The Presbyter's Page
Electronic Edition – May 2001
Original articles published April 1997
Section 12 - LA
District UPCI
Donald Bryan - Presbyter
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Sermon
Thought: “When the Church is Near the
Promise"
Thoughts
on Growth - The Minister & The Church
Sermon Thought:
“When
The Church Is Near The Promise”
(Scripture Text: Joshua 3:1-11)
Israel was at an exciting time in their history. After 430 years, they were one day from receiving the promise. God always gives us the strength to follow a challenge by giving a promise. And Israel was right on the edge of the promise.
This transition time between receiving the word and seeing the word fulfilled is important and critical. As Israel got closer and closer to the fulfillment of the promise, three things began to happen to them. Israel faced discouragement, carnality, and warfare.
1.
Discouragement – The first time you find
discouragement in the Bible was with the children of Israel on their
journey. Numbers 21:4 says that the
people got discouraged because of the way.
The journey itself became the source of discouragement. And this spirit always comes by focusing on
the circumstances and not on the promise.
When Israel started looking at the desert, the barrenness and the length
of the journey, they forgot where they were headed and their spirits became
weary. A church can’t afford the
thoughts that are not on the promise.
As your church nears the promise, expect discouragement to come. What do you do? Speak the Word. Remind
the people of the promise. Declare what
God has said. Lift the people’s eyes
off the circumstances.
2.
Carnality – Secondly, Israel became carnal. Carnality is living by the flesh, as opposed
to living by the spirit. When flesh
rules, all manner of sins come in, including divisions and strife. What do you do? Confront the carnality, show God’s greatness and stand for the
Word.
3.
Warfare – Israel had to fight for the promise. They had to learn to use the weapons of
warfare. How quickly we forget that we
are in a warfare that is real. When the
church gets near the promise, expect discouragement, carnality and
warfare. But preach the Word and you
will enter into the promise.
You Can Be A Better Leader
Leaders don’t just have a position, a spiritual gift or the authority to make rules. True leaders are able to influence others and persuade them to follow. People follow leaders –
1. …who direct them through a dream to desirable objectives. A vision is a leader’s most important possession.
2. …who provide them with meaningful rewards and reasons to work. Things that get rewarded get done.
3. …whose personalities and plans are credible and inspire confidence that the objectives will be achieved. Good leaders build up their followers to believe they can accomplish any dream. The leader who believes in his followers has people who believe in him.
4. …who effectively communicate their plans to reach a goal. Good leaders give clear directions. They make sure they have been understood and listen to their followers’ questions.
5. …who give them responsibility, recognize their contributions, and hold them accountable for their work. Leaders must clarify the job requirements so their followers’ contributions will help meet the team’s goals. People don’t do what you expect, but will do what you inspect.
6. …who give them compelling reasons and motivations to reach the objective. Persuade them with examples of past success, belief in what they can do, and a desire to work on a successful venture. People follow when you give them a reason to work.
7. … who give solutions to problems that hinder reaching the goals. Leaders know how to work together with others to overcome difficulties. In coming up with solutions, leaders listen to the ideas offered by those directly involved in the situation.
8. …who make good decisions and are willing to explain the decisions and plans that have been made. Leaders identify, define and analyze problems, and define a course of action and follow it.
Thoughts on Growth – The Minister
& The Church
1.
An
effective leader accomplishes the work through others. The task is too great for one person.
2.
We
wrongly suppose that the key to effective ministry is our personal
availability.
3.
The
leadership style shifts required to break the “200 Barrier” is for the pastor
to shift from establishing deep one-to-one relationships to establishing group
relationships and he must become a supervisor and learn how to delegate.
4.
Church
growth cannot be sustained unless the laity are mobilized.
5.
In
most situations, unless evangelism is present, growth cannot be maintained.
6.
What
if God wanted you to handle twice as many people as your are ministering to at
present?
7.
I
challenge pastors to be minister developers, and then to measure every other
effect in the church by that standard.
8.
Adequate
caring lies at the foundation of all sound church growth.
9.
The
most important issue in people development is a holy imagination of what God
can lead a person to become.
10. Church growth is more a
matter of heart first and then of having a certain kind of technique.
11. The journey to the church of
the future that is the longest, hardest and yet most important begins in the
pastor’s mind.
12. Pastors are often more
obsessed with doing things right than with doing right things. They give more attention to efficiency than
to effectiveness.
13. If you need the people, you
can’t lead the people. A codependent
relationship seldom grows or moves forward.
14. Excellence is the gradual
result of always striving to do better.
15. One definition of insanity
is to believe that you can keep doing what you’ve been doing and get different
results.
16. If in the last few years you
haven’t discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead.
17. Above all, try something.
18. Essentially there are two
actions in life: Performance and
excuses. Make a decision as to which
you will accept for yourself.
19. Don’t just learn something
from every experience; learn something positive.
20. Every person who has become
successful has simply formed the habit of doing things that failures disliked
doing and will not do.
21. There are no victories at
bargain prices.
22. You are today where your thoughts
have brought you.
23. If you’re looking for a big
opportunity, seek out a big problem.
If your ministry is only one
of your jobs, here are 12 tips to make the road a little smother.
In light of the fact that 50 percent of all North American churches have 75 people or fewer, many pastors do not receive full salary from the church they serve. This forces them to consider options such as finding other employment on the side or having a spouse work to help make ends meet.
1.
Guard your attitudes. Sometimes
it is hard for those “called into the ministry” to accept the fact that they
may have to work “secular” jobs at times.
These are understandable feelings, but will lead to bitterness of heart
and cripple our ministries unless we overcome them.
2.
Look primarily to God. It is easy
to become resentful toward people if we look to them as our sources. God is our ultimate employer and provider,
not the church.
3.
Beware of get-rich-quick schemes.
A
pastor desperate for additional sources of income may be vulnerable to the
allure of multilevel marketing and other “easy money” systems.
4.
Assess the hidden costs of having a spouse that works.
5.
Make the most of the situation while you’re at it. Working a secular job can actually have many
overlooked benefits other than just additional income: contact with unchurched people and
experience with realities of work environments.
6.
Define your ministry.
Bi-vocational pastors should beware of trying to have a “full-service”
ministry. You need definite limits and
boundaries. You cannot do everything,
so you must have a clear focus for what you will handle.
7.
Educate the church. They need to clearly
understand your time limitations so they don’t form unrealistic expectations.
8.
Guard your family times ruthlessly. Your
time to be with your family is likely to be limited, and this requires careful
scheduling and refusing to allow unnecessary interruptions.
9.
Don’t neglect your health. Those who
burn the candle at both ends are likely to run out of wick!
10. Develop a realistic plan. Unless you are willing to remain a bi-vocational pastor the rest
of your life, you need a realistic and concrete plan for how you will make the
transition to full-time ministry.
Dreams without plans seldom come to pass.
11. Cut your greener-grass
preconceptions. Many bi-vocational pastors
are filled with great expectations about the additional time and fruitfulness
they will have if they go full-time into the ministry.
12. Deal with your fears.
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