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A Dare for Pastors

Orginally published on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at 6:50 AM
by Todd Rhoades


I got an email recently from Adam McLane with a great idea for pastors. I just wonder if anyone is game to take on this dare:

Adam writes: I am daring you and your staff to take this challenge. I promise you it isn’t as dangerous as it sounds. In fact, I think it may just fundamentally change the way you interact with the people in your ministry.

Here’s the dare.

Lock every staff person out of your church building for a work week. From the senior pastor to the part time guy to the janitor. Instead of going to the office and doing your normal thing for 7 work days I am daring you to put all that “work” aside for a work week and a couple of days to spend that time getting to know 10 people who go to your church in their native environment...

Here’s how it works.

1. Instead of getting up and going to the office, split your day in half. In the morning you’ll spend a half-day with a first shift office worker and in either the afternoon or evening you’ll pull a half shift with a blue collar worker. Trust me, you’ll find a bunch of volunteers. It’ll be fun for everyone. Repeat this for 5 days so each staff member gets to see 10 of your church attendees in their work environment for half a day.

2. Run your ministries that week in the most stripped down way possible. Just wing it for a week… you’re professionals, you know you can wing a week. Tell the pastor to talk about his week or something. The preacher absolutely doesn’t get special treatment in this. Heck, download a free sermon from open.lifechurch.tv and tell the band to play last weeks songs on Sunday. This dare will make your ministry better, I promise.

Intrigued?  You can read the rest of the ‘dare’ here at Adam’s blog...

What do you think?  Anyone willing to take Adam up on his dare?!


This post has been viewed 1483 times so far.


  There are 27 Comments:

  • Posted by RevJeff

    Haha… Some of us live like that every week

  • Posted by

    I like the idea of the pastors and church staff becoming more familiar and spending time with the flock.  This is a wonderful idea, and can help open new doors and expand relationships.  I wish that more pastors would take the time to sit down and get to know people, even putting aside some of the more minor responsibilities.  And then, in the last paragraph, this idea went south…

    “Tell the pastor to talk about his week or something. The preacher absolutely doesn’t get special treatment in this. Heck, download a free sermon from open.lifechurch.tv and tell the band to play last weeks songs on Sunday.”

    Just because the church staff wants to get more intimate with a set of the congregation is no excuse to go lax with preparations of the sermon and services for the rest of the flock.  This sounds like a real, “fast food,” mentality.  “Oh, we don’t have time to pore over the Word of God and see what the Holy Spirit wants to share with the believers.  Let’s just go through the drive-thru and have some leftovers.” People don’t need to hear about their pastor’s week--they need to hear the Bible being taught.

    --
    CS

  • Posted by

    This isn’t anything new, maybe to spend a whole half day with the member of the “Flock”. I thought it was part of the job description to call on the “flock” and minister to it’s pains. How are you supposed to do that if you don’t know the people and feel their pains. It sounds to me as if some of you need to get out of the office moreoften then setting aside one week to experiment at knowing the people you serve!!

  • Posted by

    Adam has a killer point!  Too many pastors have become professional at their job to the point where they no longer understand what it means to work for a living (in the secular sense - I know that what we do IS work… relax… you’re starting to sound like my wife!)

    Remember, the rest of the world has to work and live OUTSIDE of the Christian bubble (it’s starting to sound kind of nice, actually!)

    It would do us all some good to turn a wrench or swing a hammer for a day or two.

    As far as preaching on Sunday, living in the same world that Jesus lived in (working for a living) would allow time for God to significantly speak to you… let’s face it, the Bible isn’t as difficult to understand as we make it sound… but that’s a topic for another day!

  • Posted by Adam McLane

    CS- I’m not even suggesting you do this habitually. I’m saying, for one week… put getting to know your people better at a higher premium then an awesome message. In fact, I am promising you that you’ll be a better prepared preacher for the rest of the 51 weeks of the year because of this experiment. Go ahead, do it. I dare you.

  • Posted by

    I;m not even slightly challenged by McLane’s idea.  A much better challenge would be to get to know 10 people who don’t go to any church in their native environment.  After all, who are we really to minister to?

  • Posted by Miu Mustard

    i dont think it’s a good idea also.

  • Posted by

    Are we talking about being a better preacher or a better pastor. There is a difference you know.

  • Posted by

    Adam:

    I’m not a pastor, so I could not take this dare you’ve laid forth.  And if I were a pastor, I wouldn’t take this dare because I still have issues with the notion of a pastor being recommended to skimp on studying the Word and getting a, “sermon in a box,” or waxing philosophical about his work week as a substitute for diligent study in feeding the sheep.

    --
    CS

  • Posted by Adam McLane

    For those who think this is a bad idea or somehow now good for a church, I’d be curious as to why.

