Leadership on the Front Foot 5: Tactical issues
Today's post reviews Zac Veron's ideas about tactical issues facing church leaders from his book Leadership on the Front Foot. (See parts 1, 2, 3 and 4)
1. Train the lay people for your ministry
Zac's first tactical principle is to train lay people for their ministry. The corresponding error he cites is to be a pastoral control freak (my words, not his)!
Zac reckons that not allowing ministry to occur unless the minister has a finger in the pie will generally condemn churches in Australia to remaining under 100 in size. He applauds the trend towards team ministry.
But he insists we should not just professionalize ministry, but be countercultural in calling, training and unleashing busy lay people for ministry.
I'm convinced. But I reckon Zac should have told us more about how to delegate well. This is where I would like him to follow his advice for preachers earlier and give me the three tips or four steps because, as his application guide says, delegation is a hard principle to teach!
Thankfully Matthias Media have produced a book by Col Marshall and Tony Payne called The Trellis and the Vine, which will help pastors in this whole area of training and multiplying ministry (although I don't know if it has the three tips on delegation either).
2. Train the lay leaders in being effective leaders
The next tactical principle is to train the lay elders in being effective leaders. Once again, I cannot argue with the training mindset, nor with his example of the church treasurer who had never prepared a budget (but was willing to learn).
But what is really strange about this chapter is that it users the term ‘elders’, but talks only of financial and property administration and nothing of what the Bible says an elder's job is (i.e. shared congregational oversight in faithfulness to God's word). Zac would have done better to refer simply to deacons and parish councilors, or generic ‘administrative leaders’, rather than elders, which is a misnomer in this context.
This is one of the shortest of all the chapters (it was less than two pages), and the hard work is left to the application guide here, which speaks of the need for the 4Cs (which is familiar to those involved with MTS): conviction, character, commitment and competency.
I was particularly helped by the observation by application guide author Ken Noakes that a fifth C was needed: capacity. He distinguishes between competency to carry out a role and capacity to do so (e.g. from possessing self-discipline, time availability and management, etc.)
3. Introduce electronic giving
Zac returns to the topic of money with his next tactic: introduce electronic giving. He is right that electronic funds transfer has been a great boon for church finances, encouraging thoughtful planning and regularity in giving, and that electronic giving is all the more important as we move closer towards a cashless society.
Sometimes I suspect promoting this practical method of giving has explained the increase in church budgets (as observed in my part of the world) more than all our great preaching! Better still, I think we have also got more confident teaching about money at the same time, so it's practice and theology working together.
Zac urges churches to phase out passing the plate, and says it's a mistake to continue. But actually a careful read shows that he wisely kept the plate at the early morning congregation, whose members are less computer-savvy. And he also provides an offertory box at the rear of the building for those who still like to use cash.
I admit that I was willing to give up on implementing this change at one church I led; the resistance was high. But Zac's reasoning—both practical and theological—challenged me to think again about whether we should introduce this at some of our congregations here.
4. Get involved in a ministry outside your own church
The last tactical principle is to get involved in a ministry outside your own church. Amen, Zac! The bloke who trained me gave me this rule of thumb—namely, that you should serve on one broader ministry or committee for your own denomination (e.g. a denominational school board or regional committee) and one that's inter-denominational (e.g. a Scripture Union Family Mission or a Katoomba Convention Committee). Some can do more than this; few should do less.
Ministers who, by their frontline enthusiasm, won't do any denominational work are spending all the denominational dividends without reinvesting any capital. Furthermore, they leave the resources built up by evangelicals available for take over by liberals.
In my next post, we move onto strategic issues.
Someone has graciously and wisely asked me to post this anonymously, I think there are good reasons for doing so.
“Sometimes ministers find it hard to remember that other people have jobs. Mine asked me recently why our Bible Study group starting time is “so late”. I had to explain that I finish work at 5pm, pick up the kids from care, reach home just after 6pm, cook dinner, my husband arrives at 7pm, we eat, and therefore we start our Bible study at the unconscionably late hour of 8pm!
So yes, the ‘capacity’ point is important, and some ministers probably need to think carefully about the work they believe a member of the congregation can accomplish. It is especially helpful if they can frame it in terms of family evenings the lay person is expected to forgo.”
Thanks for this comment - capacity must include a realism about people’s situation.
We collect little in our ‘offertry’ but like the way it symbolically includes money in our church meeting, and forces us to thank God and pray for the working lives of our members and for the financial welfare of our church - what do you think?
Mikey, back on my introductory thread reviewing this book, a person commented that he felt it was close to an essential part of corporate worship. I don’t agree with that, but agree it is worth thinking about how we acknowledge corporately the place money plays in our church and individual lives and to think about generosity. Giving via EFT can lead to ‘set and forget’.
But I think you could still do this regardless of whether you ‘pass the plate’. I imagine congregations that don’t pass the plate, still periodically remind people about money, by mentioning how to find out about EFT, or directing people’s attention to the giving box at the back, etc.
Be creative: I put a monthly update in the bulletin. Sometimes I include a biblical reference to encourage generosity or thankfulness. It could even be an occasion for a brief verbal encouragement/reflection in the notices. Or you could ask the person leading prayers that Sunday to include prayers for stewardship and generosity and workers’ employment that day. Or you could include a verse from the old BCP’s list of exhortations about money even though you don’t pass the plate!
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