Transcript No Slide Title

Leading Your Church to
the Next Level
Source: Herb Miller, Leadership is the Key: Unlocking
Your Leadership Effectiveness, Abingdon, 1997
Dr. John Chandler
www.rasnet.org
7/21/2015
Politics in the Church
• Politics: “the art of working together
to build/maintain positive ministries”
• Church leaders shouldn’t try to
eliminate politics, but develop a
political system that fits the
congregation’s size
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Small, Medium, Large Churches
• Small: 1-100 attenders
• Medium: 150-350
• Large: 450+
• Gaps: for “in-between” churches
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Priorities in Church Sizes
• Small: People relationships
• Medium: Meaningful Programs
• Large: Quality Performance
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Leadership Behaviors
• Small: Chaplain
– “Does pastor care about people?”
• Medium: Y Director
– “What can we do for the young people?”
• Large: Corporation President
– “How can we break 500 in worship?”
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Small Church
• Attenders expect high involvement
levels to give strong ownership and
involvement in decision-making
• Governing body meetings have
strong emotional climate
• You don’t have to be present at the
meeting to exert strong influence
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Small Church
• Majority vote doesn’t mean done deal
• Congregational decision-making
invested in key laity, not pastor
• Pastor viewed as chaplain or
outsider who won’t be there long
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Large Church
• Delegate considerable authority to
senior pastor
• Rather than participatory democracy
that functions by consensus,
attenders expect representative
democracy
• Leaders seen as having professional
expertise and inside information
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Mid-Size Church
• Want both!
– Some members expect to be consulted
for their stamp of approval on decisions
– Others expect committees to make
decisions
– Some expect pastor to be follower,
others expect pastor to lead
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Size Transitions
• As churches relocate across
invisible size boundaries, pastors
and congregations must readjust
basic assumptions concerning
procedures about decision making
and exercising authority
• Experience stress for 18-24 months
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Size Models
• Size = average weekly adult worship
attendance
• Each size has a governing model that
determines:
– decision-making style
– congregation, staff, and pastor roles
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1-40: “Farm Family”
• Like a farmer who has
lots of children to help
with the work
– pastor serves as supply
preacher for Sunday a.m.
– meets appropriate need,
and has “task” authority
– local residents make all
other decisions
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41-70:
“Farm family + migrant workers”
• Employs outside help for
specific tasks such as
baling hay
• Pastor preaches, visits,
buries the dead, marries
the willing
• Family delegates to
pastor authority for
specific ecclesiastical
tasks
– Authority for all else is
vested in family members
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71-100:
“Mom and Pop Grocery Store”
• Pastors are the
one employee
– are appreciated,
but serve more
than they lead
• Pastor’s role:
chaplain,
storekeeper
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101-300:
“Y Coach”
• Several specialized
programs operate
simultaneously
– some led by volunteers,
some by staff
• Senior pastor’s role like
YMCA or YWCA director
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301-450:
“Family Owned Business”
• Family members/owners
(members) cooperate
with paid staff to manage
• Staff equips and serves
standing committees,
which retain authority
• Congregation expects
coach to “win” games by
leading staff and giving
symbolic public
leadership to team
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451-700:
“Large Department Store”
• Staff are like
department heads
– lead committees
– provide most new ideas
• Senior pastor leads
staff like a store
manager leads his or
her department
managers
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701-900: “Shopping Mall with
Privately Managed Stores”
• Staff not only provides
committees with ideas, but
also vision-direction
• Senior pastor, like
executive of mall, has
control via:
– communicating overall vision
– determining budget
– selecting staff wisely
• Pastor is like a mall
executive deciding who
rents retail space
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901-1,800:
“Publicly Owned Corporation”
• Staff valued because they
bring special expertise to
corporation
• Standing committees
decrease
– only personnel, finance,
programming
• Short-term task forces
institute most of the major
changes in vision and
programming, led by staff
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901-1,800: “Corporation” (cont.)
• While lay-governed,
congregation is
primarily staff-led
– pastors do the leading,
people do the ministry
• Senior pastor’s role is
like that of a
corporation president
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1,801-3,000:
“Mini-Denomination”
• Sign on front lawn carries
brand-name denomination
label
• Congregation sends
money home to support its
parent (denomination), but
the parent needs the child
more than vice-versa
• Senior pastor is like the
CEO of a denomination
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3,001-10,000:
“Medical School”
• Care for spiritual
needs of attenders
• Teach other
professionals
– Publish specialized
literature
• Senior pastor
– often distinguished
writer and speaker
– influences staff
– influences leaders in
other congregations
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10,000+:
“ Large University”
• Medical, law, and other
schools or
departments, each
functioning under one
organizational umbrella
• Senior pastor is like a
university president
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Leadership Diagnostics
• Which size is your church?
• What adjustments would you have to
make to move up a size? Down?
• What resources would facilitate the
transition?
– books, tapes, speakers, conferences
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3 Conclusions: “Stress Costs”
• 1. There is
significant stress
upon size
transition.
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3 Conclusions: “Stress Costs”
• 2. Pastors and
congregations who
cross lines without
making behavior
adjustments are at
risk to endanger
their effectiveness
and well-being.
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3 Conclusions: “Stress Costs”
• 3. Most stress in
growing churches is
caused by leftover
behaviors from a
previous (and now
inappropriate) style
of leadership and/or
decision-making.
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So …
• One size doesn’t fit all!
• Does your behavior pattern fit your
present and desire future style?
• Are you thinking and acting like the
size you are called to become?
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Leading Your Church to the
Next Level
Dr. John Chandler
The Ray and Ann Spence Network for Congregational Leadership
Copy right John Chandler, 2000
7/21/2015