Chapter
7 : Secure in Team
“Just
as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not
all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body,
and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts,
according to the grace given us.”
(Romans
12:4-6)
Security in the local church starts at the top! We've looked
in Book One at personal security and so now in this chapter we'll look
at some aspects of leadership, particularly the benefits of team leadership,
the difficulty some of us have coping with team, and ways we can work
it out.
7.1
Team is ‘in'
Fads come and go - as much in the Christian arena as in the rest
of the world. In management circles it is just as common. A number of
years ago a leading News magazine suggested the world was suffering
a crisis of leadership, indicating their belief that real leadership
was thin on the ground. Perhaps it was just that the world was waking
up to the benefits of team leadership. However, for Christian leaders
you need to be quite secure to be able to operate as part of a team.
Business management gurus fluctuate between management by team leadership
and management by hero-specialists but it seems that at the beginning
of the twenty first century, for many in the Christian world at least,
team is in, but is this a passing fad or are there real lasting benefits?
Specialists
or team in the Bible?
Does the Bible show us one man ministries or ‘team'? The
answer seems to be both. Let's examine it:
a)
One man ministries
There is a strong case for recognising specific ministries
in specific people. In 1 Cor 12 where Paul lists spiritual gifts he
says (v.8-) “To one there is given… to another.. to another”
etc. Then later in v.28 he says “God has appointed first of all
apostles, second prophets, third teachers” etc. Similarly
he says in Eph4:11 “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some
to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers”. Similarly
the Romans 12 verse at the head of the chapter opens the way for Paul
to again explain different gifting. This is the language of specialisation,
so clearly God does gift different people in different ways to perform
different tasks.
In the life of the Acts, at first sight, Peter seems to
be a one man ministry in Acts 9:32 - yet when he is invited to the Gentiles
he takes some of the other brothers with him (10:23).
Philip in Acts 8 is probably a better example of a man apparently ministering
on his own, yet it has to be said he was really ministering out of a
crisis situation (persecution). Apart from Jesus, in the New Testament
it is fairly difficult to find men ministering on their own. If we were
desperate we would point to John the Baptist but he was clearly pre-kingdom
(Lk 7:28), more in the mould of an Old Covenant prophet.
b)
Team ministry
Set against the above verses are the constant references
to us being a body, e.g. 1 Cor 12:12-27, where Paul makes the
point that all the members of the body need the other members and no
one is more important than the other. In Eph 4:12 the gifts
of ministry are shown to be used to prepare the bulk of the church for
service, acting as a body. In Rom 12:4,5 before Paul explains gift differentiation,
he explains that we all belong to one body. Thus the individual gifts
of ministry are not to operate in isolation but together in harmony,
just as the parts of a natural physical body operate.
When we consider Jesus' ministry we see that he taught and enabled
the twelve and then the seventy so that they could then go out in teams
of two. On the day of Pentecost when the Spirit was moving so powerfully,
we find in Acts 2:14, that “Peter stood up with the Eleven”,
i.e. he ministered with a 'team' around him.
As Acts develops we find more and more indications
of 'team ministry'. In 11:25,26 we find Barnabus and Saul acting
together in a teaching ministry in Antioch. Immediately afterwards
(v.27) there is reference to travelling prophets, indicating
a team. In Acts 13 on when Luke takes up Paul's story it is team
all the way along.
7.2
Facets of Team
Benefits
of team
We need to consider the practical issues of team versus
the man on his own. For many of us in leadership, especially in smaller
churches, all we've ever known for so many years has been one man ministry,
and therefore it is difficult to think of working in a team.
But is this because we've grown used to being alone, or is it that we
are fearful of what it means to be answerable to others.
I said earlier that you have to be secure to be able to be a leader
working as part of a team.
Working
in team - A personal testimony
Over the years I have operated as a second string to a
one man ministry, then as the one man ministry alone, then as a one
man ministry with a younger man alongside, and finally as a primus
inter pares - a first among equals in a team. The particular
part of the church that I function in is one that has elders or, in
more recent years, simply ‘leaders'. Our own church now operates with
three couples as the primary leadership team and then we have a number
of other leaders who lead various activities within the church. Yes,
in the main leadership team we have three couples - which of course
means it includes three women.
