Blog

In addition to the sermon and singing.

A call to worship
There are so many strong verses that call us to honor the Lord with our thoughts and voices and hearts, and they make serious the start of our worship.

And they beat any other way to start the service.

A pastoral prayer
The main way a person pastors a group — above pastoral appointments and staff and board meetings and dreaming — is with the sermon and the pastoral prayer. This is so much more than the common “transitional prayer” of a few extemporaneous thoughts while the guitar player strums and makes up a prayer.

(I like P-R-A-Y as it teaches individuals and families and groups a plan —Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield.)

A “living church” moment
Only 2-3 minutes, between songs. Over the objections of the worship leader 🙂 With the people seated. With the staff person never giving away the mic.

My church coach, the best ever, Lyle Schaller, urged us to “renew the vision” every six weeks; and this is an appropriate place. This part of our worship set usually had communion week 1. Groups, the church’s second most important gathering, was week 2 —usually an interview with a single or couple about their benefits from being in a true community group.
Week 3 was about missions, local or global, and giving and going.
Week 4 was finances (yes, out loud and careful and appreciative, and needed if people are going to be generous).


A response time
The only thing close to the “Just As I Am” time with Billy Graham is the prayer at the end of the sermon and the song that follows.

Best practice, in my opinion, is to give listeners a quiet time during the prayer to ask God’s help to do or believe or change to whatever the sermon was calling for (a Bible study gives information; a sermon seeks to change hearts and lives).

…..and also to give another brief window of quiet when the pastor asks listeners to seek God to help them to take the appropriate step to Christ and His cross or to thank Him for eternal life through the Savior.

(This second pause demands a time at the cross somewhere in the sermon.)

A benediction
Many drop out here, or up at the top of the page :-), but even people under 40 can be joyful to leave with a Jude 24, 25* promise-joy rather than a “Have a good week!” Or
“See you next week”!

• And many more that ring in God’s love and promises to shine on us!
  
  One can certainly smile and take these as the musings of someone who has pastored or coached pastors for 62 years and may be hanging near the senility scale…..or as one who has been a part of more worship services than he deserves, always “taking notes” about what hits the heart of any age.
  
  Whatever you decide, do it carefully, and at least agree that the senior or lead pastor is the main worship leader of the church.

I really do appreciate and respect many missions committees in local churches. We had one of the best in the world at The Chapel in Akron, and they helped us grow missions giving and interest in good ways.

But they thought “salt-water missions” more than we should have; in other words, local missions was rather secondary. And after coaching more than 150 churches, I think that is a normalcy. People who care about world evangelism often do not worry so much about the people across the street from the church building, or the local rescue mission, or the pregnancy services that try to share the gospel and save lives.

So — duh! — we created a local evangelism and missions team of four or five to work with the pastor who had evangelism in his folder and to work to improve the budget for needs down the street from the church building.

Because people will mark offerings for missions, but not much for local evangelism, we decided to keep the heading “missions” as one of the three or four headings on the offering envelopes and budget, and to designate that something like 18 or 20% of the missions giving would go to local. It worked well.

And now I advocate this all the time, albeit without a lot of success. But I still think for sure it is best.

I know that “Bloom where you are planted” does not come from the Bible, but I get the idea. We owe a lot of care to the town or village or city where we are located. And people there are just as lost spiritually as some in the lands across the salt water.

One thing that helped people give to and pray for missions was the short “living church” moment that was a part of almost every worship service. The schedule we formed: first Sunday, communion….second Sunday, groups (Sunday and home) … third Sunday, missions, local or overseas…. fourth Sunday of the month, finances. As a part of the worship set, there would be only two-three minutes for an update, often an interview with someone possessing a bias of joy for that area. The staff member holds the microphone because he or she is responsible for the time.

(If you ever allowed the mic to be taken our of your hand, you owed the staff a pizza at the next Tuesday staff meeting. Talk about serious crimes! )

All this in response to the question about how to increase missions giving

            With the clarity of hindsight, abiding feelings

I never looked in the mirror and felt, Hot dogs, we’ve got us a leader. But I did lead when needed, seeking to be guided by our church’s five values, which first captured my own heart. I never gave myself a 10 on about 4000 sermons, but I kept trying. And I was glad when the five values showed up in the exposition of Scripture.

I never liked everyone I loved as pastor, but I worked to shepherd them with daily commitment to these five goals of a church or a person.

I think they are what give worth to 43 years of pastoring and then these last six of teaching and coaching other pastors.

What a profound satisfaction to pastor in His church, and now to try to nudge other church leaders to The Five.

