Sam Rainer is president of Church Answers and pastor at West Bradenton Baptist Church in Florida.
What is the answer to the instability of frustration and anger? Empathy is the stabilizer. If you have a shepherding role in the church, don’t perceive the emotions of others as a threat to you.
If you are a member of a typical church, then about 15 people will experience some form of mental illness in a given year. If your church is larger, let’s say 300 people, then it is likely that about 60 people will experience some form of mental illness a year.
Humility includes the capacity to assess your abilities and limitations accurately. Power naturally disrupts this ability. Good leadership exists in the constant tension between authority and humility.
It’s always a good sign when the median age drops in a church. But in many cases, you need two new people to replace one older person to retain attendance levels because the older generation tends to be at church more often.
Your weekend worship experiences are a concentrated time, meaning you have the most people on campus for a short duration. It’s your chance to interact with your congregation and for others to see you interacting.
I also realize the presumptuous nature of this post — as if I could tell you what promises to make (and then inevitably break). However, I do believe every pastor should consider these ten resolutions.
For those who are older on your church staff, what can be done? How can a church move away from the blatant ageism that seems to be so rampant in congregations?
A constant negative focus on other pastors and churches produces restlessness in your ministry. When you are green with envy for another church, the grass will always be greener at a place other than your current church.
Unresolved stress can ruin church leadership. In fact, it can turn normally humble pastors into tyrants. When the causes of stress go ignored, when a pastor refuses to deal with the root of stress, then leadership becomes impaired.
Sermon preparation is not — and should not be used as — devotion time. Sermon writing is devotional to an extent. Both involve prayer. Both elevate Scripture. Both require the work of the Holy Spirit. But they are different.
