Chapter Ten

Practical Challenges Confronting Congregational Leaders



I once visited a state that was principally populated by railroad building almost a century ago. At intervals, towns appeared in what was otherwise farmland. Each town was ethnically different. Often, the principal religion was different. Though the towns were nearly a century old, they often had little diversity. In many, the towns remained what they were when they came into existence. Diversification proceeded at slow rates.

That situation reflects statistically a distinct minority of places. Most populated areas have a significant degree of diversification. Commonly, economic development, intermarriage promoted by education past high school levels, and a mobile society guarantee diversification.

The America of past immigration and economic development is just that: the America of the past. A real challenge confronting many congregational leaders today involves seeing diversification as an opportunity rather than a problem.

In this chapter, we will seek to acknowledge some of the everyday challenges congregational leaders should expect.


Challenge # 1: The Reality of the Multi-Cultural Congregation

When the Vietnam War ended, this area (Fort Smith, Arkansas) became a relocation center for many Laotian refugees. Many of those people are now American family units. The Laotian congregation that began years ago now meets in the building Caucasians built and maintain.

A decade ago, when I bought a house, my wife and I looked at a home belonging to a Hindu family. A couple of miles from my office is a Buddhist temple. About five miles from the church building is a Hispanic church building which this congregation provided for a Hispanic outreach in the rapidly-growing Hispanic community. Less than ten miles from this Caucasian church building (there are several Caucasian church buildings here) is an African-American church building. In the downtown area, this congregation conducts several forms of outreach to economically disadvantaged people.

In this congregation, we have people who are American Indian, people who are African-American, people who are Laotian, people who are Hispanic, and people who are various forms of Caucasian. We have members actively dedicated to homeschooling, members actively dedicated to Christian schools, and members actively dedicated to public schools. We have members with million dollar incomes, members with hundred thousand dollar incomes, members with adequate but stressed incomes, members who struggle with economic distress, and members above 65 with no retirement income.

How do congregational leaders address cultural diversity? How do they make assemblies and works comfortable to Christians who are a part of a minority group? The differences are obvious and many:

  1. Language
  2. Customs
  3. Relationships in marriage
  4. Parent and child relationships
  5. Perceived spiritual development needs
  6. Bible classes for adults
  7. Bible classes for children
  8. The importance of values and interpreting those values
  9. Recognizing (and respecting) standards of respect and dignity
  10. Understanding what is offensive
Men who provide leadership in any growing American congregation of any size will face cultural diversity on some level. In the future, economically the answer cannot and will not be to provide separate church buildings for each cultural faction.


Challenge # 2: The Reality of a Multi-Generational Group

This is not a future challenge, but a present challenge. The wants and needs of preschool families, the wants and needs of elementary families, the wants and needs of families containing teenagers, the wants and needs of families with college students, and the wants and needs of families with “moved out” adult children are not the same wants and needs. Nor are the wants and needs of young families, of families with children, of families with empty nests, and of elderly families the same—not to mention the large variety of singles with little in common beyond the fact they are not married.

There is a variety of tastes in songs, a variety of tastes in classes, a variety of tastes in preaching, and a variety of tastes in interaction. Some think strongly the answers are found in form. Others think with equal conviction that answers are found in knowledge. Still others are devoted primarily to attitudes. Some look on differences as a matter of faithfulness. Others call it a “war.” Still others consider most differences to be a matter of preference.

Leaders easily can find themselves viewed more as referees than leaders. When multi-generational groups seek solutions by asking elders, “Whose side are you on?” the entire congregation loses—there are no winners. Differences sink to a control issue pursuit instead of rising to a glorification of God pursuit.


Challenge # 3: The Consumer Mentality

Our society is built on consuming, throwing away, and looking for something that is improved. Those who have been an adult for 50 years or more should share (kindly with an understanding spirit) how much our society has changed in the last half of the twentieth century. Fifty years ago the relevant questions were: How long can it be expected to last? How easily can it be fixed? How similar is it to other things of its kind?

Now something will be outdated in less than a year. It is cheaper to “buy new” than it is to repair. Uniqueness is highly valued.

