The Call of the Church Today – “On-site” or “Online”?

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onsite or online

The last three years have seen most churches push into digital and online ministry sooner than they would have expected. As you well know, for a time it was the only option really available to us for some of our ministries. At the time, some suggested that the crisis only hastened the inevitable move from physical to digital ministry. But, I would suggest – and I expect most of you would agree – that a church cannot really fulfill the full calling of God without a physical presence and ministry. Bill talked last week about the community of faith, and I want to push deeper into that by suggesting the need for churches to intentionally create cultures of warm and welcoming presence in our churches as a key part of that community of faith. While there is much that can be done and accomplished digitally, for the vast majority of our communities their fullest expression requires incarnation – a physical presence and experience.

We are now in a time when most churches are evaluating how best to move forward into this new chapter of ministry. Leaders are wrestling with what ministries to re-activate. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have been saying that we need to assess our ministries through the filters of vision and mission. Tradition, historical practises and programs, and especially “loud voices” should not be the sole driving factor in how we do ministry. We are in a new chapter with new opportunities as well as new challenges and limitations – all to be assessed and engaged from a perspective of vision.

In addition to prioritizing ministries that best fit vision, leaders have to steward limited resources (financial, people, facilities, etc), even as they sort out who is actually a part of their church family. Into this discussion we add the question of the place for online ministry with its opportunities, expectations, and limitations.

Let me suggest that church leaders address this last question by first spending time reflecting on the essential role of the personal, physically gathered, ministry of the church. A part of the strength and calling of the church is found in the personal interaction, engagement, and shared experience for the family of God. Additionally, a safe, engaging, personal community is something many people are missing, and looking for. More than ever, the full experience of the Church family has something the world needs.

I am not suggesting that you do not leverage online ministries. Online ministries provide us some great opportunities. While we should use “online” for it does best, we must also embrace “in person activities” for what they do best. Online can deliver information and content really well. It can help people get a picture of your church to inform their decision on whether or not to visit. It can even offer a measure of the relational component of the church – but not all of it.

People are unlikely to feel the warmth of your fellowship online.

So, friends, do not miss the opportunities afforded by online and digital technology. Keep pushing and asking what it can help you with. But be sure to intentionally consider what it does not do as well as “in person” engagement, and give appropriate attention, resources, and priority to those activities – especially the building of community through relationship. Work hard to make your church a warm welcoming environment. Start by modelling that as leaders. It can be hard work; it is easier to just focus on those we are already comfortable with. But our calling is so much bigger than that.

All churches, whether large or small, need to intentionally work hard to make people feel welcome. Most of the churches I talk to are seeing new people come – what a great opportunity that is. Let us not miss the calling to be warm welcoming communities, it is an essential part of our calling. Bill’s word to us is appropriate, and it is up to us to make that community of faith welcoming to all people. We must not miss this unique moment of opportunity. For that, you will need a strong “on-site” culture of warmth and welcome, for which “on-line” is a partner, but never a substitute.

Terry Kaufman
EFCC Leadership Catalyst

To be a Community of Faith

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a community of faith

 

“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.” (Acts 2:42)

“All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.” (Acts 4:32-35)

Above are two classic passages that describe the culture of the early church. It is dangerous to assume that this is the model for what the church should look like, in all locations and cultures, and in all times. However, I think it is fair to say that the core values represented in these passages are overwhelmingly reiterated in the rest of the New Testament. So, while the local church may be organized differently over time (and in differing cultures), these core values are key components to the biblical calling of the church.

I would like to argue that the overarching thing the church is called to is to be a community of faith. Neil argued this a few blog posts back. Ike highlighted in the last blog that we are a community on mission. And three blog posts back Terry reminded us that the church is called to feed the sheep – and sheep do not do well wandering around as individuals. They only survive in a flock: a community, cared for by a shepherd. There are numerous New Testament metaphors for this community. We are God’s holy temple (I Corinthians 3), Jesus’ body (I Corinthians 12), a holy nation, royal priesthood (I Peter 2) and so much more. All the metaphors point towards a community of faith. The passages in Acts reflect a generous, loving community of mutual submission – where my “stuff” belongs to God – and His community of faith.