After the ever-present temptations of anger, pride, and lust these powerful triplets chase us all, and are magnified by the reverend title – I was probably challenged most by cynicism. Still am. You know what I mean – we all have been lied to many times; and we have exaggerated even in sermons. We all
have said the right answer when we knew it came from our sense of duty rather than our heart. We all have watched the preacher on TV give promises of success and happiness and wonder, Who is he kidding?

But even cynical tendencies are rebooted by these five values. See if they are yours:

1. Grace: It all starts there. We love because He went first. We serve because He is the King of kindness. And a church can be characterized by God’s kind of grace, not pride in our size or stature. And I can try to be that way today.

2. Worship: Here the arrow points up, in deliberate acts of praise and obedience, so this includes our weekend services but also personal obedience. When I have served and led to glorify the Lord Christ, instead
of to look good or allow show biz, it has felt good.

3. Community: I use that word so the church and you think of Sunday and home ABFs or groups, but also so we consider how we receive and seek to build others, care for the hurting, elevate the little people, and model the washing of feet.

4. Mission: Including personal and local and global evangelism and action love, but also meaning who we are as a church and as a person. Are we here to be the hot church in town, or to go with the latest best-seller’s new way to say it, or to be the body of Christ wherever we are?

5. Integrity: It is about finances and morality and honesty, but also about its literal meaning, “oneness” — that what we say is one with what is really the way life is.

When I stand in front of Christ the Judge – I know that is ahead – I have nothing to say about my own righteousness except, I am with you!

And when I give account of my ministry — I know most of my stumbling and failures — I believe I will be graded on grace, worship, community which includes unity, mission, with integrity.

These five feel good.

Otherwise, it’s just a job.

A ministry of the pastor to help influence believers considering full-time church and missions ministries for their lives.

Informal meetings: once a month, led by the pastor

Target: any age men and women interested in church or missions vocations as a way of life!

Purpose: encouragement, prayers, guidance, information; fulfilling one of the important pastoral responsibilities, to raise up future leader-servants.

It has to be one of the purposes of church leaders/pastors to help to raise up more of the same. It is not an easy matter, But surely one help is to pursue some people who ought to pursue full-time ministry assignments, and to encourage them.
And why not all at once, and not just individually?

A TYPICAL HOUR TOGETHER

* Greetings and opening and prayer

* Updates and personal events from participant, helping all feel at home

* One presents, “The Ten Biggest Events or Decisions of My life” — a planned
presentation that helps the presenter and the group understand what influenced them and why they are the way they are. Must be presented in seven minutes! (A great way to really know someone, and in this case to help to understand what inclined them toward ministry as a vocation.)

* Pastor: “Another reason why I love my job!” — a regular feature of the informal meeting of a few or a dozen! (If the pastor does not love his job he will not be searching for and convening this group in the first place!)

* Discussion and updates and questions and encouragement and prayers for each other! This normally includes thoughts about schools, internships, obstacles, goals!

An attempt to show that both are true!

 

A ministry of the pastor to help influence believers considering
full-time church and missions ministries for their lives
Informal meetings: once a month, led by the pastor

Target: any age men and women interested in church or missions
vocations as a way of life!

Purpose: encouragement, prayers, guidance, information; fulfilling one of the important pastoral responsibilities, to raise up future leader-servants. It has to be one of the purposes of church leaders/pastors to help to raise up more of the same. It is not an easy matter, But surely one help is to pursue some people who ought to pursue full-time ministry assignments, and to encourage them. And why not all at once, and not just individually?

A TYPICAL HOUR TOGETHER
* Greetings and opening and prayer

* Updates and personal events from participant, helping all feel at home

* One presents, “The Ten Biggest Events or Decisions of My life” — a planned presentation that helps the presenter and the group understand what influenced them and why they are the way they are. Must be presented in seven minutes! (A great way to really know someone, and in this case to help to understand what inclined them toward ministry as a vocation.)

* Pastor: “Another reason why I love my job!” — a regular feature of the informal meeting of a few or a dozen! (If the pastor does not love his job he will not be searching for and convening this group in the first place!)

* Discussion and updates and questions and encouragement and prayers for each other! This normally includes thoughts about schools, internships, obstacles, goals!

 

are defined in many ways.    The majority of churches coached, in my experience, use “discipleship” to refer to all their programs and groups and classes.

Okay, if you want to define it that way.   And all those groups help.

But here we are making it synonymous with a discipleship-accountability group (DAG) of all men or all women and with no more than 5-7 in it.

The way you can tell a fellowship-community group (usually men and women) from a DAG group: Ask the question, “Has anyone been looking at any pornography lately on their screen?”

No one will raise a hand in the community group, and a majority will look at you as if you are out of order to ask such a thing.

