One of the main functions of the New Life Christian Counseling Ministry, besides our primary service as counselors to the general public, is to provide small churches and other ministries “counseling” as well. By this I mean we work with a church or ministry for up to one year, helping them with much-needed resources. For example, too many small churches (especially newer ones) have little to no experience in dealing with incorporating their ministry, resolving issues with the State Comptroller’s office, the creation and implementation of organizational by-laws, and the correct filing procedures for their 501(c)3 IRS tax exemption status. We help them through the process, to its fulfillment. We also help them set up policies and procedures for the organization and help them with the training of the various positions and responsibilities outlined in their policies. We train the pastors and church leaders to then train their own members for the required “job duties.” And, we do all of this at no charge to them. Yes, of course, we do accept donations from the general public to support the work we do in general.
Years of doing this have caused us to learn certain things about new and small churches. What we have learned is not always complimentary of the churches themselves. Here are just four things we have learned about many of them (some of these may not apply to all churches we have worked with).
- No Vision Statement
The Bible states that “people perish for a lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). Churches with no clear and stated Vision (goals and objectives) tend to have the “We will deal with the situation when it arises) approach. Therefore, they will tend to create ministries (men, women, youth, “feed the homeless,” and so on), have events, establish church positions (work duties), spend money on fruitless ventures, while not spending money on beneficial opportunities. The reason? Because they don’t have a clear idea of what they want to accomplish as a ministry (except “save souls for the Lord). “Soul salvation is a laudable effort, but then, it is not the job of churches to “save souls.” That is God’s job. Churches are to prepare their members for ministry (Ephesians 4: 11-16.
There is a saying among church leaders, “As is the pastor, so is the membership.” If the church does not have a clear and written Vision statement, then even the pastor has no idea how and where to lead his membership. This confusion makes it hard for those members who want to see forward and beneficial progress of the church’s efforts. Usually, this leads to frustration on the part of those people and they will eventually leave the church for greener pastures. Unfortunately, in many of those cases, instead of the pastors recognizing their own failures or the valid reasons for those people leaving the church, they are branded as rebellious and uncooperative. What remains is usually a confused membership led by a confused pastor.
- Complacency
Churches with no clear and written Vision statement tend to become complacent. They tend to become self-satisfied and contented. This may lead to smugness and self-righteousness. This becomes obvious when you suggest to the church leaders that they should consider changing how they “motivate” their members to active duty with the church. You might be met with the argument that you cannot “push” people into service, or that they are still new or young Christians. Sometimes you will find that these “new” Christians have been “saved” for ages, but they are considered by these complacent church leaders as “new” because the members are too lazy to get involved, and when they do, they do such a poor job that the church leaders will not ask them for help again.
The result of this, too often, is that the pastors and church leaders grow frustrated due to this circumstance, and instead end up doing too much of the work themselves. This tends to produce anger in these leaders which will eventually spill over onto the few members who are willing to help. And this, in return, will cause some of those few active members to become discouraged. If the trend continues, the members, along with the leaders, will develop a closed attitude regarding new people. Visitors will be “welcomed” as long as they don’t start trying to introduce new and beneficial ideas or offer suggestions for change in the status quo. New members who refuse to accept things as they are will eventually feel the heat of rejection and will eventually leave the “angry” people to their own.
- Ever Learning
In the United States, one particular problem persists among Christians (Yes, I know there are more), too many dear souls focus their entire Christian “walk” at learning about God and Christianity. What’s wrong with this? Well, what we have learned is that those certain type of Christians only want to spend their “walk” with God learning, but not doing. They go to all the seminars, conferences, retreats, Bible studies, and find the latest, greatest, preachers and attend all of their events and buy all of their books, CDs, and etc. They don’t want little things like ushering at church, teaching a class to youth and/or others, feeding the homeless, counseling distraught people, and other such activities, to get in the way of learning more.
These people are a teacher’s, preacher’s, speaker’s, dream. They will listen attentively (glassy-eyed often), ask the appropriate questions, and laugh at those old stale jokes the speaker tells for the umpteenth time. They will buy your material and even donate to your efforts. Often they will give you the “cash-handshake” where they slip you some money (to “bless” you for such a great teaching) in their hands as they shake yours. But, do not make the mistake of insisting they actually apply those things they are learning. Do not tell them that God wants them to start ministering to others. Do not tell them that just learning about God is nowhere near enough. They will flee from you like as is there was a fire, and run straight into the ever-loving arms of another speaker/teacher who will not expect action from them. The sad reality is that in most churches about ten percent of the people do all the work.
Many pastors of small and ungrowing churches have these type of people. They are part of the problem for the pastor. They are the ones who tell the leaders how much they “love” them, and how great their teachings are. They are the ones who massage the emotional muscles of the church leadership into believing that they (the pastors and leaders) are doing so well, and therefore have a successful church; so that they don’t start changing things.
- No Rules Means No Structure
To be fair, many small churches have pastors who know they have been called by God to the pastorate. The problems ensue when these well-meaning pastors start believing that since they were called into that ministry by God, that He will automatically work out all of their organizational structural needs. Well, that does not happen. Therefore, these pastors end up with people doing whatever they think is the “right” and “correct” things while overseeing a ministry. The result, too often, is that the pastor ends up with “under-shepherds” (mini-pastors) who start seeing their particular area of ministry within the church as their own domain. They will eventually start influencing those they oversee with their own (the ministry leader) brand of doctrine, which will likely be counter to the one the pastor espouses. In the past, the eventual result is that the errant leader leaves the church in the midst of a bad situation (arguments and disagreements with the pastor) and takes with them those who were under their care. These are known as church-splits.
The best remedy against that occurrence is a well-defined Policies and Procedures Manual (PPM). Too many small churches wouldn’t know a Policies and Procedures Manual if it hit them in the face. The above is only one possibility when the members do not have clear and written directions and instructions. PPMs are necessary and crucial to an organization which wants to grow and succeed. Think about this, Coca-Cola has “rules” it follows (company policies and procedures), the United States has “rules” it follows (the law), even God has “rules” He follows (the Bible), but many (no, too many) churches have no “rules” they follow (written and made available to their membership). Rules provide structure and direction to an organization, as they would to an individual (if you don’t know where you are going, and how you will get there, you will go nowhere at all).