We are called to live out the “one-anothers” in this community. We are not individuals saved for heaven. We are saved for community and a redemptive mission.

The church is not just called to be any type of community. It is Jesus’ community of faith. The early church met for the apostles’ teaching about Jesus the Messiah. They shared meals and their lives with each other. They “gloried”, especially in their (new) equal status as they celebrated the Lord’s Supper as a family meal. They prayed – seeking the Lord to move redemptively among them and those they loved and met. I love that the apostles “testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus!” This is that mission component Ike was talking about. Yes, we are people of the cross – but we are even more, people of the empty tomb. So often I hear us talk about the cross and how Jesus saved me, a sinful individual. And then? Complete silence on the resurrection. This sin management gospel is half right – but fully wrong! It is perfectly fitted for our individualistic, “Jesus and me, and now I have my ticket to heaven” culture. Yet in I Corinthians 15 Paul reminds us that we are people of the cross and the resurrection. Without the resurrection we are still dead in our sins. The resurrection raises us to new life in the here and now. The resurrection places us into the community of faith (by His Holy Spirit)! As His people we have the privilege in joining the apostles in testifying to the reality of the resurrection in word and by living in resurrection community.

May we answer His calling to be His generous, loving, community of faith!

Bill Taylor
EFCC Executive Director

Called to be On Mission with God

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called to be on mission w God

What is the Biblical calling of the Church? Depending on their giftings and agenda, this question has different answers to diverse Christians and leaders. But throughout history, the calling of the Church has been defined and shaped too often by its cultural context.

To answer this question biblically, we need to look at the biblical story. As we examine the Scripture closely, the biblical calling of the Church is to be on mission with God. Being on mission with God is the very essence and identity of the Church as it takes up its role in God’s story in the context of its culture and participates in God’s mission to the world.

In the biblical story, beginning in the Old Testament, there is an expectation that God’s people be involved in His mission to the world. The account begins with Abraham’s call (v. 3 – And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed) in Genesis 12 and continues in Exodus 19:3-6, showing that God calls his people to live in holiness and be a blessing to all nations and creation.

3 And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “This is what you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” (Exodus 19:3-6)

God also made it clear that the calling of the nation of Israel, God’s people in the Old Testament, is to be a light of the nations. Isaiah 49:6 says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the protected ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

While Israel’s history shows God working in their context to enable them to be on mission with Him, each stage in Israel’s story produced failure. By the time of Jesus, the Jews basically hated the Gentiles, seeking separation from them rather than being a light to them.

In the New Testament, from the Gospel accounts, Jesus’ ministry was a call to Israel to renew its role to bring salvation to the nations. Yet they still failed Him. The death and resurrection of Jesus are the means by which the community of believers, which becomes the Church, is empowered to be on mission with God and live a distinctive life that leads to not just individual salvation but to the creation of transformed communities of disciples in all places.

The Church in Acts is the continuation of the ministry of Jesus through the Holy Spirit as a witness of God’s work in Jesus to the whole world. The calling of the Church to be on mission with God is found in Luke 24, Matthew 28, Acts 1:8 and other “Great Commission” passages. In the Epistles, the writings of the Apostle Paul reflect the missional nature of the calling of God’s people. As the people of God in the New Testament, Paul linked the Church to the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit as God’s way to share the message of salvation through Jesus.

The Church is to live holy lives to attract and be missionary people to carry the message to others.

Peter reiterated the calling of the people of God in 1 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (cf. Exodus 19:5-6)

The biblical calling of the Church is to participate in the mission of God. This is our identity and the very essence of the Church. Let’s reclaim and obey our biblical calling for the glory of God.

