I have to admit, I think I upset a fairly well-known author. At least, well known in the faith community. And, that certainly wasn’t my intention. In fact, I am a huge fan of this author. I am not a huge book reader, unless it’s something on leadership principles, church growth strategy, or deepening your walk with Christ. To read for fun is, well, not me. But, if you follow me or have read my posts, you know that I had a season of working in ministry at a place that was on the precipice of collapsing at any moment. The church had been through some tumultuous events, and it was just struggling to survive, much less thrive.

As any good staff member that cared about the church as a whole would do, I started reading. I read books from Groschel, Stetzer, Stanley… If they wrote a book on church growth or churches returning from the abyss, I read it. I was desperate to understand what it was going to take to get my church out of the pit. And, they all said the same thing… God. That sounds like a churchy answer. And, it is. To some degree. The principle behind all of these books and all the church examples cited was that God had given the pastor a vision, a direction, and the pastor ran after it wholeheartedly.

I used to ask the question, foolishly, “what’s the mission?” My intent was to say, what vision has God given us that we are to pursue wholeheartedly. Well, silly me, our mission as churches should all be the same; to make disciples of all the nations. That’s the most basic vision, mission, command for the church. That answer isn’t wrong, but it was the wrong question. Of course we are to make disciples. Duh. That’s not in question. If your church exists for some other purpose besides that, run away. Any good pastor knows the correct answer. It’s to share the gospel, save the lost and dying world, and make disciples. So, when you’re trying to ask questions to help steer your church and church leadership in the correct direction, that’s not really a helpful question.

The more I read, the more it became apparent that I was asking the wrong question. What I should have been asking is, “what’s your method?” Now, this question can be asked in a multitude of ways. Ultimately, what you’re asking is, “how do you plan to energize your congregation to reach the lost and dying world and make disciples?” That is a loaded question. But, all is not lost, there IS an answer. Over my 16 years of full-time ministry, and additional almost 10 years of serving in leadership roles either as interim, or as a volunteer leader serving in a full-time capacity, I have been able to see some patterns arise. It didn’t matter what church I was serving at, the patterns were always consistent. Like turning on a light switch, the bulb comes on no matter what room or house it’s in (unless the bulb is bad, but that’s a different story). I’ll tell you the pattern and then I’ll explain it.

The pattern I saw was that, no matter what was creating it, no matter what the end result was intended to be, unity is what moves the church. How do you energize your church? You unify them. No, it can’t be done! Yes, it can. You’ve seen it. You have a church that is doing a campaign to build a building. It’s exciting. It’s unifying. Everyone (or the critical mass) is unified towards that goal. That creates that buzz, that energy, that little spark that is needed to get people together. But what happens when the building is built? Heck, what happens when that building takes 3 years or 10 years to build? That energy wears off.

Oh, I know, it’s the Christmas program! Again, a great example of how that unity creates an energy and a connection in your church. But, again, what happens on January 1? What happens when the program is over and things go back to normal? It isn’t sustaining. A lot of church leaders I talk to answer with a seemingly great answer; small groups. These can be your home groups that meet off-campus, your Sunday morning Bible study, etc. But, that’s something that happens after assimilation in most churches. They are great to have, critical even if you want your church to stay put. Those relationships grow and build bonds that keep the church strong, growing spiritually, and healthy. But, it’s not a solid method.

I want to circle back to the author that I unintentionally offended. He wrote another one of those books that I love to read. It’s a book about the same stuff I read when I was at a church that was struggling, but he tells it from a different perspective. Mark MacDonald wrote the book, Be Known for Something. It’s an incredible read. Really it is. And, it drives home the message that I’ve been reading about for so long in such a positive way. I’ll say it again, I LOVE THIS BOOK. The premise is ultimately about finding your method. Mark calls it your thread. Your method/thread/vision really is that thing, the “it-factor” that Groeschel talks about, that matters so much to bringing long-lasting unity to your church. The things I mentioned before aren’t bad. If you thought that, you missed the point. The point is that they aren’t sustainable to long-term unity. But, finding your method/thread is what can bring you the unity you need for your church. It will bring unity to your staff and your congregation. Caveat: when you find your thread, and start pursuing it wholeheartedly, you may lose people. It’s almost a guarantee. But, they probably weren’t the people you needed on your staff or in your church. If God tells you to go that way, and they don’t want to, they aren’t going to be a positive influence or impact on your church fulfilling that vision.

So, how did I offend Mark? Well, we were talking with Mark about speaking at the annual conference for the organization I’m the current president of. We are a group of media and comms professionals at churches and religious entities in the United States. I love Mark’s message. But, I also know that most of the people that make up our organization aren’t the ones that can make impacts on what our senior leaders do in our churches. I know, the media and comms people do see everything happening in the church and see it from a perspective that most senior pastors should want to understand… (that’s part sarcasm, but part sincere truth) Since these folks aren’t the top decision makers and often don’t have the influence to impact the decisions at a level that helps define the thread/method, I asked how we can turn that topic into something with application for our organization members. I’m sure that was exceptionally offensive because I was basically saying that the content itself wasn’t good enough. And it wasn’t my intent. I just wanted to present this outstandingly awesome topic in a way that our people could do something with this gem when they got back home to their churches. Because we couldn’t formulate how to arm the attendees with this practical application of such a great message, we opted out of having this be part of our conference material. I’m hoping in the years ahead, we can shift that.