While I come from that part of the body that still holds
to the view that Scripture clearly indicates that the buck stops with
men when it comes to leadership (and I appreciate you may come from
a different school - I'm just sharing how we work), we also recognise
that our wives are also gifted and frequently have wisdom that we three
men lack.
Because I am the main full time leader
in our team, I am the one who tends to initiate new moves or suggest
new moves, yet the views of all six of us are considered of equal value
and we make no decisions unless we are all happy about it. Each of us
reading this chapter come from different parts of the Church, and thus
we have different experiences. I'm only sharing our experience by way
of an illustration for those who may never have had the opportunity
to work in team. All I can say is that as we have operated in this in
recent years we've found it increasingly beneficial.
Friendship
team first
For us, our failures in past years have been mainly to
do with communication and even when I became loosely involved with helping
another church, I saw the root of their problems was to do with lack
of communication. So our leadership team meets on a weekly basis and
talks, prays and drinks coffee together - we communicate! When we come
together it is not on a formal organisational basis but on a friendship
level. The most important thing is not the Agenda (which we do have!)
but “how are you?” Our relationships are more important than business.
I've seen over the years that you can have a working relationship but
if it isn't bedded in friendship it's a formality which is vulnerable
to attack.
For those of you who may belong to a larger church with
a number of employed staff this may seem strange language but, I would
suggest, Jesus never called us to be an organisation. He called us into
relationships. Whatever we do as we grow larger, I'm certain we've got
to seek to maintain friendships in our leadership, for it brings a completely
new dynamic. Does a large church have to be devoid of close relationships
between its leaders? Does frequent change caused by growth mean we can't
develop close friendship relationships?
Perhaps one of the reasons these words may create negative
reactions in some of us, is that we've turned ‘church' into business,
and business is run by professionals, ‘hero-specialists'. Unfortunately
businesses also turn out standardised, uniform ‘products' which is not
what Jesus was doing! The Gospels and epistles are a testimony to the
differences in men. In God's creation there is amazing variety. Because
a leader is paid to ‘do his job' does this make him a professional?
No, it depends on his outlook, how he views what he does. My church
pays me to be the senior leader but I am there to work within a team
context, releasing others into ministry.
Wider
Leadership
I said above that we have a leadership team of six and
the responsibility for what goes on rests there. But that doesn't mean
they are the only ones involved in ascertaining from God the direction
for the church, or planning its implementation. At various times we've
done it in different ways, but one way or another we seek to meet regularly
with our other leaders and give them an opportunity to share anything
they feel God saying, comment on anything we're proposing or make suggestions
in respect of anything we do. We genuinely want our wider leadership
to feel that their views, their input, is important, that what we are
and what we do is partly because of them. Ultimately our primary leadership
team is responsible, but we'll involve as many others as possible in
formulating and implementing direction.
Security?
Do you see where security comes into this? Do you see why
it is so important? It may be in respect of the leader himself, it may
be in respect of the people. It may be that we lead the way we do because
we lack security. It may be that because of the way we lead we either
create security or perpetuate insecurity. If you are a strong character,
a strong, dynamic, authoritarian leader you may appear to have the church
running with you - and growing - but what have you got in reality? A
people who follow a man (not Jesus!), a people who follow the rules,
a people who conform to the human expectations laid upon them. What
happens when either the leader is taken away or you leave? Loss of focus,
awareness of spiritual immaturity or spiritual poverty that was masked
by reliance on a human being or a human structure.
A
Need for Understanding
If team is to work well and is to create the security I've
been talking about, it is vital that we understand the gifting and roles
of the members of the team. Let me illustrate this by reference to another
small church I knew which operated with a leadership team of two couples.
All four people were wonderful people, although they had not been moving
in leadership very long and they had had tensions which they found difficult
to cope with. In this foursome, one man and one woman (not marriage
partners) were highly pastoral and caring. The other husband and other
wife were both highly prophetic, but in completely different ways. The
prophetic man had amazing insight into the reality of what they were
doing in the present, and he smelt out unreality at a dozen paces! But
he wasn't very good in seeing into the future. The prophetic woman was
a visionary who caught sight of what God was bringing their way months
before anyone else got a glimmer, but she wasn't very good at seeing
what was going on under her nose.
