Carey Conference 2011 05

The second session today (Tuesday) was led by Ray Evans. Under the title "Challenge of Leadership" he looked at good pastoral practice for leaders under pressure. The focus was on dealing with size especially when there is transition. With something of a sociological slant it was very interestinga nd stimulating and really helped us to think things through.

He spoke of five pressures

1. Size complexity and busyness

Here he pointed out the exponential effect different size congregations (a church of 250 people involves 2500 lines of communication but 300 people involves 90,000 lines of communication).

2. Size and pastoral problems

The larger the church the more the problems, generally speaking.

3. Size, role and expectation

From "honorary chaplain" to the minister to being pulled in every direction as numbers grow and even the tribal representational role of the pastor. As a church grows the main minister becomes less and less available. People must recognise this and act accordingly. The problem arises when people do not make the transition. 

4. Growth, change and leadership

Driscoll says that growth causes change which causes complexity which causes chaos which causes concern which causes conflict - that can be due to loss of power, renumeration, preference, information, visibility, role, a pace they like or control. It is something that we should be willing to face, however.

Decision making becomes more difficult.

A larger church is more likely to lose members as in a smaller church more effort is made to keep everyone on board.  

5. Growth and resource requirement

Inevitably larger numbers means the need for more and more resources adn personnel. Things get more complex. A greater variety of skills are necessary. Apparently, giving per head is optimal in a church of 75-100, smaller churches and larger ones are most demanding. A larger church has more expenditure. You need people who are competent in various areas (websites, etc). Aesthetics becomes more and more important.

Next we stopped for an interim summary implication. Ray spoke of scepticism about the idea of growth that is due to various factors - theological, ecclesiastical, cultural and personal. Talk about growth is threatening but it ought not to be.

The final section was devoted to best practice from Scripture.

1. Acts 6 and problem solving

Acts 6 shows a leadership identifying a problem and dealing with it. So often we do not tackle issues in the way that we see here

2. Acts 20 and eldership activity

Elders must be active

3. Acts 16 and leadership recruitment

Paul still brings on Timothy even though he was so disappointed by Mark

4. The pastoral epistles and leadership development

Paul is expecting Timothy and Titus to keep learning. Leadership training is so important.

5. Philemon and the great vision/bold move/big ask

Paul had found the secret of what can really bring together - the gospel. This is what leads Paul to make the bold move and make the big ask.

The number one vision problem is that we do not focus on who God is and are too focused on ourselves.