DISCIPLESHIP INCLUDES ENCOURAGING JEREMIAH PASTORS

Lonely Pastors

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THE FAITHFULNESS OF JEREMIAH

The prophet Jeremiah is known as the “weeping prophet” because of his expressed emotions in his second book titled Lamentations. The book of Jeremiah covers the ministry of the prophet as he called the nation of Israel to righteousness. He served the Lord for over 40 years faithfully proclaiming the word of the Lord but not once is it recorded that he inspired even one person to follow him and return to the Lord. Forty years! That’s 2080 Sabbath day messages and 14,610 days if he took no holidays and that also includes leap year calculations.

Many pastors perhaps reflect on Jeremiah and his seemingly unfruitful ministry of 40 years as they do their Monday morning quarterbacking and coaching virtual film playback of Sunday. Many walk a lonely path through the days week after week and some…year after year. Many are perplexed at the apparent deep faith of the prophet. We wonder at the faithfulness of Jeremiah as he ministered faithfully for 40 years as it seemed that none of his contemporaries listened…but what Jeremiah may or may not have been aware of was that people of faith would listen to him down through the ages through verses such as Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (NKJV)

Indeed, through the pressures of day to day ministry it is difficult to maintain perspective on the eternal.

THE FAITHFULNESS OF PASTORS

Within church culture leaders of large and mega churches are celebrated as icons of successful ministry, as it appears that they have mastered the pressures of ministry, perhaps better than Jeremiah though to their credit most would not make such a claim. The great ministry leaders are visible and their teachings are highly desired among the many struggling pastors. There are many un-named pastors and ministry leaders who serve almost invisibly and receiving little credit in this life even though they are good leaders, loving pastors, and great preachers. They are my heroes!

Granted that there are a few lax and lazy church leaders who may be contended for their church to go for three years with no baptisms but these are few and far between. Our church culture seems to assume that every pastor of a small struggling church is disobedient, subpar, or flawed in some way. Perhaps they are servants of the Lord serving as Jeremiahs to their current generation. They weep for their sheep, they pray and cry for spiritual awakening among their people, they hunger for signs that someone is listening. However, privately they suffer from depression, discouragement, and despair. There are many reasons pastors feel that they might want to quit (It’s Monday and Your Pastor wants to Quit), notwithstanding the constant feeling of ineffectiveness.

If you are a Jeremiah Pastor, take heart. Remain faithful and the Lord will bless you in his time. Find another pastor with whom to pray. If you can, obtain a ministry coach who may be able to help you improve as you use this time as preparation for a more fruitful time later. You might consider joining or starting a pastor’s peer group for prayer and group study where you will discover that you are not struggling alone.

If you are a pastor who is experiencing the success in ministry and have many followers, there are some things you can do to help the Jeremiah Pastors. First, remember the more humble roots of your beginning in ministry. Pray for the Lord to reveal to you a pastor that you will offer prayer and mentoring/coaching. It is discouraging for lonely leaders to seek out a coach/mentor and be turned down. Find someone who genuinely NEEDS and will respond to your encouragement and spend some time investing in them. By all means pray for the Jeremiah Pastors and resist the subtle put-downs of “small church” pastors.

10 WAYS TO ENCOURAGE PASTORS

1. Offer a special word of encouragement at a time other than as you walk out the church door on Sunday.
2. Be sure to include the pastor’s spouse and children as you encourage. If a pastor is experiencing discouragement and depression, his wife is also bearing the burden.
3. Be sure that expressions are authentic. One church gave the pastor a gift that by necessity included his name but the middle initial was incorrect. Another church celebrated the pastor and his wife’s 25^th wedding anniversary but put the wrong date on the gift silver platter. These mistakes and lack of attention to detail can hurt more than they help.
4. Wake up during the Sunday sermon. Seeing people sleeping during a sermon is discouraging and it is rude. Maybe the pastor is not a Billy Graham but come on!
5. Apply the biblical principles the pastor teaches and praise God while honoring your pastor for his teaching ministry. The response of the congregation may begin growth which will do the most to encourage the pastor.
6. After a significant time of service, lead your church to provide a real vacation or even a sabbatical for study and rest.
7. Celebrate major accomplishments of your pastor. One pastor’s achievement of a doctoral degree went almost unnoticed and for another a book publication was just another day to the congregation.
8. Take care of your pastor and his family. Does he receive regular increases in salary? Does the church contribute to his retirement fund? Does the church provide a self-employment tax offset? Does the church provide for significant reimbursement for ministry expenses.
9. Pray for your pastor and his family. No, this is not an obligatory item on the list. Suggest to the elders and deacons that they have a special prayer for the pastor and his family. Do this as a surprise during a worship service.
10. What is your pastor’s Love Language?

