Blogotional: Pastors and Competition

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Pastors and Competition

This Out Of Ur post raises some really important questions.

Welch [ed note: Jack Welch former GE CEO] says the fundamental problem is that nonprofit people just can't adjust to the competition.

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1. Do pastors with a competitive background—perhaps having significant sports or business experience—lead with a greater focus on numbers in the church? And is this an asset or something to be cautious about? Does this explain the difference between pastors who shepherd and pastors who lead?

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2. Some pastors fantasize that if their church career doesn't work out they can simply grab a job in the business world. But is that true? Is Jack Welch right when he says most leaders in the non-profit sector couldn't hack it in the business world and should choose something softer?

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3. Does Welch's impression of non-profits manifest itself in our congregations when members (perhaps with a business background) get frustrated by the committees and lowest common denominator decision-making?

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4. Welch points out the challenge of leading people without money as an incentive. What does that leave the pastor in his leadership arsenal? How do we motivate, and does this make a pastor’s relational skills the critical factor?

I have reprinted all of these question because I think they are excellent ones worthy of attention but they are not where I want to focus this post. I want to aim this discussion of pastors and competition in a slightly different direction.

Competition is a health and maturity building circumstance. In a competitive situation we must improve or lose. The problem that this post outlines is that pastors made to compete on the "churchy" level improve at business stuff, but is that really the point of church?

The question from this in my mind is "How do we harness some force, any force, to drive pastors towards continual improvement on the things that matter?" There simply is no such force in the Evangelical movement because most of those churches are independent, there is no accountability.

Denominations have accountability structures, but largely punt anymore on using them effectively.

The answer lies, in my opinion, with lay leadership. As lay leaders, we must hold the clergy to account. This places on us as lay leaders a significant burden. Here are some of them in bullet format

We must strive to meet the highest levels of personal growth and integrity. See II Timothy.
We must hold each other accountable more aggressively than we seek to hold the pastor accountable
We must be graceful
We must be submissive without giving up the accountability function
We must have a strong sense of our calling to lay leadership
We must be as committed to our lay leadership role as we are to the other areas of our lives

I could probably list more if I thought about it, but I think you get the idea.

1 Pet 2:9 - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for {God's} own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;