Ike Agawin
ServeBeyond Director

To Bee or not to Bee

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to bee or not to bee

My wife and I are commonly known as “the Bees.” This moniker is not due to our honey-sweet disposition, or any stinging rhetoric we may employ. Rather it is a simplified rendering of an incredibly long last name. We are rarely called “the Bassingthwaightes,” for obvious reasons. However, being known as “the Bees” has led to our house being filled with bumble bee ornaments, tea towels, wall hangings, etc. Anyone walking into our home gets the connection – we are “the Bees”.

In this season of this blog, we are talking about the calling of the church. In this post I want to briefly remind us of our identity. To live out our calling we must know who we are, or maybe more aptly, whose we are. In 1 Peter 2 we read these words:

“…you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” (vv:9-10 NLT)

While much could be said about these verses, suffice it to say, they are a much-needed reminder that we are God’s people, designed to demonstrate his goodness. That is our identity. We are not first and foremost Canadians. We are not defined primarily by our jobs. Our earthly family of origin, as important as it is, doesn’t prescribe who we are as children of God. As people who have died to self and now live out the life of Jesus, while earthly realities remain; they are redefined within the framework of new creation.

We are God’s people. United together as one. A new family. Showing mercy to one another. Living out God’s good design for human life and flourishing. We are living images of Christ.

You will notice I have used similar language to Peter. I’m describing a reality that isn’t fully realized yet. When God rolls up saying “Bring out your dead,” my old self could say, “I’m not dead yet.” I need help.

Most of us, as good North American individualists think this is an individual problem with an individual solution – God’s Spirit at work in my (singular) life. This is necessary! But it also misses Peter’s point. Just like “The Bees” aren’t an individual, Peter is talking about our identity together – with one another. What if we took Peter’s cue and deepened the mercy sharing? Isn’t that practicing the “one anothers” of the New Testament? What if our “bumble bee paraphernalia” on display was mercy so over the top, that no one could miss the connection? Isn’t that who we are to be?

Neil Bassingthwaighte
ServeCanada Director & Interim Prayer Catalyst

The Biblical Calling of the Church Today – One Picture!

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one picture

In all of the most important ways, the calling of the church today is unchanged from her calling over the centuries. Peter was given a concise summary of that calling by Jesus when He said “…feed my sheep” (John 21:17). Of course, the Bible unpacks that calling much further as it talks about the work of the church. A more detailed description of that calling includes the call to provide strength, inspiration, and equipping to accomplish the great commission, to do works of service, and grow in Christlikeness (see Eph 4). Of course, “feeding his sheep” is only one metaphor of the work of the church, but it is an important one – rich in lessons. I had cause to think about this recently after I heard a friend speak into this issue, leading to a few considerations I want to share with you. So, in the form of questions, here goes:

  1. Is the church today feeding the sheep appropriately? This question has several implications:
    1. Are we feeding the people of the church the right stuff? By this I mean are we feeding “real food” or “junk food?”  Too many churches offer light, fluffy, sweet diet, or overly processed, pressed down, and refined offerings.  Are we offering what is tasty, or what is nourishing?
    2. Secondly, are we offering a well-rounded diet, or just too much of “one selection”? My wife makes sure that I get fibre, carbs, proteins, greens, and more, in my diet – all hopefully in appropriate amounts of each.  Are our churches feeding people appropriate amounts of encouragement, hope, peace, challenge, exhortation, calls to purity, righteousness, conviction, etc.?
  2. Additionally, I wonder if we are underfeeding, or overfeeding, the people of our churches? And connected to that, are we challenging our people to “get out and move.”  Physically, we need to eat the right amount and exercise too!  I have seen too many Christians whose faith and spirituality looks more overweight, lazy, complacent, and inactive than active and involved.  One of my doctors told me that sugar is a fuel, and our bodies can only do two things with it – burn it or store it.  And while we need to store a little, the majority of our “fuel” should be burned.  Are we helping our churches burn (use) what we are feeding them?
  3. Who chooses what we feed our churches? Are we offering what is most appealing to people, or what they need?  True shepherds feed sheep what they need, not just what they want.
  4. Are we creating environments of hunger for good spiritual nourishment? Or, more accurately, what are we doing to create just such environments? Are we nurturing hunger for good spiritual nourishment.
  5. Finally, I ask, are we teaching people to nourish and feed themselves as well? Are we equipping them to properly handle the Word of God to provide healthy spiritual growth, challenge, and encouragement?  A measure of healthy independence is important in feeding our flock.

