The guiding ideas for bringing change to the leadership culture and structure of the church will be to re-engage with the realities of the Pastoral Epistles. Some quick emphases will be:
1 Tim 3.1-7
- Men who are Aspirational (v 1).
- Male, not Female
- Character qualifications dominate
- Well-Ordered Home Life
- Not a Novice Convert
- Can teach (could be private or small group mostly, not just preaching/teaching).
2 Tim 2:2 “Entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also”
- Seek Trustworthy Men
- Seek Teachable and Teaching Men
- Have in view a Four Generation Ministry
But where do you start?
Here is a simple (but challenging) plan for implementation.
1. Men’s Mentoring Ministry — The Pillar Men
Prioritize the younger men, since they are moldable, teachable, and still have uncluttered aspirations.
De-prioritize the older men who are not already like-minded, since they are set in their views, less teachable, and their aspirations tend to be clouded by other competing motives.
Nevertheless, esteem any older man who is godly since his character will be a living template for younger men.
This is not done to disregard women, but done as the baby step in a process of reformation. Once pillar men are in place, you can work to reform the women’s ministry.
The Men’s Mentoring Ministry can’t be an “Elder-in-Training” ministry because otherwise, you will give men unrealistic expectations.
Yet out of this crop of men, God will raise up the called, qualified men who can be elders.
Those who aren’t elders will be “pillar men”. They will be godly men with healthy marriages and homes, who are doctrinally informed, but maybe lack teaching ability, or are unable to ‘do the work’ of a shepherd (demands of work, family, etc)
Among the ‘pillar men’, you will have your deacons, ministry leads, and general supporters of biblical reformation in the church.
2. Make Pillar Men strong churchmen.
Every pillar man should be
- a member (“meaningful membership”)
- Serving in a ministry
- Joining every committee, consultation, or any opportunity for the congregational voice to participate. (Don’t ignore the handbell choir committee or the quilting committee. These ‘non-teaching’ committees can have massive influence in a church!).
If you can’t insert pillar men to have influence on committees and ministries, then the pastor should personally engage those unaligned committees and ministries, while gradually isolating the influence of those unaligned groups.
For example, a pastor chose to preserve a senior ladies’ bible study on Sunday mornings rather than dismantling it, even though they completely changed their Sunday School set up. He didn’t give it large influence, but isolated it without shutting it down. This kept him from having a needless fight, distracting him from the changes he wanted to do.
3. Turn your like-minded staff into unofficial helpers for committees that they don’t have a right to be on.
For example, the Associate Pastor offers to type stuff up or send emails or bring food for a committee or board meeting that they are not entitled to sit on or influence officially.
The goal is to orient the board toward favourable change by persuading them with hospitality first, and argument later on.
Hospitality toward unaligned ministries/structures is the first plan of approach for soliciting change. I.e. Hospitality accrues relational capital. It prioritizes people first, then persuades them with principles later.
4. Use internships to add to your depth of like-minded pillar men.
One way to bring in men who are potentially elder qualified is to offer internships with financial remuneration.
A single seminary/post-seminary guy can be brought in for an internship that is under one year long. But in that year (or 6 months, or 4 months), he brings youthful energy, support for your vision, and the appearance in the church that the ministry draws high quality men.
Persuading your church to adopt your elder-leadership model, will require them to be excited about the appearance of new life, young leaders, etc. Although ‘youth movements’ can be viewed in mere worldly terms, this practical emphasis might assist you in overcoming opposition from ‘the old guard.’
Target young men from bible colleges and seminaries, even from outside your country.
- Recruit from TGC Africa/Korea/ Latin America/ Brazil/ Australia churches?
- Recruit from trusted seminaries?
- Recruit from bible colleges?
- Find the like-minded guy from a church in your denomination?
Why would a young guy do the internship?
If there was enough money for him to eat and pay rent, he would jump at the chance to get church experience with a city church, and a likeminded pastor.
Offer clear learning outcomes to the potential intern.
Highlight the personal investment from the Senior Pastor. This will make the internship worthwhile.
The intern can work at any number of needed jobs in the church, but the investment in him from the pastor will be the payoff.
5. Change the culture of the church to prepare for constitutional changes
More men, becoming pillar men, creates a new voting block in the church.
Pillar men on committees (even seemingly meaningless ones) give organizational support for your vision/plan.
When you go to vote or change the constitution, etc., you may still have a big fight. But you won’t be alone. You won’t be using a constitutional battle as the first attempt to persuade the old guard. Rather it will be the final stroke of persuasion in a systematic approach.
When the constitutional fight comes, you will have many pillars who will personally support you and help you to stick to it. This is essential for big changes like you’ll propose.
And even if you, the Senior Pastor, gets fired, you will have established a growing new culture of pillar men who can support the next pastor to bring the change that is needed.
If you are a man who would like to be invested in to become a ‘pillar man’, then consider coming to Calgary, Canada and joining the church that I pastor. Reach out to me through our website at info [{at}] calvarygrace.ca
We also offer accredited theological education through Union School of Theology, with the Graduate Diploma in Theological Studies and the Masters Degree in Theological Studies. Although we are located in Canada, both degrees are accredited with the UK university system. They are church-based, with pastoral mentorship. Contact me if you are interested in joining us beginning in September 2020.
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