 

• Receiving gifts- Give a spontaneous gift card for Starbucks or a bookstore; on major anniversaries give something significant.
• Words of affirmation- Creatively encourage the one who encourages you
• Spend time with me- Serve side-by-side on visitation and mission projects
• Acts of service- Take some of the load of ministry or do something to help with something at the pastor’s home. Of course you will need to clear this perhaps through the pastor’s family…things such as yard work, maintenance, and so on.
• Physical touch- This one may be complicated but handshakes, appropriate hugs, and other expressions of appreciation will suffice.

The Jeremiahs serving our churches are some of the hardest working and faithful leaders among us. Contrary to popular world opinion and among some high-profile leaders, small church leaders are often good leaders, effective preachers, and loving pastors. Jeremiah pastors are truly heroes.

Add to the list: What are some additional ways to honor and encourage the unsung Jeremiah pastors?

Leader4Leaders Blessings!

Dr. Tom Cocklereece

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Simple Discipleship: How to Make Disciples in the 21^st Century was published by Church Smart Resources. To learn more about Simple Discipleship and to order the book, follow the link below:

http://www.simplediscipleship.com

——————–

Dr. Tom Cocklereece is Author of “Simple Discipleship,” and a contributing writer forwww.Linked2Leadership.com Blogazine. He is a pastor, leadership coach, and ministry development specialist.

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A REVIEW OF “GROWING MISSIONAL LEADERS” by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

Growing Missional Leaders

BOOK REVIEW: GROWING MISSIONAL LEADERS

Imagine how fast God’s kingdom would grow if people in every church, regardless of denomination, determined to accomplish the Great Commission in their community in their lifetime. This is not a proposal to take away from missionary endeavors around the world but it is a plan to increase local missional ministry understanding that it is an investment into the overall missionary effort. In other words, by being missional locally churches will become more evangelistic and soon able to do more in missions further away. The purpose of Dr. Matthew Lee Smith’s book is to motivate leaders to do just that.

Dr. Smith and this author agree that Jesus “wanted fishers of men” and not “students in classrooms” (page 1, Introduction). This is indeed a troubling and certainly an unintended development in Christendom where more than half of Christians who attend worship and Bible study (students in classrooms) rarely actively do missional ministry outside the church. He reminds us that the ministry and leadership of Jesus involve washing the feet of our enemies, ministry partners, and others to whom we are witnessing (18). Doing something of need to serve others that shows genuine humility may win the opportunity to share the message of Christ. By serving in humbling ways we become like Christ and so opens the heart of those receiving ministry.

While Dr. Smith and I agree on all points of developing missional leaders and leading churches to be missional, I found one point intriguing that he made on page 43. There he made the point that Charles Adam separated disciple-making into two parts: evangelism and discipleship. While it is difficult to narrow this tragic event to one Christian leader or movement, it is certain that churches, Bible colleges, and seminaries continue to perpetuate this silo model of ministry and discipleship. Indeed, when some leaders suggest establishing discipleship as an ubiquitous and all encompassing ministry that includes both evangelism and teaching, some evangelism specialists raise concern. What Dr. Smith and others are trying to say is that if we will put proper effort into discipleship and hands on local missional ministry experience, it will ignite a fervor of evangelistic and missionary activity based on thousands of equipped disciple-making disciples. Compare these thoughts to the old adage…give a man a fish and he is fed for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Growing Missional Leaders seeks to not just making disciples but making disciple-making disciples which is the real intent of Jesus’ Great Commission.

I found Dr. Smith’s book an easy read and to be something that might motivate leaders to take a new look at this recent buzz word among Christian leaders—missional. It simply means that the church becomes actively involved in community mission projects thus making every Christian a missionary. Is that not what Christ has called us to become? One statement made in the book that I particularly likes is, “There is no success without a successor. In other words you succeed when you have trained your replacement.”(82) Not many Christians, elders, deacons, teachers, or for that matter pastors can claim success on those terms. We have much work to do and as one more book by a leader with a servant’s heart I highly recommend Growing Missional Leaders. Applying Dr. Smith’s principles will help church leaders cultivate a disciple making missional culture in the church so that disciples get out of the church to make more disciples.