In a DAG group, all men or all women, where friendship has already been built and confidentiality has been assured, there might be some takers and some good discussion and verses and accountability will follow.

SUGGESTIONS

… Every pastor and full-time director should have one.  Many will not start one unless it is clearly required.

… Most seminary grads have never been in one. 

… Most leaders for board members and strong volunteers will eventually arise from these groups.

… Twice a month is adequate for a meeting pattern, and often is more inviting than a weekly commitment.

… To be effective, a group needs a leader who will deliver TLC— Time together, Love that is agape-like, and Content of the Scripture that hits the heart!

…Related to that Content, no more of this, “Where did Jesus go when he left Capernaum?” —actual question in a published discipleship program.  (The answer was Nazareth, as I recall — that will change your life! 🙂

Rather, the verses studied will be on either church or character, and the questions will call for candid honesty.

…Use the same material for two years in a group, then start three new groups out of that one — you take the weakest, and the next two strongest each begin a new group with one of the others who wishes to continue.   

… In 26 years (13 groups I led) we never lacked for discussion or honesty (I think).

 

The seven “major concerns” for a pastor are areas, aside from godliness and family, that seem to me most important for today’s pastor. Here are some major attached after going through these concerns one-on-one with almost 150 pastors and many more in group meetings. See papers on my website* if you wish.

1. Personal schedule

• • • Do I have a personal “master schedule” that is my best approach to a normal week?
    • Do I really follow it most weeks, unless interrupted by tragedy, or family need — not just whim?
    • Do I schedule and give enough time for a good expositional and personal sermon?
    • Does my schedule include a weekly “date” with my wife? Time with children? At least fives times for exercise?
    • An “open breakfast” meeting where a group of men can review the past sermon with me and I can get to know them, and they each other?
    • Times with staff, board chair, others who serve? Are shut-ins cared for?
    • Do I write thank-you notes Monday mornings?

2. Staff and volunteers

Are all the thirty areas of church life — okay, most of them — covered for
thought or prayer or vision by someone on paid staff? If the pastor is the only one on staff, covered by him?

If there is multiple staff, do specialists like a youth pastor have also two or three other areas in their “assignment folder” so they think or pray or read about those areas, even if nothing is happening yet? For instance, if there is no sports program, that may be ne for the time being, but someone on staff should have it as an area of reading or thinking or praying or envisioning.

And — equally important! — do all of the areas that have something going on have a volunteer ministry manager, who carries out a lot of the details from the vision given by the staff member? This is the way it works best.

Do you remember what MBWA means and how it helps?

3. Board

Have you adopted exactly what the board does and what the staff does? If they fare the same, you are wasting someone’s time. Or asking for conflict.

Have you thought through if term limits would be a good thing for your board members?

Have you considered the “soccer eld” approach where the board handles the oversight of the church and gives the player/coach, the senior pastor, the team to play on the field within the boundaries (foundations, resources, guidelines, goals)?

Do you have a discipleship program to help develop new members of the
board? Does everyone on staff have it as a requirement to have five or six men or five or six women in a true discipleship-accountability group?

Do you have a board covenant that everyone signs every new year?

Do you have a clear way that people are approved by the congregation to be board members? A good number for the board – usually 5–9?

Have you studied why it seems best for only the senior pastor and not other staff to be a member of the board? Do you make decisions before 9:00 pm?

Do the pastor and the board chairman have a clear way to plan on the agenda and to work out any differences before that item hits the board?

4. Love

This is the only subjective area of the seven major concerns. Is it a priority for the pastor and the staff? Are you carrying out the clear objective ways of showing love to the people?

5. Worship services and sermons

Is there a strong and good system for planning the services? Is there a general theme?

Does the pastor have as much input as he wishes?

Are the services and sermons geared for a response? Is there a plan for that ?

Do you stay within a consistent time limit?

Has anyone who knows better critiqued or analyzed one of your sermons recently? Was it specific about both content and delivery?

Do you have a good way to plan future sermons? Are you preaching “the whole counsel of God”?

6. Groups

Are at least half of your average worship attendance people in a community or life group?

Do you make a difference between community or life groups of mixed gender and true discipleship groups of 5 to 6 men or 5 to 6 women?

Do your community or home or life groups meet at least twice a month? Do they have their own choice of times to meet? Do they continue in the summer and also stay together for as long as they like, or do you have to start over every year?

Does the group have a care leader so that your pastoral care in general is pushed down to the groups where they attend, people that know them? Is the main facilitator or teacher different from the host?

Is it essential for members of staff to have a clear discipleship-accountability group?

7. Values

Are they simple and memorable, and biblical, so that all staff knows them and so do the regular attenders? (This as opposed to a long list that is not remembered by anybody.)

