Before you jump down my throat let me explain. Preacher, you’re not the one in charge. You have elders and they are the church’s highest authority on this earth. You submit to them as they submit to God. Period.
Now let me get on to my original point. Preacher, do you want your work to succeed? No, I mean really succeed. I know that sounds like an odd question. I mean who goes into a work wanting to fail? But many times we set ourselves up for failure for one reason above all. We don’t make that congregation ours. Don’t misunderstand. I only mean that you need to make that congregation your congregation in the same way that every member of that congregation refers to it as “their congregation.”
You are not just the preacher. You are also a member. You made a conscious decision after a lot of searching and thought to place membership there. And just like every other member you need to be invested in that work. You need to live and die, rejoice and weep with every success and every failure of that congregation. There are nights when you should lose sleep. There are days when you should shed some tears.
You see, too often I fear that we step in to work with a congregation expecting a short term relationship. We’ll stay there a few years until something better comes along and then we’ll go there. At least until something better comes along. Or maybe we’ll move to a congregation, stay until the honeymoon period is over, then when troubles start (as they always do) then we’ll leave to start a new honeymoon with a new congregation. At least until the new runs out.
I’ve noticed a theme among these types of preachers and the congregations they serve. Neither ever grow. The preacher never stays long enough for them to mature spiritually and emotionally or for the congregation to grow period. In some ways we’ve fostered an environment that is counterproductive to what we are really trying to accomplish. All of which could be avoided if we just made the congregation with which we work ours.
In many respects that can be a tall order. Often preachers are viewed as and feel like the outsiders. For that reason it is easy to be standoffish and emotionally removed from the circumstances of our work. What are some steps we can take to be more intimately connected to our congregations?
- Never move somewhere planning to leave one day. No, I’m not saying it’s realistic to say that preachers will never move. The problem comes when we move somewhere already planning to move again one day. When we do that we immediately disconnect ourselves from most everything that happens and more easily look at the difficulties we face as reason to hightail it out as soon as possible. But when we move to a congregation and it is the only one we have in mind our narrowed focus will invest us totally in our work, both we and the congregation will be blessed, and that congregation will feel more like it is ours.
- Allow yourself to develop close friendships. Preachers have been told for years that it isn’t wise to make close friends in congregations lest they appear cliquish and unavailable to the congregation at large. I think that’s garbage. Preachers and their families are just like anybody else. They need the intimacy of close friendships. It is a lie to believe that having close friends makes a preacher less likely to minister to the entire congregation. If he fails to do that it is for reasons other than the fact that he has a few close friends among them. When there are people the preacher and his family can sit and talk to, eat with, and confide in it helps make that congregation theirs.
- Be active in every facet of the church. And as a disclaimer, don’t do it just because you’re the preacher. Be involved in all the different works you can. Visit with all of the members you can. Participate in all of the fun activities the church might do together. No, things are at times going to keep you from participating just like everyone else. But never just not go. Don’t have the attitude that “that’s not part of my job description.” In other words, don’t approach that work mechanically – where you come in, do your job, go home, and never have to deal with the brethren outside of the context of the assembly. If you don’t like being around Christians don’t be a preacher. If you do you’ll never make it, but even if you do you won’t do anybody any good. But when you are totally active, you’re total invested and that helps make the congregation yours.
I don’t pretend to have it all together. I understand I’m still a “young buck” in all of this. But these are some principles that I’ve not only tried to incorporate into my work but I’ve incorporated because I’ve seen their affects in the successful works of preachers who have gone before me. And with continued growth in mind I’m interested to know what other suggestions you, preacher, elder, or church member, might have. What can we as preachers do to invest ourselves more and more in the congregations with which we work?
-Andy