About the Book

• Growing Missional Leaders is a practical, passionate, Biblical mentoring journey for individuals, small groups, leadership teams and congregations who desire to win their world for Christ.
• Readers will appreciate the enthusiastic and Spirit-filled hope God provides as Matthew:
  • Tells stories – of lost opportunities and successes with friends – that give powerful, encouragement of personal and corporate outreach;
  • Opens Bible passages – again and again – showing God’s heart is to bring his lost children home; and
  • Provides stimulating discussion questions – at the end of each chapter –providing the stepping stones to launching fresh ministry into your community.
• Believers hungering to reach their world for Christ will be energized by this passionate call to fulfill Christ’s Gospel and the invigorating manner in which their thought processes will be stretched to God-sized proportions.
• Growing Missional Leaders presents twenty-four Biblical strategies to invigorate and facilitate Christianity’s marching orders – the Great Commission – in your community.
• Each chapter is short, yet packed with the real-life issues of creating a missional heart in the leader.
• Designed for personal growth, small groups and leadership development , Growing Missional Leaders focuses the read on key internal areas such as …
  • Returning our focus on the Great Commission
  • Trusting our God for the impossible by looking beyond our limits and dreaming big dreams
  • Dealing with internal issues such as humility and forgiveness
  • Providing a model for missional ministry and turning our gaze outward toward those in need of Christ
  • Asking hard questions such as, “How do we build a missional church?” and “What does missional success look like?”
  • Outlining key leadership issues including how missional leaders work, lead, think, pray and build ministry
  • Dealing with missional priorities and how they relate to faith, results, prominence and attitudes

About the Author

• Matthew Smith has been pastor of multi-ethnic and multi-generational churches in urban, suburban and rural communities from Miami to Los Angeles.
• As a pastor, university professor, leadership consultant and author, I have been dedicated for over three decades to proclaiming the gospel and Encouraging Achievement in Godly Leaders by Emphasizing Servanthood (EAGLES).
• As founder and executive director of Eagles In Leadership, I have taught leaders and followers of Christ across North America and Israel, as well as touching lives around the globe through blogs, interviews and the Transformed! podcast, hosted by Farpoint Media.
• He loves good books, Starbucks coffee, cooking, and walking through live with ‘the joy of my eyes,’ Melodee Joy, his wife.

WHERE TO PURCHASE GROWING MISSIONAL LEADERS

• For more information, contact Eagles In Leadership at admin@eaglesinleadership.org.

• Growing Missional Leaders is available on Amazon.com and on our website EaglesInLeadership.org.

Make disciples!

Dr. Tom Cocklereece, The Disciplist

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Simple Discipleship: How to Make Disciples in the 21^st Century was published by Church Smart Resources. To learn more about Simple Discipleship and to order the book, follow the link below:

http://www.simplediscipleship.com

——————–

Dr. Tom Cocklereece is Author of “Simple Discipleship,” and a contributing writer forwww.Linked2Leadership.com Blogazine. He is a pastor, leadership coach, and ministry development specialist.

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IMPROVING YOUR CHURCH’S CULTURE: 11- Leadership Training

WELCOME TO THE SIMPLE DISCIPLESHIP BLOG…WINNER OF THE 2010 TOP LEADERSHIP BLOG AWARD FROM ONLINE UNIVERSITY!

 

In the introductory article to this series I mentioned several measurable factors as related to the overall health and culture of a church, one of which was functional or effective structures. In the series I am discussing eleven elements that make up the functional structures of a church:

1. Constitution and Bylaws
2. Branding and community identity
3. Personnel and volunteer selection policies and procedures
4. Explicit and implicit policies
5. Official and tacit influencers
6. Schedules and calendars
7. Programs, silos, and turf mentality vs. collaboration and empowerment
8. Confining mental models
9. Procedural practices such as how meetings are conducted
10. Buildings, facilities, property and how they are managed
11. Leadership training

This article is the final article in the series on Improving Your Church’s Culture and is offered in an effort to assist leaders in developing more effective administrative structures.  Don’t underestimate the effects of these culture-scaping structures as you are building an exceptional ministry. They serve to form the frame on which the ministry is built. Links to the previous articles are listed at the end of this article.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING?

