I have always felt that those who teach and lead in ministry should be involved on the practical as well as the theoretical level. So one year ago I began pastoring a small church (85 members) in the Washington metropolitan area.
My involvement came about in this way: When I found out that the pastor of this church would be retiring, I began wondering if the opening would provide me the opportunity to once again practice my pastoral skills. I decided that if I could find two other persons who shared the same vision, we could, as a team of volunteer ministers, adequately meet the pastoral needs of the church.
With the approval of the church board, Graham Bingham, Derris Krause, and I all of whom have had pastoral experience formed the original staff. Unfortunately, before our team could even begin functioning, Graham moved to a new responsibility in Oregon. So it was just Derris (who works for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency International) and I who ended up with the challenge.
We have experienced again the joys and trials of pastoring. We preach, visit, teach, and counsel. We have been awakened to solve marriage crises, have counseled families with money problems, and have visited the inactive and the discouraged. Perhaps the greatest satisfaction has come from working with a church willing to change and adapt so as to be relevant to its own members and to the local community.
During the past year we have made changes in the worship service: we have added more singing (10-15 minutes of it) at the beginning of the service and introduced a meditation period as part of the pastoral prayer. And we are in the process of completely overhauling our adult Sabbath school. (Instead of the traditional program and one large Sabbath school class, we will have small groups that focus on studying the Scriptures and on mission.)
Our worship service continues to evolve as we consider how to make it more inquirer-based. Our music is also changing: we're making both our sound and our words more contemporary. Sentiments that met the needs of seventeenth-century people often don't meet the needs of those who live near the beginning of the twenty-first century.
While tradition is helpful, there is nothing sacred about it. The religious leaders of Jesus' day often challenged Him because He wouldn't blindly fol low the traditions of His church. He taught His disciples how to discover what is relevant and how to determine what should be discarded.
Don't lose your job
So how do you go about changing the status quo in your church without being changed for another pastor? Very care fully!
Develop a relationship. Before you, as the pastor, can make any change, you should develop a trust relationship with your church members. This relationship is nurtured when your people sense that you have at heart their best interests rather than your own. The members also need to see that you have a passion for people, for whole people that you are concerned about their worries, their joys, and their development as complete persons in Jesus Christ.
Demonstrate a need. Once relation ships have been developed, you must demonstrate a need. People do not change, churches do not change, if they feel no needs. Use your pastoral skills to develop a "divine" discontent. You can do so by sharing informally and formally what is happening in other churches, by asking questions about why this is done and why that is done, and by listening to and highlighting the questions that your members themselves raise.
Surface and process solutions. Once you have made the church aware of the need, you then work through small groups to bring solutions to the surface. Processing these solutions, these changes, is very important. Do not bypass the established structure, the boards and committees. If you do, you will soon discover some unhappy people.
Evaluate the changes. Whenever you introduce change, convey the message that it is temporary, or conditional. Few people will object to change when you tell them that it is not permanent, that if they don't like it they can always go back to the old ways.
When we changed our worship service, we told the congregation that we would implement the changes for one quarter and then evaluate the changes. At the end of the quarter 41 persons filled out a three-page evaluation form that asked questions about the changes and that made room for their own comments as well. The responses showed wide acceptance of the changes.
One great advantage of an evaluation system is that it tends to quiet those who resist change no matter how much the church needs to change. The data such an evaluation provides often allows you to counter their arguments that "most of the people are against this" and "it really isn't working." It gives you in formation that can be the basis of open discussion, providing an opportunity for clarifying misconceptions and misunderstandings. As this dialogue continues, the church will continue to change.
If you take it slowly, one step at a time, one item at a time, you will be surprised how easy it is to bring about growth in your church.
This past year has given me a new appreciation for the readers of this magazine the pastors who read and implement what we publish. I now look at Ministry from two perspectives those of producer and of consumer. May Ministry continue to become ever more relevant to your needs as pastors.