It is easy for a congregation to get caught up in “advertisement claims” rather than “let our values be seen in our deeds.” Admittedly, the line between “advertisement claims” and “Christian influence” is often extremely thin. Yet, it is easier to claim we have the best preacher in the area than it is to meet existing needs in the community, or to claim we have the best teen program available than it is to teach and encourage people on how to be good families, or to claim we have a children’s program that cannot be surpassed than it is to exemplify the values of good parenting.

There is a huge difference between making claims and making a difference. When congregations make a difference in a community, people quickly know who a congregation is by what it does. People who come because we “claim” to be better than our “competition” will just as quickly leave when someone “out claims” us. (And they will!) Is faithfulness a matter of competition or a matter of service to a Master? Is faithfulness a matter of claiming or doing?

The “consumer mentality” quickly can become extremely self-centered. When that happens, the primary relevant issue quickly becomes “What is in it for us?” There is little commitment beyond “us,” “our desires,” and “our needs as we see them.” When that occurs, a congregation will have no “long-term” effectiveness. As soon as the momentary sparkle fades, the congregation fades. The few that remain live in the “do you remember when . . .” The congregation who exists by remembering the past instead of serving in the present condemns itself to irrelevance, then to extinction.


Challenge # 4: People Who Are Ignorant of Scripture

Ignorance of scripture comes in many forms:

  1. People who do not know the text.
  2. People who do not consider the Bible to be God’s revelation.
  3. People who ignore the context of a verse or verses when determining the meaning of a verse or verses.
  4. People who make scripture conform to stances the congregation takes.
  5. People whose primary allegiance is devoted to a movement rather than scripture.
  6. People who assume first-century Christian culture and forms are either similar to or are exact duplicates of Christian culture or forms of today.
  7. People who substitute assumptions for scripture.
Any Christian who assumes that everyone who claims to be Christian has the same understanding of a scripture commonly has a false assumption. Leaders will experience a huge shock if they think a scripture or a series of scriptures will “settle” a matter.


Challenge # 5: Diverse Expectations

Commonly those appointed to the role of congregational leadership are shocked to discover members are different in their expectations of leaders. A too-common statement is this: “We would not experience these problems if the elders were doing their job!”

That statement is declared in reference to every situation imaginable! Is the parking lot too small? “The elders should have taken care of that!” Are there too few classrooms? “The elders should have seen that coming!” Does the preacher not have the emphasis a member wants? “The elders should talk to him!” Is the building too cold or hot? “The elders should take care of that!” Do groups of Christians disagree with each other? “The elders should settle that!” Has a member chosen to disregard Christian values? “The elders should do something.” Do the elders delegate responsibility? “Those people are not elders!”

What person would volunteer to meet such diverse desires? No matter how spiritually unhealthy expectations may be, when elders endorse change for the sake of improvement (in accord with scripture), they often face a storm of criticism.

Several questions need to be asked and discussed. What is an appointed congregational leader? What expectations should exist? How should expectations be determined? If the decisions of appointed leaders disagree with a member’s expectations, how should he (or she) react? Are the best interests of the congregation (whether now or in the future) more important than a member’s personal desires?


Challenge # 6: Economic Stress

Years ago I preached in a congregation that was quite active in benevolence. One day some people appeared who never had worshipped with the congregation. Our organization and ways were unknown to them. They came to ask one question: “When do you receive your allowance from the government?” They knew we were active benevolently. They were certain we were funded by the government. They made it plain they wanted their share of what the government gave us.

If your reaction is this: “Ridiculous! We fund what we do! Nobody gives us anything!” may I suggest that too many members act in much the same way. Members often feel free to place demands on the congregation’s budget as though a limitless amount of money were given by some mysterious outside source. Those “limitless funds” enable independent congregations to do anything they wish.

While most members acknowledge that the membership is the source of a congregation’s funds, many of these same people do not seem to understand they are included as part of the source of the funds. The beginning of the twenty-first century created much stress on congregational budgets. The drop in the value of the dollar and the rise in gasoline prices created a lot of economic distress. If the distress trend continues into the century, congregational leadership will face some increasingly difficult choices.

Shrinking funds coupled with increasing costs are a bad combination! If the trend of deepening the economic stress on Christian individuals continues, congregational funding will decrease. If congregational funding decreases, that will impact missionary work, local outreach, internal programs, buildings built or increased, facility heating and cooling, and even the ability to maintain what is owned. Congregations may no longer be able to do what they have done for decades.