So what happened? At a leadership meeting the two pastoral people
were concerned with the general needs of the church as it was. The prophetic
couple found this frustrating. Every now and then the prophetic visionary
lady came up with a new idea, and the others all looked at her blankly.
They, not realising she was catching God's heart for nine months down
the path, were not enthusiastic and she, not understanding the dynamics
of what was happening, felt rejected. In the meantime the prophetic
man was aware that in certain of their activities they were playing
games and not being real with one another. When he shared this with
the others, it was his turn to receive the blank stare. Life in team
was not easy. They needed understanding of their gifting and an ability
to recognise and accept the other members of the body with their functions.
Being
Real
The Christian fallout rate, as I've said elsewhere, is
great at the change of the centuries. Many people are disillusioned
with religion, disillusioned with ‘church'. Unreality is rife, with
people filling pews but feeling unfilled, or unfulfilled! Team, if it
dare be real, is an ideal vehicle for revealing unreality. If there
dare be one person in the team to say, “I think we've missed it, I think
we're kidding ourselves, I think this is boring”, then we have a hope.
Church that continues week in, week out, doing the same thing with little
sense of the dynamic of God's presence is in a rut, and if you walk
up and down in the rut long enough you've dug a grave.
But ‘being real' without grace can be selfish and harmful insensitivity.
Some of the things I've said in the chapter on Disagreeing Gracefully
apply here. If we are to bring our team into a place of security,
a place where people can be real, and a place where people can voice
their genuine concerns, we sometimes have to learn how to be graceful
in the way we speak in both proposing new ideas and in disagreeing with
them.
For instance, in our own team, I recognised (with the help
of my wife!) that as the prime initiator, I very often put the team
in an awkward position. My language used to be, “God said to me that
we ought to do this….” (and I was quite genuine in my belief, and often
right). Where did that leave the team? Shut down! What can you say to
that? You're either disagreeing with God or you're saying to the prophetic
character, “You're wrong!” Either way it is awkward and very difficult,
and if the listeners haven't had time to think about what you've just
brought you may be rushing them into a wrong reaction. It puts an unnecessary
pressure on the others to either conform to my way of thinking or scrabble
for grace to disagree without causing major confrontation.
So what is the alternative? Simply to change the language:
“You know I've been having a feeling which could be from God that perhaps
we could…… what do you feel about the subject?” This is less dogmatic,
less definite, this allows room for discussion and offering of alternative
opinions. I might be wrong, I may not have heard from God but I'm secure
enough in Him and in my team to believe that if I've heard from Him,
He'll confirm it and show them that it's Him. If I am wrong then their
gentle disagreement may have saved me from looking a fool!
So what about disagreeing gracefully? How do we disagree
with one another without appearing to attack or reject one another?
Retorts like, “That's crazy!” or “I can't go along with that” have an
element of attack about them. The alternative approach that doesn't
put the previous speaker down may say, “That's interesting, that sounds
good. Could……. be an alternative solution perhaps?” or “Yes, that sounds
a possibility, yet I've got a little nagging worry inside. Are there
alternatives we could think about, or even go away and pray about?”
In doing that we are actually acknowledging that
what the other person has come up with is a valid possibility, and unless
it's something absolutely crazy - which is fairly unlikely - it could
be right, even though I disagree at first sight. This opens the
door to consider other possibilities without it writing off the original
person. You may come back in the discussion to agree that their original
offering was right in the first place!
In each of these situations what we're doing is saying
indirectly, “I respect each of you, and I want you to have space to
express your thoughts and feelings so together as a team we can arrive
at the right answer before God”. Our inability to see these things is
probably an indication of our insecurity, our need to always be right.
While we are like that, we will be a hindrance to creating a secure
team and a secure church.
Avoid
Rigidity
One of the things that seems to go wrong in church life
is that people are appointed to roles and at some later date, because
it doesn't seem to work out, are stepped down, often causing hurt and
upset. Rather than create rigid organisational structures which later
cause problems, sometimes it is better when creating a team, to simply
invite people in for a while to fulfil a particular role for a set term.