This biblical calling for the church to feed HIS sheep is as important today as ever.

In fact, our challenge in doing so may be greater than ever because there are many pedlars out there offering people diets that replace the healthy diet the church has been entrusted with.  And, unfortunately, there are too many churches who compromise their own spiritual kitchens and do not spend the time or effort (or courage) to provide the healthy robust diet of God’s Word and its call on our lives, but rather opt for some fast food equivalent.

“Feed my sheep.”  What will our great Shepherd say about the job we are doing as churches in feeding His sheep?  We are accountable to him for doing that well.  And today, more than ever, we need to caste a vision that creates a hunger in people for that robust diet, even as we provide them with as much of it as we can.

Terry Kaufman
EFCC Leadership Catalyst

The Biblical Calling of the Church Today

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biblical calling of the church today

Happy New Year friends! I trust you had a great Christmas break. At the start of a new year, we launch a new blog theme: the biblical calling of the church today. Since I am first to address the new theme, I am going to cheat – I am going to emphasize what the church is not called to. I will let my esteemed colleagues take the first shot at the positive side of this question.

I was reading Matthew 10 and was struck anew at Jesus’ call to the disciples. He sends them out to “go and announce…that the Kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!” That’s quite a call! It is a call to generous sharing – of God and all He has given us by His Spirit to this world. This sounds very romantic. However, Jesus reveals that His people will not always be accepted by this world. They will be rejected, flogged, stand trial, and betrayed by brothers and parents. In effect Jesus says, “I am the master of this household and they called me the prince of demons…the members of my household will be called by even worse names!” (10:25).

The call on the church includes a call on each of us to not be afraid of those who want to kill our body but cannot touch our soul (Matthew 10:28).

It is a call to acknowledge Jesus before this world (10:33). It is a call to take up our cross and follow Jesus, even when that costs us friends and family (10:35-39). Jesus makes it clear that He is not calling His people to popularity, political power, or even good old fashioned “family values.” This is a good reminder to a North American church that feels it is losing its good standing and influence. Many Canadian Christians long for the “good old days when the church was viewed positively – a beneficial institution that created good citizens. In that old world we enjoyed popularity, privilege, political power and moral hegemony. It is too easy for us to assume that our good standing in the old world is the plan of God. Many who believe this want the church to work politically to reclaim that power and privilege or to save “the family.” But the call of God has always been to pick our cross and follow Him. Jesus seems to call us to something bigger than the nuclear family. He calls His church to be a family of faith that welcomes prophets and offers a cold cup of water to the least of His followers.

We all understand how much the culture in Canada has changed. I will be sending you an extended book review on Bruce Clemenger’s book “The New Orthodoxy” very soon. He outlines how the political and moral landscape in Canada has shifted over the 30 years he has worked in Ottawa with the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. What we are not called to is fear. And the church is also not called to forcibly try to recapture the popularity, privilege, political power and moral control that we once had. Our call of announcing the Kingdom is not as difficult yet as it was for the early church. But it may get more difficult for us than it has been. May we avoid reacting in fear and looking to political saviors to restore the old good standing in society that was so comfortable for us.

Bill Taylor
EFCC Executive Director

Leading with Love

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leading with love

The Bible is a book of love. The Apostle John summarized the story of the gospel in John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son.” The story of the gospel is the most incredible love story ever told. Because God loves us, we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). Loving God and others is a requirement upon all true believers, particularly Christian leaders, pastors and missionaries. Christian leaders are to lead in love.