So, how do you practically apply the topic without being the senior pastor, senior leadership, or having the direct influence on those decisions? That’s a tall ask. I know. And, it isn’t one I really could answer myself either. Until we had our conference and someone else asked the question in a different way. Our conference includes these things called bull sessions. They are informal, typically late at night. A group just sits around in a room and asks/answers questions, peer to peer. One person asked the question that was essentially ‘how do you build the relationship/trust with your pastor and influence your leaders decisions if you don’t really have access to your pastor?’ The actual dialogue of the question was much better than that, but the answers essentially answered my paraphrase of it. And, there I was, in a group of several people, helping to answer the question. At least part of it. No, I’m not the expert. I’m not great at it. I just added my part to the discussion.

I have served full-time under a few senior pastors. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. They are human, just like you and I are. And my worship relationship with each of them have been different. To some, I have been a little kid. Serving in your 20s does that. To some, I was barely acknowledged and was surprised if they knew my name. To some, I was a trusted support and counsel. To some, I serve at a distance with rare opportunities to provide input. Most people in a role like mine serve under a pastor with the last type of working relationship I mentioned. That’s not a horrible thing. It’s fairly common. So, how do you build that relationship and trust when you don’t have direct opportunities to do so? Let’s unpack that a little bit.

1. Do your job. That sounds like a no brainer, but let me explain what that means. Often times, people that are trying to build a relationship, earn trust, build up credibility with leadership will “go above and beyond” to make their worth and value known. But, they do so at the expense of their actual job. They will spend more time looking for ways to improve other areas or do more things to be noticed, while they have areas that are currently under their leadership that are suffering. That’s counterproductive. Do the job you have been assigned to do. Do it well. Make sure you don’t have anything under your area of leadership that is lacking. I believe Jesus taught us about being responsible for what we have been given?
2. Care more about the glory of God and His Church than your own ego. This is a tough one to swallow for most. We are humans that want credit, justice, and recognition. Even if we don’t think we are, we are. And we don’t like it when someone else gets credit for our work or our ideas. I learned long ago that you will be surprised how much you can get done if you don’t care who gets the credit. I know this lesson. I preach this lesson. And I still struggle with the pride of watching others get credit for my ideas at times. The way I practice this in real life is what I call planting seeds. I’m not arrogant enough to think that every idea I have is a great one or the best one. But, I have learned that, when the opportunity arises, plant the seed of the idea. If it’s good, if it’s something that God wants to happen, He’ll water it. Sure, it will sprout roots in someone else and they will have the brilliant idea and be praised for it. But, who cares? If I plant a seed, I want it to grow. I shouldn’t care who gets credit for it if my ultimate goal was just to see that seed take root and grow for the sake of God’s glory.
3. Make sure you are represented well. Make sure that whoever is at the table when you can’t be or aren’t allowed to be is representing you well. This sounds silly, but it’s really more important than you realize. I can attest to this. Sometimes, you have to adjust your thinking on how you are represented. I used to think that being represented well meant that you had to tell your boss every aspect of what you’re working on and all the details so that they can answer for it when they are at the table and you’re not. Or give them all the details of whatever it is that you’re wanting talked about at the table. That may work in a few, very limited situations. But, it isn’t realistic in most. What it ultimately means is that, when you aren’t seated at the table, make sure everyone that IS at the table respects you and understands you well enough to promote that trust and confidence that you need to have from your senior pastor. Granted, there may be some people that either intentionally or unintentionally drag you down, cut your credibility at the table. They may think it’s their job to point out your faults and flaws in order to keep you humble, who knows? But, for the most part, if you’re doing your job well, if you have the respect and relationship credit with the others at the table, you are represented well. That way, when the questions come that really only you can answer, the default isn’t “I don’t know” but instead it’s, I’m sure he has that covered but we can find out. Or however the conversation happens. If everyone else at the table is confident that you know your stuff, that you do your job well, and that you serve His Church the way Jesus would want, then they will represent you well.

My friends in similar roles at your church or organization, you likely do have a perspective that is unique. You aren’t biased by a single ministry area focus because you support all the ministries. You likely may see where your thread/method is or should be. And your church may need you to help identify it. Your pastor may need your help, whether he knows it or not. And you may not have the direct access or opportunity to share with or influence your pastor in such a way that you can help directly. But, you can still be part of the discussion even if you’re not at the table. Read Mark’s book and get excited for the possibilities. Let God speak, and do your best to stay out of the way. Look at the stories in The Comeback Church by Ed Stetzer. Read about It in Groeschel’s book. Then learn how to build that influence and trust and plant some seeds. Don’t forget to have faith that God put you were you are and will use you according to His purposes.