Should that happen, wonder who will be declared to be at fault?


Challenge # 7: A Critical Society

Name one authority figure in the American society that is not criticized. Presidents, Senators, Congress men and women, mayors, board members, teachers, bosses, owners, celebrity figures, and winners are among those who are “fair game” for criticism. Anyone who disagrees with “my” view, conclusion, expectation, convenience, or personal desire can be, should be, and will be criticized. “I” am more likely to criticize another person than “I” am likely to encourage another person. The sad fact is that the majority of people know more about how to criticize than how to encourage.

Unfortunately, “our” tendency to declare criticism includes elders. No matter how hard they work, no matter that all they do are acts of volunteering, no matter what percentage of time they “get it right,” and no matter how caring they are, the criticism they receive is louder than the compliments they receive.

Few elders are prepared to endure the amount of criticism they receive. In fact, negative attitudes often come as one of the biggest shocks to men who accept appointments to leadership. These men commonly are courted fervently by congregations to become appointed leaders.

It is difficult to be urged so appreciatively and to be criticized so harshly. Declaring “open season” on some of the finest men in the congregation is both unjust and cruel. Yet, unfortunately, to be critical seems to be in the spiritual DNA of too many congregations.


Challenge # 8: Intuitive Knowledge

“Have you heard? Elders know everything!” Or so too many congregations think! Too many Christians think elders know endless realities without being told anything. They know who is in the hospital with no one calling. They know who is struggling with depression with no one writing. They know who was absent last Sunday and why.

They know all the secret stuff including the real whys. They know motives. They know problems. They know needs. They know solutions.

They not only know, but they know instantly. How? “We do not know—it is a mystery!”

To many of us, the expectation of elders having a mysterious intuitive knowledge is an unreasonable, foolish expectation. Many an exasperated elder has said, “How was I supposed to know when no one told me?” Yet, amazingly, they often are blamed for not knowing something no one knew, or not knowing when no one called them, or not knowing when no one talked to them. The assumption that “he knew” has torn the heart out of many good men who serve as elders.


Challenge # 9: Changing a Negative Image into a Positive Image

A favorite story involves elders ringing a doorbell as they arrive on a prearranged visit. A curtain suddenly parts and just as quickly closes. A preschooler runs through the house announcing loudly, “The elders are here! The elders are here! The elders are here!”

Many elders visit people on a weekly basis. They pray with people, encourage people, show compassion to people, and help people who experience problems. A significant part of congregations who are blessed by visiting leaders much appreciate those visits, prayers, and encouragement. Most of those visits occur because the congregation’s leaders care about the congregation’s members.

However, there is also a significant group of members who do not want the elders to visit. It comes as quite a revelation that many of these people associate such visits with bad experiences which produce undesired results. A visit from elders is associated with “something is wrong—they are coming to disfellowship us, or condemn us, or lecture us, or demand something of us.”

A significant challenge is found in turning negative concepts of visits from appointed congregational leaders into positive concepts associated with compassion, caring, and encouragement.

Often that transformation confronts many problems before it occurs. There is a persistent conclusion that such encounters are bad events, not good events. Good men are surprised when they encounter these negative concepts.


Challenge # 10: Determining Who Are Members

One of the first questions elders face today is this: Who is a part of the congregation? Understanding that number factors into most of their decisions. What needs to be done involves an understanding of how many people are the leaders “doing for.” Addressing expectations involves knowing how many are expecting. Wise leaders understand it is not how loud the voice is, but how many the voice represents.

Ironically, something as seemingly mundane as producing a directory or composing a mailing list can produce powerful emotional reactions. That is especially true if the list is viewed by some as a declaration of who is and is not a member. Sometimes it is a person who is upset, and sometimes it is the family of a person who is upset. Thus, many congregational leaders literally do not know for certain who is part of the congregation and who is not.


Surely, these are not all the challenges that appointed congregational leaders face. Know that if you are appointed to congregational leadership, you will meet challenges. Do not be pessimistic, but do not be surprised when the unexpected occurs. Perhaps the ability to cope with the unexpected is a significant factor in being effective as a leader.


IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE A SHEPHERD, WALK IN THE PASTURE, Chapter Ten
Copyright © 2008, David Chadwell
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