For instance in your team you might say to
an individual or a couple, “We'd like to get a wider viewpoint for a
while, yet we don't want to burden you, so would you like to come and
be part of the team for the next two months, just to shed some new light
for a bit.” If after the two months the individual or couple doesn't
seem to be fitting in and are instead simply causing tension by their
presence, then you simply thank them for their time with you and their
time comes to an end. If on the other hand it is obvious that this is
where they should be, then you can invite them to stay for a further
two months. If after that, they seem an integral part of the team now,
you just invite them to stay on.
Our aim here, in seeking to create a secure church, would be
to love and respect this couple in such a way that we don't put them
in an awkward position where they are functioning beyond the grace that
God provides for them. If, in the example I've just given above, we
don't feel the new individual or couple are right for a long term role
in the leadership team, we don't want them to feel that we are rejecting
them; it's just that we are coming to a realistic assessment of their
grace gifting and releasing them back into their ‘grace zone'.
7.3
Accountability
The insecure person feels threatened by the thought of being
accountable to another, but in fact accountability brings an amazing
sense of security. Imposed or structured accountability brings tension,
guilt and shame and control of one person by another. Accountability
that comes out of a relationship provides protection, love, care, security
and freedom. Accountability comes through many different levels.
Below are five suggested levels of accountability.
I would suggest that we need a minimum of three if we are leaders, if
not all five. Senior leaders in particular, are very vulnerable and
as I have watched over the years, I have seen leaders, major national
speakers and have felt on occasion, "Are they accountable to anyone,
because if they are, then they will be pulled up for that behaviour."
That's not being unduly critical,
but it is acknowledging that when we are speaking publicly, there is
no room for being derogatory about others, or chiding the sound technicians
or whoever else it is who is struggling to create the event, and when
we are seen to do that regularly it is clear there is no accountability
and the impact of the word is diminished. So what are the areas
of accountability that will protect us?
1.
Me with God
Ultimately I am answerable to God and hopefully I am open to
hear God, yet history shows that leaders go off the rails, which means
they either don't hear God or reject what they are hearing. So yes,
we need to remind ourselves if we are leaders that we are accountable
to God, first and foremost (1 Pet 4:5)
2.
Accountable to my Partner
My wife holds me accountable when no one else will say anything.
There needs to be a gentleness and grace in this but truth is important.
She needs to be able to praise me when I do well but point out when
I missed it. There are times when I'm very much aware of my failures,
but at other times we can plough on in blissful ignorance and it needs
the gentle word of the one closest to us to bring us to the truth.
How many of us in leadership are separated from our partners
by our ‘work'? How tragic! If we've never come to the place where we
can communicate openly together without it being seen as an attack,
we've really missed out on something. My wife is my best encourager,
but she also needs to be allowed, and encouraged, to tell me when she
feels things are not right.
I have heard 'behind the scenes' of leaders
and their wives who are at odds over his ministry. That means it is
a very dangerous situation. I would suggest that unless our wives are
completely with us we are prone to major attack and deception.
If you are a leader and your wife has a problem with you and your ministry,
I would suggest that here is a simple warning from the Lord that there
is an area of your life that needs attention - working with your wife
to bring harmony, working with the Lord to receive wisdom.
3.
Accountable to my Leadership Team
Because I'm much more involved in the life of the church than
the rest of my leadership team, I need to keep them fully informed of
what I'm doing and what I intend to do. I know they are completely for
me. They encourage me and up-build me, but they also protect me by warning
me off when I'm moving more by presumption than by faith, when I'm moving
in unwise ways.
If they never check me then I can't feel secure.
It's a bit like me with my wife's clothes. If she is buying new clothes
she'll ask me, “What do you think?” She needs an honest answer - although
she may not always like it. If I always say, “That looks great” my judgement
is meaningless. If from time to time I say, “Well you've got things
that look a lot nicer than that” she knows that I feel negatively about
what she's trying on, and unless I'm able to be negative about some
things, my approving comments become meaningless. The same thing applies
to my team. They need to be free to express unhappiness about things
I'm proposing, things I'm doing. The negative things they say bring
a sense of protection and caring, the positive things are just direct
encouragement. I need both and they bring it.
4.
