Cards on the Table

Putting my cards on the table here … “nowhere is safe in ministry.” 

That is Andrew Heard’s conclusion after he considers the two ditches of thinking about church growth. We want to be neither an “insider church” nor a “seeker-sensitive church.” If we don’t want more people at our church, we’re out of step with the advance of the gospel; but if we go for more people at all costs, we might find ourselves out of step with the content of the gospel. 

There are a lot of ways to get this wrong. Insightfully, Heard notes that in his experience, the temptation in either direction is often different for leaders depending on how long they’ve been in ministry. Younger pastors, he explains, might be more prone to succumb to the dangers of wanting more people, whereas seasoned leaders can tend to get stuck. 

For this ‘seasoned’ bunch, he says the needs of the church occupy so much of their time and energy that it’s easy for them to mistake their calling as simply keeping “church things” in motion, in relatively decent order. They settle into maintenance mode, and sooner than later, the members under their care drift into maintenance mode too (and with little protest since maintenance mode tends to be fairly comfortable). 

I recall Eugene Peterson bemoaning this ‘crisis’ in his book, Working the Angles. First published in 1987, Peterson makes the case that many pastors end up understanding their jobs to be about “satisfying their congregation.” He pondered: “How do I maintain a sense of [true] pastoral vocation in the middle of a community of people who are hiring me to do religious jobs?”. 

These so-called “religious jobs” might even include things that are often considered faithful ministry, such as expository preaching, but it becomes all about maintenance. We are better hearers of the word than doers (see James 1:22). Are we truly interested in reaching people who don’t know Jesus?

With the dangers noted and congregational expectations aside, Heard calls pastors to a higher, more biblical standard. He writes, 

Leaders who settle into these ruts are confronted with the unsettling truth: the apostolic ministry was shaped by a burning ambition for the truth of the saving work of Christ to be not just known by the world, but embraced by the world. The apostles were prepared to pay whatever price was necessary to see that same world saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus. In this, they were following the example of Christ. …

To be like Christ, to be like the apostles, to be properly connected with the heart of God and the mood of God, we must actively work to see people won to Christ and grown to maturity in Christ. The more we return to this mood, the more we will be ready to pay the price necessary to get our churches moving forward — to change things that are broken in our ministries, and in ourselves. And leaders have a special responsibility to create a mood within the church where there is deep dissatisfaction with just going through the motions. …

Satisfactory underperformance can’t be an option when the realities of heaven and hell are fully known and deeply believed. (102–103)

In this light (i.e., which is reality!), Heard exhorts pastors (and church members!) to work hard and to aim for real change (i.e., be faithful and seek fruit). The two are never meant to be at odds.

And I am convinced that this is where God is calling our church — not to a place that’s safe … but one that is good.