Hey Bernie,

Only one problem with your scenario… most of us are not Jesus. 

I, for one, am a builder… I love to build things; whether it be worship bands, outreach events, or websites.  But soon, I find that after I build something, I can get easily bored with it.  And if I’m not bored with what I’ve built, I’m not sure what the next logical step to take this thing I’ve built to is.  I think this type of thing is what the writer was talking about.  When I find myself in this kind of situation, I think I can make a much bigger impact for the Kingdom by getting out of the way and letting someone else take over whilst I go find something else to build and/or invent.  That keeps me at my strongest; and continues (hopefully) to move the Kingdom forward.

Todd

Brothers,

Didn’t Jesus leave a few towns because of the “Unbelief” of the people he was dealing with?  In fact wasn’t he always on the move?  WWJD – maybe the answer is “keep moving?”

How do you fight indifference?  How do you move a people forward who don’t care to move?  Do you condemn them or just move on yourself?  Many pastor friends and myself are finding ourselves hitting our heads against the wall of indifference and are struggling to know what to do.  This author makes some good points.

I rarely write anything in these, but feel compelled here.  I believe you should never consider leaving anywhere, your job, your church, your ministry position or even your city unless God has already prompted you with a new vision and you have prayed for confirmation of that vision with your spouse, your pastor, or other wise counsel.  Where you are called to you stay until the Lord releases you.  Sometimes that release comes and you won’t even have a new position yet...that is faith.  To leave due to dissatisfaction, lack of changes, or any other reason doesn’t sound like “God told me to leave...” It must be His timing, His way, His will or ministry will suffer.

Al wrote:
“How do you fight indifference? How do you move a people forward who don’t care to move? “

Something to think about… maybe it’s a leadership problem?  Have you been training leaders, or do you do everything yourself?  If you train leaders, solve it as a team.  Also, watch your expectations… who ever said this was all supposed to be easy?  Perseverance is a godly attribute.

...Bernie Dehler
http://www.FreeGoodNews.com

It’s amazing how much Al’s situation sounds like my husband’s and mine!  My husband is the assistant pastor at a church where the previous/founding pastor did everything himself for over 30 years.  His son has taken over the ministry in the last few years, and we’re having tremendous problems getting anyone to do anything!  Sunday school teachers are consistently late, and no one, including the deacons, takes initiative to do anything.

Our church is in a small, somewhat-dying town, and there are only a few young families.  The people who are currently faithfully involved in the ministry are seniors, who are slowly moving off the scene with illness and frailty.  We try to have a balanced perspective in our expectations, knowing that church members are not employed in full-time ministry, and have secular jobs.  Obviously, the same is the case with most church congregations, yet we’ve been in churches where regardless of that, the people take initative, are on fire to see God’s work move ahead, and they’re EXCITED about it!

I think I read in one of the previous posts, the question being asked if people are being trained.  That’s a serious issue in our church, but even more serious is this—we have a training session going on right now, and can’t get those who are to be there to come!!  So then there’s the question, how much can you require of people who are, in a sense, volunteers?  Yes, they’re doing it for the Lord - and we could vocalize that - but until they come to that heart realization THEMSELVES in their own walk with God, they’ll be doing the work only “because the pastor said so.”

The pastor is a good man, but there seems to be so little organization.  Plans are discussed in meetings, then you never hear about them again.  Expectations are spoken of to church leaders, but there is no accountability.  No one is checking on what’s going on, so problems continue as they were, because no one is confronting issues.  My husband could do that, but unless the pastor sees the need himself, and supports that, it would seem as if my husband was usurping the pastor’s authority.

The pastor sometimes seems discouraged because no one is bringing new ideas to the table.  Yet, he fails to realize that when ideas are brought before him, he discourages people by seeing everything wrong with it.  In the rare case when someone does take initiative (as he has voiced he would like), he micromanages to the point where people decide that they’re not going to waste their time trying to do something if the pastor’s going to constantly change it.  I have actually fallen victim to that myself, and just decided to let him do it.  So . . . we seem to be in a terrible, mundane cycle.

I think, also, what is difficult is that this is my husband’s home church.  This is where he grew up, and he always said he never wanted to come back here to live.  We met in college, and served in two ministries in the first three years of our marriage.  The second ministry unraveled with serious problems just four months after we arrrived, and the pastor left.  We were then left in a situation where we needed somewhere to go, and we began to pray.  I can’t explain it, but I’ll never forget the night we’d just finished a two-hour talk and prayer session about our situation when the telephone rang.  No lie, it was our current pastor, calling to ask us if we’d be interested in taking the assistant position at my husband’s home church.  We know that was God moving.  Things like that don’t just happen by coincidence.  But by the same token, we never felt “called” here.  God provided a place for us - and for that we are so thankful - but we never had a vision to be here.  We submitted and followed God’s leading.  I know God will bless us for simply obeying.

My husband is frustrated by the lack of energy, excitement, and spiritual encouragement among the staff.  It seems that God’s only mentioned in the pulpit, and that the rest of what goes on during the week is only business.  The pastor doesn’t believe in the necessity of a relationship with his staff—there’s a very hands-off approach.  Where’s the fellowship between our families?  They think it strange when we ask them how things are going in their personal lives, and concern is never expressed about what’s going on in ours.

This is a long post—I think the Lord really had it for me to find this site this morning. We already have a vision for what God has ahead for us, and we’re waiting for His provision and timing.  In the meantime, though, we continue to love our pastor and people, and do with all our might the work God has put before us.