By Wes Pastor
I’ve benefited greatly from John Piper’s public preaching and teaching. But one of his most needful insights was shared years ago over a meal with NETS pastors and pastors-to-be at Joe’s American Bar & Grill in Boston. "Leaders, senior pastors have to make hard decisions in order to protect their congregations."
Simple, prescient, and profound. Protecting your flock often requires difficult and decisive action. And that requires courage. What does it look like to lead a church courageously?
Greet Your Guests – and Be Willing to Show Them the Door
A steady stream of visitors is the dream of every revitalization pastor! But leaders need courage to vet guests carefully and not simply rejoice over higher numbers. When our church was about five years old, a successful multi-level marketing couple started to attend. After their second Sunday visit, I met with them and quickly discerned their eagerness to build their business through our church. Now, without implying any judgment on multi-level businesses, I told them that our church was not in play, and asked them to move on. I felt that their mission was a potential distraction from the mission of our church.
But sometimes visitors truly are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Not long ago, two men started to attend our weekly men’s outreach event. Both seemed biblically literate, and they both assumed a teacher's posture. Upon meeting with them I learned of their strong adherence to the Church of Christ (i.e., Restoration Movement) doctrine, including its conviction on baptismal regeneration - a clear heresy. Of course, I asked them to leave.
Watching over your flock includes paying attention to those who newly grace the doors. Courageous leadership works behind the scenes and makes hard calls, selectively intervening to protect God's people.
Know Your Mission – and Accept No Substitutes
Revitalization pastors also need courage to address secondary issues that threaten to become primary. This can be a particular challenge because such issues are generally not intrinsically sinful, and often even involve doing good. In the 70's and 80's, Operation Rescue’s singular focus on ending abortion consumed many well-intentioned churches. Today, many churches are enamored with social justice, often taking a Rauschenbusch-like approach to God's kingdom.
But secondary issues represent a real threat to the vision and mission of the church to make disciples of all nations. And they must be addressed – all in good time. Revitalization pastors face two equal and opposite temptations: to address everything immediately, and to avoid conflict. Do neither: Both timing and courage are critical to savvy pastoral leadership.
When I planted Christ Memorial in 1992, we attracted a number of homeschool families. And that was no surprise, because we were one of them - I homeschooled my own five kids! But it became clear that some families were more excited about homeschooling, and about their families, than about Christ's mission. Some were even unwilling to socialize with public school families, citing a possible bad
influence on their kids. Before long, we became known as “the homeschool church,” and few public school families attended. As schooling factions emerged, the unity of the church was threatened.
So my wife and I decided that, once our children reached middle school, we would enroll them in the public school. It was a hard decision, but it was critical to keeping our church on mission. We lost some families we loved. But we also lost our “homeschool” reputation, and gained families from all schooling commitments. This led to a growth spurt until we became, at that time, the largest Baptist church in the state. Today, homeschool and public school families fellowship freely here – including the children and grandchildren of some of those original members.
Preach Hard Truths – and Be Willing to Lose the Popularity Contest
Finally, leaders must have courage to preach and teach hard doctrines from the pulpit and across all ministries. The "felt needs," Willow Creek movement begun in the 70's took American evangelicalism by storm and left the church doctrinally weak and missionally confused. Hard gospel doctrines like repentance, God's judgment, the reality and eternality of hell, God's electing grace, and the necessity of fruit to validate faith professions took a major hit and are still out of vogue today. And it’s worse in a church revitalization context where the gospel has already been largely lost. These doctrines must be reintroduced with conviction and patience.
In the early days of Christ Memorial, parents had little appetite for those hard doctrines. They complained that our youth group was not as fun as the seeker-driven-church youth group down the street. Their kids even attended the other church’s meetings. It took courage to stay the gospel-driven course, preaching hard truths to our teens (and, by the way, having fun at the same time). God blessed this courage, as we saw a large number of high school students come to Christ over a ten-year span. And we’ve stayed the course - just last summer, we took the junior and senior high school kids from four NETS Network churches through the book of Romans during our annual Youth Retreat, and have since seen several credible professions of faith.
Pastors, Take Heart
Undergirding all of this is the courage to hang in there when criticisms and accusations abound. Especially in revitalization, change is necessary, and even the most patient changes will invite harsh criticism from the congregation. And sometimes, that criticism can produce a full-force mutiny and a move to replace the pastor. Remember, Alexander the coppersmith, probably a former elder in Ephesus, did Paul much harm (2 Tim. 4:14). Even Jesus was betrayed by one of the twelve. As H.B. Charles noted, "Sheep bite." And it hurts. But by God's all-sufficient grace, courageous leaders will stay in the game, continuing to make hard decisions for the sake of their flock without losing heart.
Christ's sheep are vulnerable. Piper was right: Leaders must be willing to stand in the breach and protect the flock. This will always involve the basics: preaching the gospel faithfully, and shepherding God's people willingly, humbly, and tenderly through a myriad of circumstances. But it will also require courageous choices over many years, and that will inevitably produce hardship. Pastors, let us hold fast to the promise that such faithful shepherding will be rewarded when the Chief Shepherd appears with that unfading crown of glory (I Pet. 5:1-4).
Meet Wes Pastor and learn more about internship opportunities with The NETS Center for Church Planting and Revitalization at the NETS Banquet, Monday, November 4, 6:15-9:00pm in Heritage Hall. Click here for more information or to pre-register.
Wes Pastor (MTh, University of Wales) is founder and president of The NETS Center for Church Planting and Revitalization in Vermont. NETS trains and sends seminary graduates to plant and replant churches throughout New England and beyond. By God’s grace, Wes has been married to Sue for 38 years, and they have five grown children who all love Christ, and ten young grandchildren who all need Christ.