Five Ways to Make Sure a Church Turnaround Fails
By There are a lot of churches out there in desperate need of revitalization. Usually, these churches will hire young, inexperienced men to be their pastors (because older, experienced pastors can get better gigs). Here are five mistakes I've seen guys make:
- Pick a fight (or be drawn into a fight) with a well-loved member of the congregation.
- Make immediate, dramatic changes to the Sunday service (especially the music).
- Be proud. Act like you know a lot more than the people who have been in that church and in that community for decades.
- Try to effect good reforms (change church polity, implement meaningful membership, begin to practice church discipline) before you have taught on them and convinced people that they are Biblical.
- Be impatient. Overspend your pastoral capital. Try to lead people before they trust you and are sure that you love them.
Michael McKinley's PostsTopics:
Church Planting/Church Reform
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Even experienced pastors can be tempted in these areas. We can start to believe our experience gives us credit we haven't earned in the lives of the people of our new congregation. Regardless of how many years we have been in ministry, we still need to develope a relationship of love and trust with people before they will respond to our leadership in meaningful ways.
Wonderful, wise words of advice. Unfortunately they're about 8 years late!!! But thankfully I can say, from experience, that these are principles that will be true in most churches and most situations.
I made just about every one of these mistakes in my first church 20 years ago. Ministry is a tremendous challenge when your elders are 15-20 years older than you are.
I remember Peter Wagner writing that a pastor needed an average of seven years in a church before attempting reform. Seems like an eternity when you're fresh out of seminary!
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