When addressing leadership competencies, leaders do not typically focus on love. Many excellent materials have been written describing leadership qualities like courage, charisma, conviction, visionary thinking, self-discipline, decisiveness, and many others. Yet little literature is written about leading in love. The New Testament makes it clear that love is indispensable to the gift of leadership. The New Testament mandates that spiritual gifts are to be exercised in love. The Apostle Paul states that any attempt at leading apart from love is like “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1). A church leader with excellent leadership skills and qualities but not love is bound to fail (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

When leaders are lovers of God and people, their followers will likely be lovers of God and people.

If leaders are self-centered, critical, proud, angry and impersonal, the people will adopt these ugly inclinations.

The Scripture insists that leaders be examples of love. 1 Timothy 4:12 says, “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.” Love is vital to the local church and essential to its evangelistic witness to the world and spiritual growth for the true believers in Christ. Ephesians 4:15-16 therefore, command us to “15…speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

Leading with love pleases our Lord. Let us grow our love for the Lord and others as we lead in our circle of influence. Love is indispensable to you as a leader and to your ministry.

Ike Agawin
ServeBeyond Director

Leading from One Year into the Next…

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Leading from one year into the next

As we find ourselves at the end of 2022, we look forward to the next year with an optimism we have not had for several years. And while we hope some of the challenges of 2022 to be behind us, it would be naïve to think that 2023 will not be without some of the same continuing challenges, as well as some new ones.

With that in mind I have been processing what I have seen or experienced about effective leadership in 2022 that needs to be taken with us as we lead from one year into the next. I want to share just a few of these observations with you. While I know that these observations are neither new nor profound, for me they are important starting blocks for us in 2023 as leaders.

So, in no strategic order, here are six leadership priorities I have seen evidenced in 2022.

First, I think leaders, in this time more than ever, need to hold and express humility. You can have all the wisdom in the world, but if you do not operate with humility what you build risks being little more than a house of cards that could collapse easily with the first missteps or failure.  Humility puts you in a place where you can survive mistakes, and are empowered to try again. And truthfully, we will all make mistakes. We have seen over and over in 2022 how people struggle to respond well to leaders who do not embrace a humble spirit. Additionally, humility is a core element to other leadership priorities.

Case in point – 2022 has continued the recent tradition of instability and change. And while some of that change has been predicable, some of it has not. Thus an essential leadership priority going forward will continue to be flexibility (which requires tremendous humility). I have said this before, and I will say it again: do things as experiments, be willing to change, adapt, pause, flex, start, and stop. That approach, appropriately applied, will continue to pay dividends in a time of rapid and unpredictable change.

Thirdly, leadership moving forward continues to need a commitment to reliability and dependability. Leaders who went silent, or absent, during COVID did not lead well and eroded the future of their ministry through that avoidance. Our churches need leaders who will continue to show up, whose dependability is manifest.

Fourthly, I would suggest that we need leaders who are anchored in the essential truths of the gospel. Good leadership recognizes, and works with, the distinction between “the essential” and “the non-essential.” We must be theologically sound. Leaders need to be able to identify and hold to the essentials and resist the temptation of allowing non-essentials to win the day and direct our decisions.

Build on the essentials, not the extras.

Fifthly, leaders will always need courage, but especially in strange times like these. We need courage to fight the temptations of the leader to cater to the loudest voices, who often are not the most important voices (those with needs, or wisdom, or grace, or impact). We need courage to anchor only in essentials, and to allow room within our congregations for differences on non-essentials. We need courage to be reliable, and even to be flexible.

Finally, I would say leaders need to be listeners – wholistic, intentional, wise, and disciplined listeners – who listen to voices even outside their own comfortable chambers. That is hard work, especially since we must be wise in the voices we listen to. But we need to listen to wise voices (find a mentor!), to those most impacted by your decisions, to our community, even to those with whom we disagree.