    @CS- please see Jeremy’s comment above. I think he covers why those of us in professional ministry need to be dared to leave the office.

  • Posted by

    Adam:

    I’ve got no problem with getting out of the office and interacting with the flock.  If you go back to my original post on this thread, that’s where I encourage the idea.  I wish that more pastors would take the time to go visit people in their homes, at their work, and in hospitals (contrary to Perry Noble’s rant, but that’s another story).

    My problem is the forsaking of the dissemination of the Word of God and in taking what sounded like a, “fast food,” and irreverent solution for the church. 

    --
    CS

  • Posted by Adam McLane

    CS- yes, that does make sense. And that’s why I’m saying 1 week of a slightly less prepared or even canned message isn’t going to kill anyone. Conversely, lets say a staff of 5 spent time with 50 different people that week in their jobs??? Those 50 people will listen to every word you say for the next 51 weeks simply because someone took the time to get to know them on their turf. Not to mention, in those 50 encounters your church staff met tons of co-workers… which addresses another major problem of church staff; many don’t know non-church people!

    In this instance, I don’t think its devaluing the message. Instead, I think that the dare may deeply impact the message going forward and make an overall ministry stronger.

  • Posted by Andrew Marin

    I actually think this is a fantastic idea!  And I think for many of the people who don’t, might be the exact people that should be challenged by such a thing.  Yes, pastors should know their “flock”, but especially in the larger church setting, how many actually do? I think it’s an innovative way to force interaction in the local community - what a church body should constantly be doing anyway.  Thanks for your thoughts Adam.

  • Posted by

    What is some non Christians walked in the church the same week as the challenge was done.  It would suck if they thought the pastors would wing the sermons and not be prepare for anything…

    there are some flaws to this

  • Posted by Adam McLane

    DYU- I’m not following your logic. Can you explain? What I’m sure any visitor would experience that week is “man, these people love their church people enough to spend time with them?” Speaking as the preacher who now sits in a pew… preachers overvalue their message prep too much. Now that I go to a church that cares more about living out the message then it does preparing the message, I see message prep as something I wasted a ton of ministry time on. My goal of this dare is for pastors and ministry leaders to rediscover their passion for the people. We all went into this for the people… undergrad, seminary, internships, training, ordination… but soon enough we fall into this idea that church isn’t about people at all, it’s about programs.

  • Posted by

    I’m not sure why this has to be an all or nothing proposition.  I agree and disagree with Adam at the same time.  I think it’s a wonderful idea to meet with members of your church in their world.  Not sure how this would work in reality - would I sit and watch my accountants and lawyers do paperwork?  Would I be distracting the factory worker from their job?  I do think it’s a good idea and would demonstrate love and interest and care.  However, I disagree about the ‘message prep is overrated’ thought.  The Word make the difference in the heart.  It’s what the sower sows, the pastor preaches, it’s what is profitable for equipping the man of God.  I would never want to get in the pulpit and ‘wing it’. 

    That’s why I wonder why this has to be ‘all or nothing.’ Set aside some time each week for a month to meet with congregation members - Monday-Wednesday.  Leaves the rest of the week for preparing to give the Word.  I think the idea is great - but not to the neglecting of the ministry of the Word.

  • Posted by

    I’m not a pastor… but I find it interesting that there is a strong opinion that it is as important to know WHO you are preaching to than WHAT you are preaching.

    You are preaching to SINNERS, nothing wrong with getting to know everyone but you are called to preach the Gospel, not “get a feel for things"… Too many pastors APE other series and messages or write their own much like a comidian writes material. IT’s all in the line of thinking of a church service as a PRODUCTION If you load up your weekly 25 minute “talk” with stories about yourself, family or your week or you are teaching out of a book YOU WROTE, yes, I’ve seen that happen several times, you might ought to read the book of Jude , you might get to know yourself a bit better.

  • Posted by

    Won’t work. A pastor nowadays has no clue how to relate to the working people in his congregation. He is without question the most clueless member of the church. He will never face the world as his congregants must every day. Many pastors have their needs taken care of by the church--the people that really work pay the pastor’s mortgage, their gasoline, their healthcare, their utilities, their education. What they get in the way of a salary is high dollar spending money. There is no way the pastor can relate in light of all the perks he has.  Yet the preacher touts how much he is at church....it’s his JOB! He is paid to be there! And the preacher taunts those who are not in church! Hey--we have JOBS too! This plan is cute....but will never work. (and few bosses would allow it in the real world!)

  • Posted by Lex

    I can’t help but hear Acts 6: Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.”

    How many of us with secular jobs would be able to just not come in to the office for a week to shadow our spouses or children or mentors? Why do we assume that the work our pastors do in their offices is less important?

    I think if my pastor did this I’d be less inclined to get to church that Sunday ‘cause I know he didn’t study and sit before God to prepare a message that would teach me something. He just hung out with people all week.

