Bill Easums Observations

The other day in a seminar a middle aged woman asked me to define what I meant by the Missional Church. I quickly replied, A missional church is organized around mission.  Mission is their organizing principle.  A missional church doesnt have a Missions Committee; it is a mission. Missions ins’t one program among many; it is the program. Missions isn’t optional or a program; it defines the church.

How would you have answered the woman?

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easum@aol.com

There aren’t many mistakes staff can make that are cause for immediate termination. However ,when I was a pastor and we had a staff of some 68 people, there are three mistakes, that no matter what the circumstance, I would fire the staff person without any conversation other than “You’re Fired!” Here they are:

1. A serious moral failure like having an affair.  Even though I would try to get the person help and restored to ministry it would not be in the same church where the failure occurred.
2. Having an issue with anyone on the staff, especially the lead pastor, and instead of talking it out with the person, the staff person goes around the person directly to the personnel committee. This type of action is simply one form of passive aggressive behavior and can not be tolerated.  People who can not confront a problem with the person with whom they have a problem aren’t mature enough to be on any one’s staff. Such action goes beyond even triangulation and border lines on mutiny.
3. Questioning or bad mouthing in public a decision that was made in a staff meeting. This is another form of passive aggressive immature behavior and demonstrates a lack of trust and team spirit.

These three actions are so deadly they can’t be tolerated and should not have any recourse. Of course, this stance  needs to be clearly communicated in the hiring process that there is no second chance on these three fatal mistakes. 

Now you may be thinking this is a harsh stance to take.  I agree; it is. But so are these three mistakes. I’ve seen pastors try to save the staff person by working with them only to see their staff torn apart, its effectiveness decline, and the problem rear its ugly head once again. These actions so undermine the credibility and integrity of the person with the staff that their effectiveness and trust are so diminished their effectiveness is severely reduced. These actions all point to a level of spiritual maturity that is should never be tolerated among a staff.

Yet, even in such situations, grace must abound. You should offer to get them the help they need to mature in the faith and hopefully they will be an asset to the Kingdom – but on some other staff.  Just not yours.

I applaud those lead pastors who care enough about the Kingdom that they hold themselves and their staff accountable to high ethical standard.

So tell me what you think about this.  Am I a tyrant or am I setting an example of team spirit and ethical behavior between leaders?

Your response to my blog post “Looking for Myth Busters” has been good.  In fact I have received more personal email than responses on my blog. Here is one response by email that adds one more critical myth that we need to deal with-  “WE’RE NOW TWO CHURCHES SINCE WE STARTED THAT #@%$@ CONTEMPORARY SERVICE!”

“Here’s another myth I’m wrestling with and need to bust – “we need to shut down our new contemporary service and have just one blended service because we’re becoming two churches.”   In spite of incredible strategic mistakes I was overruled on, our semi-new contemporary service is having modest success,  and yet I’ve got no small number of people who are on the warpath wanting to shut down the only thing we’ve ever done that’s actually had any kind of success. ”

Here’s my response to this email.

Whatever you do don’t blink.  If you stop the new service it is totally over for the church and it will be next to impossible for anyone to ever start it again.

So here’s what I would do.

Go on the defensive whenever it comes up to cancel the service.  For example here are some possible responses you can make to put them on the defensive and be seen for what they are:

1. Didn’t the new testament church meet all over the city and wasn’t it called the church at Philippi etc. If it was good enough in the first century for the church to have more than one congregation surely it’s good enough for us today. Don’t you agree?
2. Which is more important that we all know each other or that everyone in our city knows God?  I for one would rather everyone know God than for all of us to know each other.Surely your can’t be saying we should put our comfort before the salvation of others?
3. How can you be so upset when the new service is bringing in new and younger people. Dont you care about leaving a legacy when your gone? Aren’t you committed to our Lords last will and testament- Go make disciples?
4. What difference does it make if we have two churches in one? Don’t you know about the multi site church? Haven’t you watched churches have multiple services on sunday. After all, Jesus is what binds us together, not how or where we meet for worship?
5. Don’t you trust me to preach the same message at both services?
6. Tell me please, just what is the real reason you want to cancel this service?
7. Surely you’re not saying that you know everyone in the church now, are you?

You can probably come up with many of your own, but dont let the conversation focus on the fact that you have two services. Put the focus on following the Great Commission. Take them to the scriptures and the mission of the church and help them and those watching see how ignorant, self-centered, and non-biblical their objections are.  And if you can do this in a posture of love and respect you just might have a winner.

Bill Easum
www.churchconsultations.com
easum@aol.com

What ever happened to the guidance of the Holy Spirit when it comes to making decisions in the church? Do we really believe that voting on something is the way to go?  Shouldn’t we be trying to discern God’s will rather than the will of the congregation? Are academic credentials really more important than charismatic, Holy Spirit filled leadership?

These are just some of the questions I continually raise when I see the way most church structures have been high-jacked by Modernity, Democracy and Roberts Rules of Order. Our way of organizing and running the church is so far removed from what we see in the Acts of the Apostles that one wonders how we could have strayed so far from the path.  We seem more enamored by secular business practices than we are by God’s way of doing things.

