Okay, I might as well admit it. I’m a typical football fan. I’m mostly interested in offense. I know the birthdays and blood types of the offensive players, especially the so-called “skill positions,” and don’t know much about the defensive players. Shame on me.
But my football watching habits also have something to do with my philosophy of ministry: I’m passionate about getting on offense and staying on offense as much as possible. When it comes to church ministry I’m talking about:
- Having a clearly defined “product,” a description of a growing disciple of Jesus which our church is seeking to produce
- Implementing a ministry process for making these disciples out of the “raw material” of lost people
- Working on sermon series’ far in advance and making sure that each series will contribute towards creating those disciples our leadership team has described
- Focusing on discipling, not counseling
- Putting serious time into the equipping of Christians for ministry, instead of trying to do it all myself
- Training as many persons as possible to participate in personal care, so that it doesn’t all fall on my shoulders
- Writing enough policies (not too many and not carved in stone!) so that the board doesn’t have to keep talking about the same issues, over and over again
The “catch” of course is how to get on offense when you’re back on your heels playing defense, glued to the phone, running from crisis to crisis, “a quivering mass of availability,” as one writer called it. Some pastors spend their entire ministries in that miserable mode. Most of us struggle with it regularly. “I would plan if I had time.” “I’m too busy to train people for ministry.” “I would like to have better small groups, but I don’t have the energy to re-educate the leaders.” With sympathy for the struggling and as one who has played on the wrong end of the field far too much, I offer the following suggestions:
Take time outs regularly. Do you have at least one day off per week? Have you tried a monthly retreat day? Sometimes we just need to catch our breath, to think and pray about how we’re using our time.
Start training people for ministry right now. You will not likely ever get out of the defensive mode until you start putting serious time and effort into equipping people for ministry, as in Ephesians 4:11ff. You probably know how to do all sorts of ministries, from teaching the Bible to pastoral care to leadership to greeting guests to Scripture reading to ministry management. Great! Now teach these skills to other people so you don’t have to be a one-man show. There are many ways to equip others for ministry; find some ways that work for you and get started.
Get serious about coaching your staff members and volunteer ministry leaders. A great team has a great coach. Every time. In 2022, staff members and volunteer ministry leaders are starving for coaching. They want to be noticed, loved-on, appreciated, trained and helped with their problems. Meet with them regularly, and ask some simple coaching questions. Yes, this is time consuming. In the short-term you’ll be tempted to think “I could do this faster myself,” but in the long-term, your coaching efforts will result in skilled servants doing great work.
Get a coach. Can you imagine a football team without a coach? Do you know a pastor who seems to be playing offense? The cost of a monthly lunch would probably persuade him to help you. Just by asking good questions, your coach can help you to get on track.
Take a half time. When my team is doing badly in the first half, I’m always hopeful that they can turn things around at halftime. A well-coached team often does. Maybe you need a study retreat of a week or so every few months to plan sermons and other initiatives. Perhaps you need a sabbatical of a month or more to re-think how you’re doing your ministry. Don’t assume that the board won’t let you go until you ask them. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Change the way you do team meetings. Most church boards put way too much time into management when they should be working on leadership and governance issues. While it’s true that some boards are addicted to these bad practices and cannot be helped, others are frustrated enough to be willing to get a fresh start with new, pro-active, healthy habits. Again, you won’t know how teachable they are until you at least try.
You may have to change teams. It’s possible that your defensive habits are so ingrained in you, and your parishioners are so accustomed to you being a “defense oriented pastor,” that the only solution is a fresh start with a new church. For the sake of God’s kingdom work, consider this possibility.
I know that much good can result from playing defense in football and in ministry: points can be scored, lost people can be won and lives can be changed. But the exception proves the rule. Scoring points on defense is not typical. Because I want my ministry to score big points for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, I want to play offense as much as possible. Don’t you?
As always, you have great insight into the church situation. I agree that most churches and pastors are playing defense and putting out fires more than doing the real discipleship ministry the church is called to do. I especially appreciate the advice to take some time off for preparation and critical prayer and planning. It’s often amazing what a different perspective is gained by being away from the normal schedule and being focused on what is really important. Great article.