You guessed it! The reason the section heading has a question mark is because that is the answer I sometimes receive back when I ask church leaders about leadership training in their church. Do a Google search of leadership training or church leadership training and you will find a plethora of links to good materials and programs. Why then do so few churches have ongoing training for leaders? Of course they have leadership training…for Bible study and Sunday school teachers, but what about ongoing leadership training for deacons/elders, teams, committees, and church councils? As discussed in previous articles in the series, some of the issues raised at deacon/elder and church council meetings may not 1) be within the authority of the group discussing the issues, and/or 2) may not be related to the direct tasking of the group. I have found that when deacons and elders who are responsible for assisting the pastor with spiritual issues of the church discuss other things, it is because they lack spiritual maturity and depth. When support ministry groups, committees, and teams deal with things outside of their tasking, it is usually because of poor management of the meeting. Each of these is related to leadership training or the lack thereof.

When leaders and the teams they lead act outside of their tasking, it is because of either they have their own agenda or they lack leadership training—both scenarios are dangerous to the organization.

 

LEADERSHIP TRAINING IS DISCIPLESHIP

Let’s face it—nobody ever “arrives” to the point where they cannot benefit from leadership training. However, as with discipleship, many churches have neglected to train their leaders. Leadership training is an ongoing process rather than an occasional event or program. In fact, leadership training IS discipleship though it is neglected by many churches. Consider that as Jesus was with his disciples especially following the resurrection, one might say that he had switched from discipleship training to leadership training. They had a new and deeper perspective of Jesus Christ after his death, burial, and resurrection. They possessed a deeper connection to Jesus Christ and his mission. By this point they were more open to Jesus’ teaching than pursuing their own agendas.

Jesus spent his last days and weeks on earth training his disciples to be the leaders of the first churches.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING SHOULD BE REQUIRED

 

In two of the three churches I have served there have been leaders who challenged me as the church leader and it was clear that they had their own hidden agendas and personal issues. The Lord minimized damage to the churches involved and I learned more about myself and about caring for people. It was important for me to remember that 1) the Lord loved them, 2) they had not been trained in Christian leadership, and 3) they both had underlying spiritual immaturity issues. Leadership training is now a large part of my ministry.

It is often up to the pastor as to whether leadership training will be required or at least strongly encouraged.

 

A Leadership Training Model

I use a combination of three materials I have researched and used with good success for leadership training:

• Lead Like Jesus by Ken Blanchard and Ken Hodges
• Leading Congregational Change by Jim Herrington, Mike Bonem, and James H. Furr
• Simple Discipleship by me; chapter seven offers an in depth discussion of the leadership training process.

Implementing leadership training is about growing disciples to maturity so that they become great leaders. Discipling all church members will go far to change the church culture but developing leaders will solidify the culture change and stabilize a congregation.

QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT…

Other than for Bible study leaders, what ongoing training is done in your church for leaders? Mandating anything for volunteers may meet resistance, so how would you achieve full participation in leadership training? What materials do you use and recommend for ongoing leadership training?

Other Helpful resources:

Good to Great by Jim Collins

Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Jim Collins

Simple Discipleship by Tom Cocklereece

Church Administration by Robert H. Welch

The Church Organization Manual: Policies and Procedures for the Local Church by Robert H. Welch

Simple Discipleship: How to Make Disciples in the 21^st Century was published and released by Church Smart Resources in November 2009. It is not a self-published book. To learn more about Simple Discipleship and to order the book, follow the link below:

http://www.simplediscipleship.com

Series Links:

• Intro- Improving Your Church’s Culture- Introduction
• 1- Governing Documents
• 2- Branding and Community Identity
• 3- Personnel and Volunteer Selection
• 4- Explicit and Implicit Policies
• 5- Official and Tacit Influencers
• 6- Schedules and Calendars
• 7- Programs, Silos, and Turf Mentality vs Collaboration and Empowerment
• 8- Confining Mental Models
• 9- Procedural Practices
• 10- Buildings, Facilities, Property and How They are Managed

Simple Discipleship Blessings!

Dr. Tom Cocklereece

Dr. Tom Cocklereece is CEO of RENOVA Coaching and Consulting, LLC
He is a pastor, author, professional coach, leadership specialist, and is a member Coach/Teacher/Speaker for the John Maxwell Team

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