“But you, keep your head in all situations…”
The Apostle Paul in II Timothy 4:5a
In meteorology, a perfect storm is a rare occurrence in which a combination of circumstances creates an unusually destructive weather event.
In ecclesiology (churches), a perfect storm happens when conflict occurs in an unhealthy church atmosphere and is handled poorly – or at least inadequately – by the church’s leaders.
I described the phenomenon and how this happens in “A Perfect Storm In A Local Church.” I wrote about getting through a perfect storm with a clear conscience in “SURVIVING A Perfect Storm In A Local Church.” Last week I had the privilege of writing about how God’s grace shows up in the midst of, and in the aftermath of our perfect storms.
As much as we love experiencing God’s grace any time or in any way we can receive it, let’s do what we can to prevent these perfect storm events from happening in the first place. Make sense?
I’m making this very brief today but I’m giving you a number of links and may return to some of these suggestions in future posts.
So, by the grace of God, here’s what you can do to prevent perfect storms from forming in your church:
(1) You can go all-out to create and maintain a healthy, happy church culture. A good culture is characterized by much prayer, joy, thanksgiving, evangelism, hospitality, worship and giving. A healthy church studies the Bible together, not as a Christian past-time, but to get equipped to serve each other (Ephesians 4:11-12) and to make disciples out of the raw material of lost people (Matthew 28:19). See my little book, especially created for classes and small groups, “A Really Great Church!”
What’s the connection to storm prevention? It’s a lot like lawn care; the experts tell me that the best defense against weeds in my yard is healthy, well-watered grass. People in a healthy church culture have better things to do than to fuss and fight.
(2) You can teach everyone you can about God-honoring conflict resolution. The Bible has a lot to say about how God’s people can handle their inevitable conflicts in ways that help us grow and give glory to God (Ephesians 4:15, I Corinthians 10:31). Sadly, many churches don’t “go there;” they neglect this important subject until they find themselves in the midst of a mess. This ongoing project – which is never “one and done” – should start with the pastor and board putting their expectations for healthy conflict resolution in writing. This material can be taught at many times and in many formats and will, eventually, become the well-known “norm” for your congregation. A truly healthy church will never consider an individual for leadership who has shown him/herself unwilling to handle conflict God’s way.
(3) You can work towards a strong and loving leadership-followership relationship (I Thessalonians 5:12,13, I Peter 5:1-4, Hebrews 13:17). Once again, this is something that doesn’t “just happen.” Pastors – with help from godly, cooperative board members – can develop a church culture in which pastors and board follow the guidelines of the Scriptures and the leadership of the Holy Spirit, together, with the congregation giving their loving leaders both the benefit of the doubt and their whole-hearted cooperation. It really can happen, but it takes deliberate “cultivation.”
(4) You can teach Biblical ethics constantly. Churches which proclaim a gospel which requires no repentance and a Christian life which requires no holiness can expect the fruit of their compromise: constant outbursts of carnal behavior. Congregations which are used to hearing about Spirit-empowered godly living are not surprised when their leaders respond to immorality with godly church discipline.
(5) You can teach and practice Biblical church discipline. Having broached the subject, it’s important for me to define “church discipline.” While the term isn’t used in the Bible, the practice is (see I Corinthians 5:1-6:20 for starters). Church discipline – done in God’s way – isn’t harsh, judgmental or insensitive – it’s simply the godly and loving response of God’s people to a brother or sister’s destructive or self-destructive behavior. But church leaders who abruptly attempt to practice church discipline without having carefully taught about the subject can expect a revolt.
(6) You can prepare church board members to deal with potential storms. Here in 21st century America, we have been blessed with a myriad of books on the subject of board member ministry. There are a number of formats which people-equipping pastors (Ephesians 4:11-15) can use for board member training. In the last analysis however, it’s probably studying Scripture and sharing and praying together that best equips a team of leaders to face their inevitable challenges The board which has studied and prayed through passages like Psalm 37 together, literally or figuratively on their knees before God, is ready for just about anything.
(7) You can get and stay outwardly focused. Some of you have heard this from me before. When my grandsons were little, strapping them in their child safety seats in the back of the car, with nothing to distract them, was a formula for conflict. They would go after each other before you were even out of the driveway. An inwardly focused church is almost inevitably going to be a fussing, fighting church. We were never meant to be happy while focused on ourselves and each other. The actual abundant life (John 10:10) is experienced in the church which is laser focused on the Lord and the lost (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8).
(8) You can empower the board members to hold each other and the senior pastor accountable for ethical, godly behavior. No passive/aggressive behavior: “going along to get along” in meetings while sabotaging the pastor’s proposals in private. No “withholds:” things we need to say but never mention. No elephants in the boardroom: subjects everyone is thinking about and nobody is talking about. No family exemptions: in which we won’t deal with Fred’s sin because he’s related to three board members. No pastoral partiality (I Timothy 5:21): which keeps us from mentioning a popular, church-growing pastor’s glaring faults. No bypassing of the pastor’s annual performance review because we don’t want to be forced to speak the truth.
Finally: No denial in the face of conflict or controversy. I say this to my shame: I was once guilty of denying the existence of a developing storm until it did serious damage. Looking back, I wish my fellow leaders had been more confrontive with me, though I blame myself, not them, for the ensuing carnage.
(9) You can teach and expect Biblical Christian maturity. The Apostle Paul expected 5 year-old Christians to be well past the point where they boasted about their favorite preachers and divided up into factions. He would have had no patience for our common practice of swapping churches because we’re “not being fed,” as he expected growing believers to feed themselves. People will live up, or down, to our expectations. See I Corinthians 1-4 and Hebrews 5:11-6:3, I Peter 2:1-2 and II Peter 1:5-11.
(10) You can seek help early and often. The first century church had Apostles to help them with their storms and potential storms (II Corinthians 1:3-7, 6:11-15, I Thessalonians 2:5-12). Today we have denominational leaders, consultants and wise-old, retired pastors available to almost any church, ready to help us with our thorny issues. Sometimes it’s not necessarily brilliance we need, but just a set of outside eyes and an objective head and heart. Churches could be spared so many perfect storms by simply asking for help earlier, rather than later. Our American spirit of proud independence keeps us from asking and results in innumerable, unnecessary, tragic outcomes involving churches which make the same mistakes made by countless others before them.
QUESTIONS FOR CLASSROOM, SMALL GROUP OR BOARDROOM DISCUSSION:
- If possible, talk about a perfect storm which your church has experienced or which you experienced in another congregation. What can we learn from these situations?
- Go through all ten of Brian’s suggestions and talk about the extent to which your church is ready for any potential perfect storms which might come your way.
- What needs to be done, starting today, to storm-proof your congregation?
