Here I share leadership lessons I’ve learned along the way. All in hopes that you won’t have to make the same mistakes I have.
Thanksgiving holds a Rite of Passage for every person – moving from the kids table to the grown up table. That transition demonstrates that the larger family is ready to welcome you fully as one of their own; they believe you can add value to the larger table without causing too much of a mess (I don’t have the best table manners, so this was a concern for me).
Churches have ‘kids tables’ and ‘grown up’ tables, just like family Thanksgivings.
Finding new life in an established church can be a challenge. There are a lot of stereotypes about older (older both in age of the congregation AND age of the church itself) churches that are, unfortunately, true. And a lot of pastors struggle with “revitalization”, myself included.
Facilitating new life in an established church can feel a lot like trying to get grass to grow through blacktop. But I love the work of revitalization. Here’s why:
Did you ever play the game telephone as a child? It’s that game where you, and like, four people get in a line, and someone tells the person in front of them something, and they’re supposed to pass along the same information? Ideally, the same sentence that started the game makes it to the other end of the line.
It almost never happens.
In boxing, there are a number of different punches people can throw. Uppercuts, crosses, jabs, and hooks to name some. And each punch serves a different purpose and plays a different role. For example, jabs are often used, not to knock your opponent out, but to set your opponent up. So you may jab, and jab, and jab in the same place three times in a row, all so you can set your opponent up for the right hook to catch them off guard. You see, 95% of the time, jabs aren’t effective by themselves. You use jabs to learn about your opponent, and to get them ready to be knocked out. But jabs almost never win the fight.
A lot of churches are fantastic at jabbing.
Have you ever watched a special on the Discovery Channel where they show a big cat prowling and stalking an animal the cat wants to eat? The camera follows the lion, tiger, cheetah, panther, etc as they slowly position themselves to strike the poor gazelle, antelope, zebra, etc. The cat usually has a look in their eye that is a mix of both excitement and focus. I can almost see the thought bubble above their head while they get in position: “IwantitIwantitIwantit…” it excitedly thinks to itself.
When I, as a young pastor walk into a room of older pastors and congregants, I feel a whole lot like a gazelle in front of a room full of lions. I can feel everyone looking at me, with a lot of focus and excitement, thinking about how much they “want it”.
The Dead Drop 