keeps you up at night is his focus.
Dick brings a wealth of experience to the table for pastors when dealing with the tough issues of the church relative to growth, organization, leadership, administration, and change. His service as Administrative Pastor at two mega churches and as Vice President at a flagship denominational Bible college makes him a resource your church will want to retain. Dick is also available to serve as a speaker on this subject and many more.
Copyright © 2009 by Dick Hardy. Permission is granted for the free redistribution of this article. You may contact Dick at dhardy@thehardygroup.org or visit the website http://www.thehardygroup.org.
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