Dave DeVries over at the Missional Challenge has a post with some challenging thoughts from Neil Cole, author of Organic Church.
Christianity isn’t a movement in America because most American Christians are consumers, who expect pastors and church leaders to serve them, rather than rolling up their sleeves and getting involved in the mission.
Cole is pretty blunt: “People in the pews are irresponsible, and pastors let them stay that way.” Dave DeVries adds this insightful but equally blunt observation:
Codependent pastors allow dysfunctional churches to exist. This prevents missional movements from ever starting.
Dave has zeroed in on the problem with laser precision — and when I move from planter into pastoral ministry, I pray that I can keep this in mind: Codependent pastors allow dysfunctional churches to exist.
Part of my own story is recovery from addiction – in my case the addiction was alcohol, and I’ve been in recovery for over 21 years by God’s grace. Part of that journey included several years of regular meetings of AA, during which I also became acquainted with other twelve step recovery programs. I know that not everyone has a good experience with these programs but in my case AA, or more precisely the relationships I built through the AA community, are some of the many means God used to lead me to Christ. I also learned a lot along the way about codependency and dysfunction, and I’m glad to hear another writer talk about declining churches using this sort of language. Tom Bandy has used the same language in his book Kicking Habits: Welcome Relief for Addicted Churches.
A few years ago I read an essay with the blunt title of, “Your’re the problem, pastor!” The author of the essay talked about various sorts of church dysfunctionalities, but came again and again to the same difficult point: no matter what the problem in the church is, it’s the pastor’s job to exercise leadership that moves toward a problem resolution, and more importantly to get beyond problem resolution (maintenance) to mission.
Reminders of this sort are not only necessary for existing churches that may have fallen into a comfortable maintenance mode — a church planter needs to know about this universal tendency of churches in order to avoid falling into that trap, but it isn’t going to be easy. What often happens with church plants in the early period is that the launch day is the only item on the radar screen. After launch, the fledgling congregation goes into a mode of trying to reach sustainability in terms of numbers. As soon as the new congregation reaches a level of membership that can sustain the operating budget and staff salaries, there is a tendency to relax and get comfortable.
At this stage some churches make what is ultimately a fatal mistake: they build a building too early. The church is comfortable, the budget is met, and the leaders are tired of setting up chairs and sound system in a rental facility every Sunday. They are longing for a break. So they take a risk, get a loan and buy just enough land to build a building that’s big enough to hold the present congregation with some headroom for growth — if there are a hundred people in the congregation, the building will have seats for perhaps 200. What the leaders often don’t realize is that a facility that’s only sixty percent full begins to feel crowded. When it’s eighty percent full it has a stifling feel to the point that visitors will not feel comfortable. And so the fledgling church tops out at the 120 barrier, bound by a building that was bought too early.
But the last two paragraphs should also be making alarm bells ring – there’s something missing. The mentality behind the last two paragraphs is inward-directed. It’s already heading toward a maintenance mode; there is nothing about an outward-directed mission which has as its focus the blessing of the external community without regard to the church. We ought not to be about just blessing and increasing our own tribe: Jesus was very promiscuous when it came to healing and feeding. Most of the multitudes who were fed, healed, or cared for were simply blessed and allowed to leave. If we want growth that is healthy, we need to apply the principle of selfless mission: If we bless the community, it will be costly in terms of effort and sacrifice, but if the community sees a congregation that is committed to mission in this way, growth will come. If we serve our own numbers, our growth will be illusory. If we serve by incarnating the presence of Christ in the community in a way that increases human flourishing and honors him, Jesus himself will increase the tribe. We need to be biblically and missionally faithful.
For me as a church planter, tranformation is key: if I’m not transformed by Jesus, made into a new creature, a new husband and father, a new leader, then I don’t have anything to give to a congregation. When I’m studying and praying I need to let God’s Word interpret me, to let God’s Spirit show me the idols I’m serving (comfort, security, power, popularity, influence) and show me not only the superficial sins I serve, but more importantly (ht to Dick Kaufmann) the sin beneath my sin. If a congregation is going to be truly missional, it needs to be a community where God’s Spirit is continually transforming and renewing. As a church planter and pastor, I must be continually transformed and renewed if I am to lead a congregation. Like everyone else, I have issues and insecurities that drive parts of my behavior, and I need to let God through several means to open up my issues and expose them to the transforming power of Christ. As I am continually converted and transformed, I can help in leading the congregation through a similar process, which is painful, but absolutely necessary to real congregational vitality.
A few other resources that speak to the same issue:
Leading Congregational Change, by Herrington, Bonem et al