I recognize that there is much more that could/should be said about each of these, as well as other leadership priorities that could be mentioned. But I suggest these to prime your own thinking on this. What leadership principles and priorities do you want to work on and leverage in 2023? I would love to hear what you are seeing, learning, experiencing, and wanting to develop. Drop me note. I want to listen!!

Terry Kaufman
EFCC Leadership Catalyst

Building into the Next Generation of Leaders

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building into the next gen of leaders

Much has been said about the loss of church attendance in North America over the last several years. It’s concerning, but I’m not sure it is the “sky is falling” event some make it out to be. Hasn’t the church always been one generation away from extinction? Isn’t raising the next generation of leaders always a key task for the church to continue to thrive?

As someone who started my ministry years working with youth, I have always had a heart for the next generations. I suspect most of you readers are leaders and pastors in your churches. As you contemplate your role as a leader, I want to encourage you to identify the up-and-coming leaders. They might only be 10, or 14, right now. Yet, building into their lives now is vital in developing their leadership potential. As a tween and teen, I had leaders build into my life. They modeled life with Jesus and how to lead well. That was crucial in my development.

Here are a few basic, yet important, principles for building into the next generation of leaders. You may already be doing these well, but it’s always good to be reminded.

Value young people – Make sure the children and teens in your church know they are valued, and that you care about them. Are you getting to know what makes your young people tick? In your preaching, do you strategically place elements into sermons that connect with children and youth? As you connect with people, do you listen to, and interact with, children and youth on their level? About their interests? Do the young people in your church understand that they are just as loved and important as adults?

Give young people ministry responsibility – A group of us teens (way back when I was that age – somewhere in the dark ages) went to our pastor and asked if we could lead a pre-service worship time.  I still can’t believe they let us do it, but they did. I’m sure it caused discomfort for some of our adults. But our pastor and leaders stood with us, had our backs, gave us freedom to be ourselves, and helped us navigate the tensions. I wouldn’t be in the place I am today without that experience. I’m grateful those leaders took some arrows for me. I’m convinced that experience should be normative for our young people. I believe we must engage our young people in significant ministry opportunities across the entire life of the church now, not tomorrow. How many of your young people have you entrusted ministry to, in your church?

Stand with your young people when they fail – They will fail. We fail! They will too. Failure can be the doorway to new growth. Helping developing leaders cope with failure and grow from it will help them become more dynamic leaders. Walking away from them when they fail, will likely see them walking away from us. Do you believe in your young people enough to take the arrows for them?

Make space in your church service for all ages – Make sure every child knows this is their church, not just the church of their parents. The only sure way I know to do this, is by plugging elements into Sunday (our most visible time) that make space for all ages. Why would they want to lead something that only belongs to their parents?

Coach/Mentor Young People – I deeply valued it when another adult took time to mentor my kids. Having some godly people, other than parents, in their lives was an incredible gift. You can be that gift. I’m not talking about formal mentoring, just simply doing life together.

To come alongside a young person to listen, learn, grow, and share is an incredible gift you can give.

There are lots of other things we can do to build into the next generation of leaders, but the things above are important, in my experience. If we could live those out, I believe we are on the way to raising up another generation who are deeply passionate for Jesus and will lead his church well.

Neil Bassingthwaighte
ServeCanada Director & Interim Prayer Catalyst

Finishing Well in Leadership

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finishing well in leadership

“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:23)

Every leader would want to hear this commendation from the Lord at the end of their time here on earth. Every leader wants to finish well.

But in Dr. J. Robert Clinton’s research on biblical leaders, historical leaders, and contemporary leaders, he concluded that few leaders finish well. About one in every three leaders finishes well. We can observe this in the Bible; even today, many Christian leaders fall from grace and do not finish well.