Accountable to my church
This really stretches your security! I said earlier that we had
a monthly meeting called News & Views where anyone could come and
ask questions about what we're doing as a church or make any comment
they like about what's happening. That gives people an opportunity (which
not all take) to feel part of what goes on, and if we as the leadership
were off beam, I hope people would tell us so.
It just provides one further means of holding me accountable.
A little while ago some of the teens criticised the preaching on a Sunday
morning. My reaction to that was, “Well what I would like you to do
is listen to the preaching, tell me what you think is really wrong and
suggest how that could be remedied.” I even gave them a sheet to fill
in! The reaction of one of them was then, “Oh blow! We'll have to start
really listening now!” Excellent, and if you can come up with some constructive
comments, those of us that preach will really appreciate that, and if
it means our preaching improves, the church will be pleased as well.
We may not agree with everything said, but at least we'll really listen
and check it out.
5.
Accountable to my mentor
I will be suggesting elsewhere in this book the benefits of having
a personal mentor, someone with age, wisdom and maturity to whom my
life is open. I have actually said to such a person, "I would like
you to hold me accountable and feel free to pick me up on anything in
my life that you see and are not happy about. I would like you
to feel free to ask me about any area of my life and I will endeavour
to give you and honest answer." I believe if we are unable to do
that with someone, if we are a leader, it is an indication of our insecurity.
Big powerful leaders at this point object that
their mentor may not have the will of God. That is simply a defence
mechanism that tries to cover up our personal insecurity. If we
are sufficiently secure in the love of God, then we can afford to have
people who we trust, say things that may challenge or check us.
If my ministry is of God, then I can afford to put it on pause while
I check out with Him that things others have said. The inability to
do this puts a serious question mark over our security in God.
7.4
Other Accountability Features
So far we have just considered a leadership team as being a group
where there is a need for security to create security, but there are
also other team situations where the same is true. In fact any area
of service in the church benefits when it is being done by a team, whether
it be administrative functions, children's or youth work, evangelism
or music. Let's focus on the last of these to illustrate some of the
problems and some of the blessings.
I have to admit as I have watched over the years in various
churches that the musicians or ‘the worship group' seem to have a greater
potential than most for causing difficulties. I will be very honest
and say I am not a musician, the only non-musician in our house, and
I speak as a leader who has looked in from outside. So what are the
main difficulties that seem to need to be overcome to avoid problems?
1.
Specialists
If you are a musician you are specialists, you play music,
and many of us don't. You have musical ability, you have practised and
maybe you have even taken exams. To play publicly you have a measure
of natural competency and therein is your vulnerability. Very often
musicians are performers, they are often specialists with a particular
instrument. They have the potential for creating something beautiful,
something stirring, something soothing, something with an element of
heaven about it.
They are, therefore, in line for praise - and pride! The better
they are the more difficult it is for them to receive suggestions from
mundane non-musical spiritual leaders. They believe they have technical
ability (and they may indeed have great ability) but in a church worship
context they are to bring a spiritual dimension through music to the
congregation. Herein, in all this, there is danger which is only countered
by servant heartedness and humility.
2.
Heroes
But what is true of musicians is true of any ‘ministry'.
As we've indicated already in a previous Chapter, wherever there is
a specialism, there is a potential danger. Listen to an evangelist and
saving people is the most important thing in the church. Listen to a
pastor and caring for the sheep is the most important issue. And so
we could work our way through a range of ministries. Because that is
our ministry we feel it is the most important and when we're doing it
well, it's the most fulfilling thing going! And because of that we can
become Prima Donna's, or a hero worthy of adoration.
That's the temptation, and that's where being
part of a team helps keep us in check. Working with others, relying
upon others, being open to others in deepening relationships means our
egos can be confronted and checked. Watch any Christian superstar and
you are watching the potential for disaster, disaster in the form of
pride or arrogance or even illicit relationships.
John Sandford in Why Christians Commit Adultery admirably
catalogues the downfall of the Christian leader working alone. The pressure
of work means he's away from home, increasing blessing and more work
means extra tiredness. Tiredness means strains on relationships at home.