    And as a side note - if you’re really convinced that your pastor doesn’t need time to prepare a message, or that he’s the most clueless member of your church, or that he couldn’t possibly relate to your life - I would humbly suggest you find another church. Because (1) you should be somewhere where you’re getting a good Word every week, and (2) your pastor probably doesn’t need someone in his congregation who thinks so little of him.

  • Posted by Charley Blom

    Adam,
    As others have said this isn’t new. I pastored for 23 years, and about 12-16 hours a week were spent with the people of the community, and of the church. In their homes, or at their work. this was simply part of being a pastor. to be with the people, talking about faith and life in their world.
    the rest of my time was preparing my sermons, BIble Studies, calling on the sick, or those in grief, or on new people in the community.
    the least productive time was spent in meetings planning how the church operated.
    Charley

  • Posted by Adam McLane

    The hang-ups here are amazing. We’re talking about a week of your time. A week where you may prepare a tad less than average. In no way is this challenge demeaning to message prep in general. I’m saying… 1 week, try something different. Prepare in a different way! Get your staff out of their offices, cancel a bunch of meetings, and spend time with the people.

    Really, what is so controversial or earth shattering about that? I think a defensiveness expressed here proves the point… we in church leadership often think our programs are more important than people.

    Do I think it would be difficult and distracting to shadow a member of your church for half a day? You bet it would. And I’m not suggesting how you go about it… it’d be way different for every person. I know I’ve shadowed tons of people at their offices, plants, job sites, etc. For some jobs it really means you get to go and swing a hammer or help clean-up their job site for an afternoon. For others, it may be meeting them for coffee and getting a quick tour of their office. For a teacher, it could mean volunteering for a half day to read to kids. On and on… let’s not turn into a bunch of literalists here.

    The point isn’t a formula, it’s to address the epidemic of “professionalism” in ministry. Some of us are so busy being professionals that we forget… we all do this for the people!

    The amount of defensiveness is revealing IMO. wink

  • Posted by

    I kind of forgot that I commented on this discussion board, as I have been busy with all the other stuff related to the workings of the church. The idea is good for those Pastors that don’t do some sort of calls on the congregation already, but I thought that doing calls on the congregation and preparing a message for Sunday were part of the same job. I don’t really see how spending half of 1 day is going to make it so you know the congregation, but if you can spend a whole half day with ONE member of your congregation, all the power to you. I also take offense at Read On’s post.  How did you become so informed on how clueless the Pastor is. Do you think the pastor has never worked a day in his/her life. Maybe you need to follow your Pastor for a half day. I am Pastor to a 2 church charge. I admit they are small churches but I still keep track of the people in both Congregations, and not knowing the people is not an option.The fact that you think the Pastor has a free ride through life is especially hurtful. It sound to me as though you need to talk to your Pastor. You can do that while you spend half a day with him/her. You must think that all a Pastor does is write the message all week, again I don’t know the situation of the church you attend. I have a better idea yet, you should come follow me around.

  • Posted by Adam McLane

    Lee- I think that “calling on people” is long lost art that pastors should get back into. True, if you do that regularly… this dare isn’t for you!

  • Posted by

    I think this is a great idea.  As volunteer youth workers who do not have an office in the building.  We are out there all the time.  Often kids are in our home 6 out of the 7 days in a week.  We try very hard to get out there and attend the kids sporting and school events and interact with the parents.  Get to know them in their environment. 
    I think it would be great for some pastors to take the time to visit people in the church and get to know them.  Often you have to be in a nursing home or sick and in the hospital for a pastor to visit you.  What does it say when your pastor wants to get to know you or spend time with you when you aren’t sick and laid up.  And the thought of a pastor getting up and talking about his life, his week instead of giving the sermon that’s in the book for the week.  I say this because we were once at a church where the pastor gave a sermon out of a denominational book that he had every week and there was nothing personal in the sermon.  It’s good to know that pastors are human too.  I can’t speak for everyone but knowing that the pastor has struggles and stresses during the week makes me feel okay with how i’m doing.  We are all human, even pastors.

  • Posted by Becky

    I think we’re getting too caught up in logistics and missing the whole point of the dare.

    I’m the youth director at a small church.  There are four people on staff full time (and three part time staff members).  I agree that it would be really awesome to spend a week with the congregation.  Yes, we visit our members; yes, we even sometimes visit them at work and school.  But it would really speak volumes if we intentionally spent a week out of our offices and in the world of our congregation.

    Obviously each pastor and youth pastor and secretary and music minister would need to pray about what God would call them to do about their work load and responsibility to their church.  I think I would trust my pastor to preach or not preach as he feels called on Sunday, just as I expect the parents of my students and my students themselves to trust that I will lead them as God calls me.

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