I'm currently reading Steve Crofts book "Ministry in Three Dimensions: Ordination and Leadership in the Local Church" and wondering why (when the denominations are facing such decline and are desperate for someone to help them regain some ground) folk can't just get with the programme when other tried and tested ideas clearly show where the issues lie and how best to overcome them????
I sat through a very bleak meeting the other evening listening to how church decline is having a huge impact on the financial stability of churches, with the effect that they simply cannot sustain the churches. But many of the declining churches seem to operate with a 'maintenance' model of church, an inherited mode of being church which calls for clergy to have the primary responsibility for 'leading worship, the pastoral care of stable congregations, and teaching the faith to children and young people'. This may have been a traditional model, which did work several decades ago, but in this fast paced, quick change, needs based, consumeristic society, the church must be able to break through and speak prophetically to the people caught up in the vortex that is life! Maintenance models of church have value in that they serve the needs of the people attending the church, but our task and subsequent model of being church has always been and always will be mission shaped! So the primary task of any minister must be the effective enabling and leadership of a congregation to remain mission focused, moving a church along a healthy path that helps the congregation grow in discipleship and impacting the world around them for Christ.
So in his book, Croft clearly highlights the role of the minister today: that they are walking the walk themselves - 'showing committed discipleship as they communicate and collaborate with the community of faith they are leading, being strategic in how they lead others to fulfill the missionary task. He/she must be self-aware, manage themselves, have maturity to handle authority well, be discerning and able to lead a community of faith'. So why is it then when we look at so many churches (and I hear this constantly as I visit churches and teach them about contemporary methods of being and doing church) that they are still stuck in the 'this is how we've always done it' mentality! No wonder there is church decline if the method doesn't allow us to connect with what's going on outside our church building. We're to be outward focused, that's the bottom line, so we can't start from a 'What is it we need?' position when the obvious starting question is 'How do we reach those beyond the current faith community?'. I totally believe that when we stay focused on the 'other' then we in turn have our own needs met. It's about attitude of heart!
Oooooh, it is frustrating looking on but difficult for those faced with decline and fixed patterns of church. But it's unacceptable to say to new ministers - 'this is how we do it' or 'this is the tradition', when it clearly is now not working. Let's release a new generation of ministers who are encouraged to be first and foremost effective leaders, with the primary task of taking the faith community forward as a missional community! Lots to pray about.
Enough ranting and rambling... back to my day off!