Meanwhile in the office, the secretary or whoever the other woman is,
recognises the great ministry, understands the pressures and feels for
him. Concern becomes care, becomes a wrong relationship, all because
the leader is a hero, a success, a great man of God. Yet if our man
had been working in a close knit team, accountable to the team, warnings
could have been given, steps taken and disaster avoided.
3.
Spiritual Weariness
In every area of ministry weariness is a common feature.
Constantly giving out is tiring whether you are a musician, a teacher,
an evangelist or a counsellor. Working alone means that we plough on
regardless, loosing a sense of perspective and burnout is the end product.
When we work in a team other members of the team spot the signs and
start making warning noises. A while back our other leadership couple
looked at my wife and I and said firmly, “You need a weekend off” and
promptly started making arrangements to ensure we were rested. We were
blessed!
We all of us need looking after, especially after we have
just been involved in intensive ministry. If we're away from home we're
vulnerable to the wrong sort of caring advances. If we're part of a
team we can be protected.
7.5
An Ongoing Update and Concern
It is now a number of years since I first wrote this book and
quite a lot has changed. Our church has changed and developed and we
now have three couples instead of two, and I have already updated that
in the text above. If church is an organism as against an organisation,
it is likely to grow, develop and change and i believe our has done
that. We, like any church, have had our struggles and difficulties in
growth. The Church across the country has also changed a lot and struggles
and difficulties are not uncommon.
For instance I have heard comments about accountability
and some of what I hear disturbs me. For example, the church which,
in its efforts to clarify accountability has its paid leaders fill in
time sheets, accounting for every minute of the day. This raises questions
which, I believe, few outside full-time leadership are qualified to
answer.
Why shouldn't spiritual leaders be accountable for
their time in the same way that say an office worker is. Why shouldn't
the flock know what their leader does, especially if they are paying
him? Why shouldn't they ask if they are getting ‘value for their money'?
At first sight, at least, these appear reasonable questions. There are,
however, questions that lack understanding, I believe, of Biblical principles
and pastoral concern. let me explain it by putting my concerns under
three headings:
1.
Theological Concerns
i)
Failure to recognise ‘calling'
It seems that this demand fails to take into account the
uniqueness of the full time calling of a spiritual leader. If we are
referring to the position of an elder or other spiritual leader in God's
Church, we could hope that a) they have a calling from God and that
b) they are in their present role as a result of that calling which
has been recognised by the local church and, where applicable, this
by apostolic roles. Ideally this calling has also been ratified or ‘energised'
by tested prophetic words.
ii)
Failure to bring honour to the call
A case could be made from Scripture that such roles come
under the heading of ‘anointed leadership' for those the Lord calls
He also anoints. What this does is add a further dimension of respect
or honour to the role as well as direct accountability to God. Thus
the concept of the ‘hired man' should not be applicable. This is not
a man ‘hired' by the people and at their beck and call. He is first
and foremost at God's call, which is serious accountability.
iii)
Failure to distinguish between shepherd and hired man
The pictures of shepherd and hired man that Jesus used
(Jn 10) reveals that the shepherd (called by God) will be one who lays
down his life for the flock and does not run away in the face of hardship.
Those who see themselves as ‘hired' easily give up and even leave when
the way gets tough. Love for the flock is burned in the heart of the
true shepherd. From the viewpoint of both the leader and the flock,
it is important to know that this is a shepherd and not merely a hired
man.
2.
Practical Concerns
i)
Struggling with Expectations
From the outset, most people going into full-time leadership struggle
initially with the expectations that they believe are upon them. “Am
I using my time wisely, am I being seen to be using my time wisely?”
and “How do I determine the extent of the expectations upon me?” are
common and familiar questions that those in full-time ministry experience
and it is rare for those outside of such ministry to understand these
particular pressures. For many in full-time ministry it takes a long
time to overcome such pressures.
ii)
Struggle with Legalistic Analysing
For those who wish to impose control on ‘their' spiritual
leaders by the implementation of strict guidelines or job descriptions,
this may seem a legitimate requirement, but this invariably leads to
a legalistic analysing of the role which then requires more and more
directives to satisfy such critics. What is a legitimate activity in
this leadership role becomes the key question and this pushes aside
the theological considerations and submerges the pastoral concerns which
follow.
iii)
Struggle often means Human Effort and not Spirit
The more the individual is put under scrutiny the more he is
likely to struggle to rise to the expectations laid upon him and the
less likely he is to be flowing in the Spirit. He becomes more concerned
with what men think than what God thinks. To combat this tendency (which
is possible) means additional (unnecessary) struggle.
iv)
Struggle inhibits Ministry
If the leader is struggling in the ways indicated, it is
likely that he is receiving a very wrong view of church and is therefore
likely to be passing on a legalistic view to those to whom he ministers.