Do you renew them or remind the people every six weeks or so on Sunday mornings?

Why do you have them? Do you really follow them as you make decisions? Does the board really own them?

Do you keep this simple or have a whole list of values and another list of purposes and another whole mission statement? Often there are many of these and few know them or pay attention

Especially related to process for setting salaries and possibly giving end-of-year appreciation gift.

Setting salaries
Presuppositions

… Every salary should be reviewed every year.
… Any raises would not be automatic.
… Raises (or demotions or releases) should be based on at least these factors:

—- Hard and productive excellent work (related to clear job description and conclusions of main supervisor and also senior pastor, not a committee or board that does not observe daily)
—- “School spirit,” a subjective issue that relates to unity, Christian joy and servanthood, main values and goals of the church, appropriate honor to leadership
— Christian, biblical character

Steps to setting
1… The board of oversight, with recommendation from the strong finance committee (which is one of the two or three or four main teams of the board), sets a percentage increase for all salaries if one is possible. This percentage of increase is usually the same percentage as that allowed for the increase in total budget.
Many churches with large budgets base this on the giving of the current year (with reliable projection for November and December giving, based on the previous year(s) — since budget for a calendar year is usually begun in November for a calendar year.
(Many churches like to switch to a fiscal year of September August to be more in line with the “church year” of ministries.)

2… They (financial committee or financial committee and board of oversight) also set, confidentially, the salary of the senior pastor in line with his review by the strong finance committee or board. (See sample for annual review of pastor.)
(Best when the finance team is chaired by a member of the board, and the senior pastor is an active member.)

3…Then the senior pastor joins the strong finance team (sometimes just the members of the board who are on this team) to set salaries for the main associate pastors, or the rest of all the staff in a church where associates are not leaders of segments of staff.

4… Then the senior pastor joins the appropriate associate pastor to set salaries for people that area, including support staff.  

5. Each staff member receives and signs a “Letter of Agreement” each year —a letter which lists each part of salary and benefits and health benefits and vacation, etc., to avoid confusion.   

Annual reviews, bottom line +++
Grade A — extraordinary excellence.
Grade B — strong good contributions
Grade C — rather average, but not a detriment
Grade D — should be on probation with a goal spelled out, or told a plan for leaving So if the budget (including salaries) is to average 3% increase,
Grade A receives 5%…
B receives 3%, the average called for…
C receives 1%
(Obviously, if the board determines there cannot be an increase, the reviews should still happen, though without financial consequences.)
(And if the possible increase is 5%, adjustments can be 7, 5, 3. If 1%, they are 1.5, 1, .5 %)
+++ Obviously. the leaders must adopt a strong, objective, standard guide for annual reviews. (I would be glad to share the one I like best.)

A RELATED BENEFIT THAT CAN BE USED AS AN ADDED INCENTIVE
Rather than give too large a raise that in one sense must stay even in what may be leaner years for the church related to budget, a type of symbolic bonus can be given toward the end of the year (Thanksgiving Bonus) or at the end of the calendar.
For instance, Grade A receives $500, Grade B $300, Grade C $100.
A great way to thank, only in growing and productive years when the church is growing and generous with giving to the budget and missions and expansion.
(Some churches have avoided the issue of salaries mounting beyond the best amount over a number of strong financial years and then the church hits harder times ….by giving only end-of-year benefits as one-time additions.
Or some combination of raises and end-of-year one-time gifts.)

There are and will be many years when this should not and cannot be done, of course. But you asked about what are some alternatives when ministry and finances are strong for the church

 

… It has to be mentioned! Church is not totally divorced from Monday through Saturday or Friday.  World Series and Super Bowls and hurricanes and elections and tragedies cannot be omitted in church, or it appears we are already living in another world.   (Which is still to come.)

… The outcome should not be celebrated in a partisan way because you want members of both parties very involved in your church (one would think:-).   Or if you took sides clearly before the election, I guess you should celebrate.  But be careful!

… The pastoral prayer should recognize God’s sovereignty and ask for wisdom for the transition and future and  help for all of us to be citizens in line with Bible teachings.     (You do have a pastoral prayer? 🙂

… If we knew how God has protected us (as the president-elect testified), we could all be thanking God that He saved our lives a number of times.

… Candidates should never be used as a model for how to differ with somebody else in opinion or doctrine.  Duhhhhhh….

There is a whole chapter on this in Romans!

… Our responsibilities to God’s clear teachings come before our responsibilities to our country, which God also explains in his teachings.

… Would you dare to sing one of the two or three patriotic hymns that have very strong words about God’s grace and how we should live?   (None of which have been revised for guitars:-)

What do you think?