Wes Jessop
Introduction
A common frustration in ministry develops when people don’t operate at a decent standard e.g. people show up late & unprepared; people feel let down; low morale permeates the ministry; the ministry probably ends up ineffective etc.
The Price of a High Standard – Candor
Are you prepared to pay the price to lift the standard? Candor is the inescapable component of improvement. It can be a difficult task because candor can potentially make you unpopular and we want everyone to think we are nice! We often avoid being candid because of fear of deception, backstabbing and a poor standard reign. However don’t be deceived – its candor that is loving NOT telling white lies. This is ultimately an act of kindness to someone who may waste their life in a role they were not built for. Without it, people with potential wont ever discover a means to fulfill it. If you don’t initiate change and address the issues with candor; a) the standard will continue to go down; b) your ministry will never attract good people and c) your current team will become disillusioned.
Of course when being candid you need to ‘tell the truth in love’. Therefore make sure you’ve put enough effort in to the relationship that it can withstand the truth. If you are the leader then it is YOUR responsibility. If you want the privileges of leadership but you don’t want to take on the responsibilities, prepare for an unhappy team.
Wes Jessop is senior pastor at Beachside Christian Church, Palm Beach QLD Australia.
Wes – There has to be something done in a broad umbrella over the entire church. If you are looking for excellence, you are actually looking at the branch instead of the tree – when a church is being led by the Holy Spirit, and we stop “asking people to do jobs” including being on worship teams etc, but rather the Spirit is leading people into areas of MINISTRY within the church, you have a whole different ball game.
What if churches stopped looking at “areas of need” as places that need people to fill roles, and instead started looking at the Holy Spirit working HIS will for the church through the believer’s and their relationship with Christ. We have boiled down the “activity of the church members” for far too long, and separated it from the intrinsic mission of the church – to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and by doing so, make disciples of all nations – baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
When the church returns to the Gospel that was first preached, and the leaders of the church live out the message and have it on their lips continually as their ONLY ministry, the congregation will be changed. When the congregation is changed by the TRUE Gospel, their lives are different, and they turn to obey Christ’s commands to serve the Lord with all their hearts, and to serve their neighbours. This will inevitably change the role of the members in contributing to church life. Those who have special callings to minister will rise to the surface as the SPIRIT calls and empowers, and the church will look radically different. It will actually FUNCTION as the church – the BODY OF CHRIST instead of a club that meets on Sundays to do religious and sometimes social things.
This plan is not a short term one. It will NOT be accomplished in one year of ministry, or two years of ministry. This is a LONG TERM project, and it takes a lot of dying to your “vision” and “LIVING IN CHRIST”. It starts at the top and filters down. Our church are not full of life because they do not have the SPIRIT OF LIFE doing the living through us – we are faking it – and the outcome to the Lord is obvious… a limp wristed-weak spined gathering that is no threat at all to the enemies of Christ: the kingdom of darkness. When the church actually IS the church – by the preaching and teaching of the WORD, as Christ “presents to Himself a bride, spotless and blameless by the washing with the Word” the fruit of this will be a church where ministry is conducted in the SPIRIT it was intended to (the Holy Spirit who does ALL THINGS WELL) and the people are changed into the likeness of the saviour they have come to… evangelism then works, worship then works, prayer then is fruitful, growth is both measurable and obvious, strength is tangible and discernible and the Lord is glorified for once instead of some pastor, or “local expression” of the body of Christ.
This is not just a discussion on how to stand up to the plate with congregation members… we’ve ALL been doing that for FAR TOO LONG… rather, we need to return to what we are all about – the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and in doing so, find His favour again: “Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send workers for the harvest, for the fields are white with the harvest, but the laborers are few”…
Thanks Wes for that, it is a reminde for us as leaders to speak up. i always have trouble with that and tend to internalise my frustrations. This is unhelpful on a number of levels, first , it is unfair to others since i am not explaining to them the reasons or my frustrations and second, it doesn’t change anything. The problem i find is that some people take correction, accountability, advice, reuke quite well while others do not. i have occasionally hit some big landmines in my effort to pick upthe pace with people. In response to Ryan’s post,get back to the gospel, yeah sure that is the answer. Yet people arestill broken and will make mistakes and will need correction. They have different gifts and passions that require management and leadership and this is where the hard stuff is. Its a lovely idealistic vision but unfortunately ‘living out’ the gospel involves people and people are complex creatures to lead.
Thanks Wes for encouraging us to speak he truth in love and to do it out of relationship. That is advice from a mature leader who has done the hard yards and seen the benefit.
Unfortunately for Brett you’ve missed the whole point of my previous comment. The Gospel IS what will build the church – the Gospel IS what will clean the people of God. The Gospel IS what will strengthen them and counsel them. The Gospel IS everything in the church. Until we realize this we will follow the world in the declining Western Christianity, because we have forsaken our first love and have replaced it with management principles, psycho-babble, and pseudo counselling techniques.
Jesus is more than that. Didn’t HE say that He would build His church? DIdn’t He say that He would present His bride spotless and faultless? It is NOT just the basis for which we build out ministry on – the Gospel of Jesus Christ IS our ministry. If we have forgotten that, then the other struggles will overcome us.
As far as leading people go, the Pastoral epistles give us the framework for that, we follow their example, and we use the Gospel as the tool to minister to them. We do this in love – and YES it does take us as under-shepherds getting butted and bitten sometimes by the sheep – it happened to Jesus, the Good Shepherd… but the tool to train the sheep, feed the sheep, rebuke the sheep, nurture the sheep IS the Gospel of JEsus Christ. His word is what causes the “crusty bits” to fall off the sheep, and ONLY His words – because if it is found in anything else, Jesus will say to them “away from me, I never knew you” for “Apart from Me you can do nothing” is a very clear statement by Jesus.
This is not just some pet “theological theory” but this is being enacted in our church, and we are seeing His fruit – everlasting life and change in the believers, and a strength in them that they never had before. We are also seeing the obedient ones rising to the top of the list of “congregational supporters and contributors” and the rest are taking steps down – not by force, but because the tide is changing and the Lord is doing the work.
I strongly believe that if you are going to preach a message, it sure as heck better work. And it is. And it does. But the thing we have forgotten is just how MIGHTY is the POWER of the CROSS. THAT is what we are about. Everything else is a filthy substitute.