What he receives he passes on. To avoid that becomes yet a further struggle.
3.
Pastoral Concerns
i)
Imposing a bureaucratic burden
The desire to impose strict procedures upon the full-time worker
may arise from a variety of motivations. It may be because of a belief
that the Law requires it, or it may be out of a belief that this will
help the leader be reassured about his role, but the reality so often
is that it simply adds a bureaucratic burden which distracts the leader
from his work and detracts from his calling. In his role he is likely
to be someone with an especially highly tuned conscience (before God)
and he is unlikely to administer this casually and may tend to fall
into over-conscientiousness which imposes worry where it should not
be.
ii)
Imposing a ‘watched and not trusted' mentality
The requirement to account for his every minute imposes on the
leader a sense that he is being constantly scrutinised (to a level very
much higher than in many businesses) and that he is not trusted. It
actually imposes a divide between him and those who seek to hold him
accountable.
iii)Imposing
Distraction to his calling
The role of a spiritual leader should, surely, involve him being
more concerned than average to ‘hear' the Lord and to be able to receive
His wisdom and revelation for the caring for the flock. Stress, pressure
and anxiety all detract from this ‘hearing function'.
iv)
Submerges Pastoral Concern: Law over Grace
Possibly the greatest harm that this approach brings is to push
pastoral concern for the leader into the background. As with
almost anything in the Christian realm these things can be done by Law
or Grace. Everything about this approach considered so far falls under
the heading of the Law.
The approach of grace substitutes love and concern for suspicion
and mistrust. The primary questions to bless the leader, and keep him
on the right track must be ones that involve love and encouragement,
such as “How are you doing? Are you feeling fulfilled in what you are
doing? How can we help you in your new role to feel better in it and
feel you are achieving God's purposes for you?”
The genuine pastoral-concern approach
releases the spirit of the leader with a sense of being loved and cared
for. This naturally opens up the leader to whoever he is accountable
to. Thus in that way he feels far more free to openly talk about what
he is doing and his concern about it without threat.
I
am aware that for some leaders in specific parts of the church where
they form part of a large organisational hierarchy, these thoughts may
seem strange yet I believe the latter ones about pastoral concern especially,
are vital to the creating of a secure leadership whether that is one
man or a team.
7.6
And So?
What
have we covered in this chapter?
•
The New Testament seems to indicate both
individual ministries and team
working; the two are not exclusive.
•
A team based on friendship relationships
provides a much better
environment to create security.
•
For a team to work well we need to understand
and respect and honour
one another's different gifts or ministries.
•
If we dare be real in a team, the ensuing
security becomes very strong.
•
Attention to language in a team opens
the door to greater openness,
honesty and subsequent security.
•
Rigidity of team structure is to be avoided
if we wish to avoid hurting
people.
•
Accountability is an important safeguard
that is brought by the use of a
team.
•
Within the team are means of overcoming
the dangers of specialisms, of
being a hero, and of over tiredness.
So, can we check those things out in our closing
application questions:
Do I know the experience of working in a team, or does
my church have teams working within it?
Do I understand the different gifts and ministries we have
in our church that cause people to have differing priorities in outlook?
In our leadership in my church, dare we truly be honest
with one another as to what we feel about all that happens in the life
of the church?
Do I see the need for accountability and to whom
am I accountable?
Is our experience one of rigid team or of flexible/changing
team where people can come and go without being hurt?
Do I see the value in a team of overcoming the vulnerabilities
of specialist ministry, of overcoming the pride possibility of me being
seen as a hero, and of me becoming over worked and over tired?
Where I see the value of these things but fail to see them
being worked out in practice, how can I receive the grace and wisdom
of God to bring them about?