In the Acts of the Apostles, which should be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit, we see a very different form of church administration than we do today.  If we were to rely more on the Holy Spirit than on modern, democratic models we would:

1. Throw Robers Rules of Order out the door and never allow it back in.
2. We would place more emphasis on deciding God’s will rather than the will of the congregation.
3. We would be more like a charismatic organism where spontaneous response to what God is already up to if more important than voting on what the majority wants to do.
4. Our structures would be flexible and our job descriptions would be fluid enough to allow the Holy Spirit to redirect our actions like it did with Stephen when it shifted his job from waiting tables to preaching the Gospel.
5. Denominational structures would be replaced by church-to-church structures based on what is needed to transform each churches community.
6. Those in leadership would only be those who were demonstrating serious serventhood who lead by example rather than telling others what they can and can’t do.
7. Rather than being a democracy, administration would be invested in a few Godly people who were trusted by the congregation because of how they lived.
8. The most important tasks of the official leaders would be to explore how to interpret and deliver the message Jesus Christ is risen.
9. Decisions would be made communally rather than top down- discernment rather than voting.
10. Prayer, in the form of collective listening, and discernment based on Scripture would take the place of voting.
11. Ripened and disciplined leaders who have a loving relationship with the congregation would replace academically trained leaders.

Now if you think this is pie in the sky thinking, just read the Acts of the Apostles and you will see that not only is it possible, but it has happened.  It if happened once it can happen again.

If you want to read more about this type of administration, read the book, Foundations of Church Leadership, edited by Petersen, Thomas, and Whitesel

Bill Easum
www.churchconsultations.com
easum@aol.com

I am coaching a guy who is doing his best to turn around an established church. We all know that is one of the most difficult tasks on the planet and requires more skill than just about anything I know. While we were talking he shared with me six questions he’s asking his leadership to answer.  I thought they were so good I would share them with you.  Here they are.  They are primo…..

(1) Who are we called to reach?
(2) Are we reaching them currently and consistently?
(3) If not, what specific changes do we need to make in order to reach them?
(4) What do we need to stop doing?
(5) What’s holding us back from making those changes now?
(6) How will those changes impact us – personally and organizationally?

Each one of these questions is worth keeping before us all the time.  Put them on your frig.  Write them on your bedpost. Tack them on your office wall.  Ask them periodically at staff meetings.  Ask them when you meet with your lay leadership team.

Bill Easum
www.churchconsultations.com
easum@aol.com

There are a few myths I keep running into that I feel are hurting churches chances of reaching the unreached population in the U.S.  So I thought I would share five of the biggest myths I’ve heard lately.

• Myth One: An acoustical service is a great way to reach new people.  The fact is the only people it normally reaches are the few people who decide to do it.  Acoustical services remain small due to their design and function. I’ve yet to find a church with an acoustical service over 100 on a regular basis.  If you know of one be a “Myth Buster” and respond
• Myth Two: A service at some other time than Sunday will reach people.  The truth is you can resign yourself to the fact that the most you will get any other day but Sunday is 10% of what you have on Sunday morning.  When you see the big Friday night services you will see huge Sunday morning services. If you know of a place that gets significantly more than 10% of its Sunday crowd at some other day be  “Myth Buster” and respond.
• Myth Three: All you have to do is start a contemporary service and the church will grow.  While it is true that starting another service is the best way to grow a church, it’s not true that just starting a contemporary service will cause the church to grows. People aren’t looking for a contemporary service; they are looking for a contemporary church.  If you know of a dead, unfriendly, self-centered, take-care-of-the-members-first church that started a contemporary service and the service exploded with growth, be a “Myth Buster” and respond.
• Myth Four: If we build it they will come.  This myth goes two ways.  First, I’ve seen church after church build a Family Life Center (fancy word for Gym) and expect the youth to use. Problem is they will only allow the youth to use it when adults are present so it just sits there empty. Second, the vast majority of church build extra space and do not increase their staff and they wonder why they don’t grow. Folks, buildings don’t keep people.  A new worship center or location may bring in more people for 18 months later they’re gone because the church grew by 30% and never added staff.  If you know of a church that greatly enlarged its facilities  and didn’t add staff and grew significantly and had a large portion of that growth two years later, be a “Myth Buster” and respond.
• Myth Five: If we only had more money.  Now I know you can’t do ministry without money.  But the truth is most of the ministries that grow a church don’t cost money. You know the best way to grow a church- inspire your people to invite their networks either to church or some “side door” activity where they rub shoulders with Christians.  That costs nothing.  If you know of a church that grows simply because it has the money to grow, be a “Myth Buster” and respond.

Want to be a destroyer of “Myths?”  Let me know of the myths you feel are hurting the church. Send them to me at easum@aol.com.  I’ll publish them somewhere along the way.

And if you have any thoughts as to why people buy into myths without checking out the facts, share that with me also.

Bill

Bill Easum
www.churchconsultations.com
easum@aol.com