We know very well why many Christian leaders do not finish well. I John 2: 16 tells us that the lust of the flesh (illicit sex), the lust of the eyes (abuse of money) and the pride of life (power & pride) are the common causes of the downfall of leaders. However, in Dr. Clinton’s study, he outlined six characteristics of effective leaders who finish well, lessons we can all learn from.

Six Characteristics of Leaders who finished well[1]

  1. Leaders who finished well maintained a vibrant personal relationship with God right up to the end.
    Daniel in the Old Testament and Peter, John and Paul in the New Testament demonstrated this in the tone of their writings. They all demonstrated the touch of God, the revelation from God and their trust in the enabling grace of God in their lives that made them finish well.
  1. Leaders who finished well maintained a learning posture and can learn from various sources – life especially.
    They continued to study and learn from the Scriptures and were life-long learners. Futurist Alvin Toffler once said, “The illiterates of the future are not those who can’t read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
  1. Leaders who finished well manifest Christlikeness in character as evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.
    In the New Testament, for example, we note the evidence of character transformation in the life of the Apostle Paul. Over his lifetime, Paul moved from a strong personality with roughness in his leadership style to a strong personality with gentleness.
  1. Leaders who finished well lived out the truth in their lives so that convictions and promises of God are seen to be real.
    Joshua’s statement about God’s promises having never failed him in his closing speech demonstrates this characteristic of someone believing God and staking his life on God’s truth. (Joshua 23.14).
  1. Leaders who finished well left behind one or more ultimate contributions.
    Effective leaders left behind lasting legacies.
  1. Leaders who finished well walked with a growing awareness of a sense of destiny and see some or all of it fulfilled.
    Over a lifetime, a leader is prepared by God for a destiny, receives guidance toward that destiny, and increasingly completes that destiny. No biblical leader who accomplished much for God failed to have a sense of destiny, one that usually grew over his lifetime.

These are some of the characteristics of leaders who finish well. Finishing well in leadership involves intentionality in the leader’s life. It just does not happen by chance. Above all, God is also the One who develops the leader over his lifetime. Leadership evolves and emerges over a lifetime. Leadership is a lifetime of God’s lessons. This is why Dr. Robert J. Clinton defines leadership as a process rather than a formal position:

Leadership is a dynamic process in which a man or woman of God with God-given capacity influences a specific group of God’s people toward His purposes for the group.[2]

Do you want to finish well as a leader? We can learn from these characteristics. The Apostle Paul warns us in I Corinthians 10:12 – “Therefore let the one who thinks he stands, watch out that he does not fall.” This is a piece of sound advice for us all.

Ike Agawin
ServeBeyond Director

[1] Clinton, Robert J. The Making of a Leader: Recognizing the Lessons and Stages of Leadership Development, 2nd ed. (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2012). p. 204-207
[2] Ibid, p. 10.

Leadership’s Battle with the Binary…

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leaderships battle with the binary

This or that. In or out. Up or down. Left or right. Black or white. Our world is filled with binary choices where options are often reduced to right versus wrong. While there is a need for binary presentation and responses to some absolute truths, I want to suggest that, as leaders, we default to binary thinking more than we should, and this is to the detriment of the people and organizations we lead.

We are in a ministry season of rebirth, reforming, restarting, and rebuilding.  And while our ministries need strong leadership in these uncertain times, I believe that as leaders this is also an important time for us to re-examine how we lead.  Older patterns of leadership may not have the same efficacy in this new era. And one of many areas I believe leadership needs to carefully consider is the place of the “binary” in processing, decision making and communication.

I must begin by affirming again that there are areas of theology where a definitive stand is necessary.  But scripture is less (or more) than black and white in many areas of theology and most areas of methodology.  As leaders we cannot compromise the essentials of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  But it is imperative that we do not make absolute what is not.  In so doing we model a dangerous pattern for those we lead, who will then also codify and absolutize things that do not belong in the “essential” file folder.  This can lead to conflict and chaos in our ministries. In fact, much of the division in churches comes not from the essentials but how we hold and navigate the non-essentials.  As leaders we must practise and communicate being biblically discerning in this battle with the binary.

