The Simple Things That Matter

Rural church pastors have a unique set of issues. On top of dealing with a disparate membership, their location makes it difficult for active church participation. Today’s leader must be creative and innovative in transforming or renewing a rural church into one with a following and a congregation like that of a Mega-Church. This includes active use of its facilities to help serve the community through daycares, programs to better peoples’ lives including; resume writing, job search, counseling services, domestic violence and homeless safe havens. While also taking advantage of the Internet, pastoral community visits and other technological advances to get the word out on their relevancy to help those who need it most.

Are you leading your rural church in being relevant for spreading the Gospel and being an integral part of the community or is it just a structure with historical value with no spirit of activity flowing from it? A leader’s relevance hinges on their ability to influence a group to be in unison for the achievement of a common purpose or goal. (Northouse, 2007) Whether it’s growth of a church or any other task, leaders have the fiduciary role of bringing everyone together for accomplishment of a shared goal. In describing how the church should interact with the community, Matthew suggests in a world which emphasizes the value of strength, the church must be active in taking in the “weak, socially powerless, ill-connected and the ungifted and nurture them. (Desilva, 2004) What is the health and presence of your church in the community?

Are we not motivated by God’s anointing us to serve? What can we do to improve and affirm our own beliefs while doing as we’ve been commanded to do? Being a pastor is not an easy position. Not only are they the organization’s spiritual leader, they must also be responsible for shepherding the church, it’s affairs, while also saving souls of those who are believers and want their lives to become better once they become ‘Saved’. But there’s more to the story. Oftentimes there are other ministries associated with the church including: food distribution, domestic violence protection, helping the homeless and underserved, but also counseling members and others to get back on their feet and be productive in society.

Preparing rural ministers to be effective requires a lot of diverse training and education. (Sherin, 2012) With so many diverse challenges coupled with lower income levels, the calling to these areas aren’t attractive to aspiring pastors with their eyes on getting a Mega church or a huge congregation. But it doesn’t discount the value they add to established communities and perhaps they’ve overlooked an opportunity to grow God’s kingdom without being in a major metropolitan area.

Having grown up in a rural church and through my consultations, I believe in the intimacy and value they offer. Although today’s youth have a strong faith, their active participation in churches remains on the decline. (Roehlkepartain and Benson, 1993) This only compounds the concerns of rural church pastors. They’ve either migrated to larger cities or seek out other venues to worship which require less effort. So, how do they get the youth and their parents to come and actively participate in the church and its activities? Perhaps they should consider tweaking some of their leadership and embrace other initiatives to draw them in.

Do today’s pastors understand and know the demographics for the community in which they exist? Does their staff reflect these demographics and how can it help them to better understand its impact? Are there non-profits and other help ministries available to serve the needs of the community? In the early stages of growing the church, Apostle Paul and others had the charge and responsibility to grow the church. In his Letters, the Apostle Paul reminds his disciples of the challenges they will face as they expand the church, but also serves as motivation to have faith and what they are doing is right and God will reward them for their good works. (DeSilva, 2004) Are today’s ministers just as obligated and creative as the Apostle Paul was for continued growth of the ministry regardless of the location? In the infancy of the church, Apostle Paul, carefully selected deacons and elders to help him grow the church. Their intestinal fortitude coupled with their desire to serve God in spreading the Gospel goes without saying as they traversed the region, dealing with challenges, but also doing what the Lord commanded them to do.

Oftentimes, these locations were not brick and mortar buildings, but outdoors or they used synagogues and other venues where the crowds could gather and hear the Word.

In today’s spirit of intent and with the legacy of the Apostle Paul and others, have pastors today gotten too comfortable in their ways and not found ways to spread the Word beyond their current structure? Are pastors using their staff and congregation to create a blueprint or mind-mapping individually and then as a consensus to bring about a change to maintain their church’s relevancy or are they sticking with the status quo? (Michalko, 2001) There will be certain pockets resistance to change, however as leaders, it will have to be managed and convinced the right things are being done to save the church.

