{"id":19836,"date":"2020-04-07T07:54:04","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T12:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/?p=19836"},"modified":"2020-04-07T07:56:34","modified_gmt":"2020-04-07T12:56:34","slug":"when-a-leader-should-submit-and-when-to-insist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/when-a-leader-should-submit-and-when-to-insist\/","title":{"rendered":"When a leader should submit. And when to insist."},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cBe subject to one another in the fear of Christ\u201d (Ephesians 5:21).<\/strong><\/div>\n
\n

We were sitting in the second pew to the far left.\u00a0 I leaned over to my teenage grandson and whispered, \u201cI remember when Brother Ken brought the drum set into the church. Some almost died. Now look.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the platform was the usual dozen or so musicians\u2013pianist, keyboard, several guitars, two or three drummers, one violin, a couple of horns, and this time, for a special emphasis, a mandolin and banjo.\u00a0 The music was amazing.<\/p>\n

I found myself wondering,\u00a0 \u201cWhat if we had given in to the critics? What if Dr. Ken Gabrielse and I had feared the criticism and buckled?\u201d<\/p>\n

There are times when church leaders need to pay attention to the criticism, and times to ignore it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Knowing \u201cwhat time it is\u201d is the hard part.\u00a0 For God\u2019s children, that\u2019s a function of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

The Spirit of God is the Great Time-Teller.<\/p>\n

Note: I am not saying that having more musical instruments in church is necessarily better or godlier than limiting the accompaniment to a piano and organ.\u00a0 But for us it was a giant step forward.<\/em><\/p>\n

We could have submitted before the fears of the nay-sayers, but where\u2019s the faith in that?\u00a0 By putting the welfare of the greater church ahead of the criticism of the few, we blessed everyone, including those who griped. (Which is to say, in time they got past their complaining and came to love the full instrumentation.)<\/p>\n

A young pastor sat in my office to bring me \u201cup to speed\u201d about his ministry.\u00a0 He reminded me that \u201ctwo and a half years ago I sat in this room with you wondering whether I could pastor a church.\u201d<\/p>\n

That congregation had dwindled to 16 by the time Dan took the leadership.\u00a0 These days, he says, they\u2019re running 50.\u00a0 \u201cHowever,\u201d he said, \u201cnot a single one of the original 16 have remained. They\u2019ve all left.\u201d<\/p>\n

That happens.<\/p>\n

Knowing the background of that church, I assured him that their leaving was not a bad thing. Over the last quarter of a century, I\u2019ve seen a succession of pastors of that congregation throw up their hands and leave.\u00a0 The building and grounds are attractive and the neighborhood appears prosperous.\u00a0 Originally, I had thought that with the right pastor, that church would do well. What I had not taken into account, however, was the tight control a few people were exercising on their pastors.\u00a0 A death grip.<\/p>\n

Pastor Dan has simply loved the people, he said, and he has stayed by the changes that needed to be made. What changes? They reverted to mission status and put themselves under the authority of a larger healthy church in the area. They changed the name of the church in an attempt to shed the old image and dysfunctional reputation. As these and other changes were brought in, the old-timers quietly slipped away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve tried to honor them,\u201d Dan said. \u201cFor one, I bought a plaque of appreciation and took to his house. Bought it out of my own pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

Someone who knew that fellow said, \u201cPastor, you sure go to a lot of trouble to honor a guy who hates you.\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cDon\u2019t weep over those who left.\u00a0 It appears they\u2019re the ones who kept the church back all those years.\u00a0 Keep your focus on the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knowing when to pursue a departing church member and when to let them go\u2013that\u2019s a toughie.<\/p>\n

Only the Holy Spirit can show you.\u00a0 Ask Him.<\/p>\n

Some years ago a local pastor called to say three of my members had been in his services the day before. \u201cThese are your people, Joe,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to take your members.\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cMy friend, they have been unhappy from the first day I arrived. If they can worship God at your church, I wish them well.\u201d\u00a0 To this day, those three are happily serving the Lord in that church. On those rare occasions we bump into each other in town, we greet each other warmly.\u00a0 It\u2019s all good.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we submit to the person with a gripe and a complaint and we back down.\u00a0 At other times we stay the course.<\/p>\n

If there is a set of rules to know when to do either, I\u2019ve never heard of it.\u00a0 This is one of many reasons the Holy Spirit indwells us. We will be needing guidance in situations that do not fit any rule book.<\/p>\n

When does a pastor submit to the complaints of some in the congregation? Here are some thoughts…<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) When the complainers are among your most faithful members, they have earned the right to be heard. A wise leader will listen to them and take their concerns to heart.<\/p>\n

2) When the Spirit within him is making it clear that not everything is as it should be.\u00a0 The wise leader will stop and bring in his best advisors and reconsider what is happening.<\/p>\n

3) When he\u2019s outvoted. (Smiley-face goes here.)\u00a0 Seriously, if the congregation has shown by an actual vote that the pastor\u2019s plan is not acceptable, he needs to recognize that something is amiss. Either he has a bad plan or has sold it poorly or the congregation is jumping ship. In any case, if the pastor proceeds, he\u2019s going to get mighty lonely. It\u2019s time to regroup with his best counselors and godliest leadership and decide what to do next.<\/p>\n

A wise leader\u2013a faithful, loving shepherd\u2013is always aware of the mood of the flock. Otherwise, how can he lead them?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBe subject to one another in the fear of Christ\u201d (Ephesians 5:21). We were sitting in the second pew to the far left.\u00a0 I leaned over to my teenage grandson and whispered, \u201cI remember when Brother Ken brought the drum … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,27,21,51,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conflict","category-church-leadership","category-church-staff-articles","category-healthy-church","category-pastors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19836"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20026,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19836\/revisions\/20026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}