Langer and Muehlhof, in their extremely helpful book Winsome Conviction, make the argument that we have lost the ability to nurture, value, and live with, a middle ground where options can be respected, discussed, even encouraged.  Our culture is instead polarized and argumentative. Leaders who lead with that binary polarized posture are not leading well.  As we communicate with people, as we respond to people, as we think about people, we must be careful about a hardfisted binary approach where everything is right or wrong, and we are arbiters of those parameters.

Leaders, as you work hard to reignite, reshape, and rebirth ministries, I implore you to be very careful where you draw hard lines.  Certainly, our world needs now, more than ever, leaders who will hold the appropriate hard lines, but even then we must hold them firmly but with a soft tone.  But, most issues are not hard line/soft tone issues, they are soft line/soft tone issues.

A soft line/soft tone means we seldom say “never” or “always” in our ministries. We start, or restart, events and ministry with words like: “We will try this.”  “We will do it this way for now.”  “We will continue to listen.” “We will consider options.”

As leaders it is important that we set the tone and show and practise drawing hard lines in the right places and drawing soft lines elsewhere.

Our world is divided and polarized and argumentative. The battle of the binary (in or out) feeds the antagonism of our culture. But not all who disagree are enemies and other models and options are not necessarily wrong.

Our culture does not need a mirror of itself in Christian Leadership. It needs an inspiring model that is grounded and equipped by the gracious gospel of Jesus Christ, but leads with a humility and generosity that is different than what we often see.  Our ministries need leaders who can discern the essentials and absolutes, but are willing and able to resist the temptation to put everything in the either/or world and instead wrestle with the messiness that comes with courageous leadership.

Terry Kaufman
EFCC Leadership Catalyst

Leading into Unity

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leading into unity

I can remember the moment as clearly today as if I was still standing there. I had just left a board meeting that had not gone well. Being new to this pastoral role, I was about to call my dad and mentor (I am a pastor’s kid). As I walked home to get on the phone, I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks with a sobering realization! If I handled this the way my father would have I would end up with a church in conflict. There was another way that would more likely lead to harmony. My world shifted as I realized I was not going to ask him for advice this time.

The internal struggle of a pastor in a congregational church setting is often between what he thinks is the right decision and what the congregation or lay leaders think. That simple sounding three letter word, “lay”, is where I realized my problem resided. By thinking of myself as being different from, and therefore above the “lay” people, I could justify my pride in thinking I know what God wants of the church and the board members or congregation do not.

Leadership in a congregational church is predicated on the conviction of the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:5). This conviction is illustrated when “…the apostles and elders together with the whole church…” (Acts 15:22) indicated that, “…it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” (Acts 15:28) what the decision should be. This account reveals two principles of community decision making that have been my guide ever since that day on my walk home from the meeting.

  1. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit – The point of the discussion was not to win the argument but to determine the direction of the Holy Spirit. God’s will seems to have gradually become evident to all as all spoke and were heard.
  2. It seemed good to all of us – In Acts distinctions are made between different roles in the church (apostles, elders, the whole church), but when the decision is written down these distinctions are absent (Acts 15:24-29). I take this to mean that everyone’s input was given equal weight.

… it is impossible to reflect the image of God if there is no unity in the church.

It would be easy to consider this a matter of leadership style or personality except for the fact that it is impossible to reflect the image of God if there is no unity in the church. Jesus said “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them, and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.” (John 17:22-23). What is more important, that I get my way in some decision that will be forgotten a few years from now or that the congregation I lead demonstrates the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? I know how I answer this question. I aim to lead in such a way that the unity of the church takes precedent over my agenda.

Marvin Penner
EFCC Alberta Parkland District Superintendent