Exit interviews

Is your church conducting exit interviews of its departing members, key pastoral staff or others and what value does it add? (Schultz, 2014) In business one of the practices deemed important is to better understand why people are leaving the organization. Whether it is a promotion, relocation or just not a good fit, leaders get the opportunity to talk with the departing employee and gain all types of information. What was the supervisor they worked for was like, if the team jelled, were they productive, what could’ve been made better, if they were the boss for one day what would they change? Not only to get a sense of why a member is leaving, but also to serve as a sounding board to solicit ideas, suggestions or other practices not considered for the membership. This is especially true for the ‘church hoppers’. Granted, the hopes are for everyone to have a church home, but helping to make someone comfortable may only require a few tweaks others may have not even mentioned but had concerns about. Also has their been an effort to reach out to previous members for their views as well? Perhaps they would consider returning to the active church rolls.

Challenges and Concerns

Although this won’t apply to everyone, it is a reminder for those who truly have been called on by God to spread the Gospel and to help their fellowman spiritually; they should seek out some asymmetric ways of completing their mission.

Church planting has become a bit of a phenomenon as of late as storefront churches continue to pop out almost overnight. In his own quest to plant churches, Bob Roberts describes not only the value of doing such work to spread the Gospel, but also the challenges in doing so. (Glocal.net, 2013) There remains a need to spread the Gospel and to be active in the community. Yet, some of the rural churches aren’t taking advantage of their positioning through legacy and locations. How can they take advantage of what assets are already at their disposal (legacy membership) and use it to connect in new realms others has failed to explore to give them an advantage. (Michalko, 2001) They’ve been there through time, yet as with soil used for planting, sometimes it has to be renewed with fertilizer or other enhancements to allow plants to grow healthy.

Are church leaders open to new ideas on how to grow their membership and position in the community? Tushman and O’Reilly (2004) describe the value of when leaders establish an environment whereas creative and innovation can flow and everyone should want to participate in the process. (Tushman and O’Reilly, 2004). Pastors must ask themselves is there staff just as diverse as their membership or is it one or two key personnel in the church making all the decisions and expecting the congregation to just follow and not participate in church operations? Imagine how much better the church could be if everyone shared in the organization’s vision and values while participating in sharing to make it better? (Morgan, 1997) They see the problem to, but don’t know how to resolve it or don’t feel their suggestions will be valued or considered.

Suggested Solutions

 Leadership

Leadership requires continual learning, feedback from members, staff, & other stakeholders and renewal cycles. When is the last time your organization conducted formal or in-house leadership training? If it’s been that long since training has been conducted, then ask why not? Oftentimes, church leaders are ‘busy’ with managing the church affairs, but yet training offers great value and insight into the organization and it’s issues and concerns. Who is spearheading relationship with technologies experts and partnerships with other non-profits, and education of staff? Perhaps there are some teaming opportunities to be further studied for best fit of the church.

One of the primary concerns with being rural is its disparate location, as it makes in difficult for some to get to church because of lack of transportation or the economy. Although churches may invest in vans, ridesharing and other networks to get to church, it’s not enough. However, technology has enhanced the footprint of ministry. Now more than ever, for those churches using social media, and other virtual technology the need to increase their web-presence is valued. Even with the changes in technology, culture is still vital to cross-cultural communication. Pastors will need to invest more time to in-person visits and community interaction instead of waiting for members to come to them.

With changing demographics, communities are changing. Rosen, Digh, Singer, and Phillips (2000) suggest leaders need to be open to differing world-views, but use them to develop strategies and action plans to embrace other cultures. Traditions are inherited and taught much like our culture. Some of the elements of effective communication are not only observing and understanding the cultural norms of a particular group but also being culturally sensitive when communicating important information. An effective communicator not only has something important to say but knows when, where and how to present the communication, so that it does not fail. Are there interpreters within your church organization? If warranted, now is the time to get some.

Role of consultants

Consultants lend an expertise that may not be present in the current structure. The role of the consultant is combination of problem solver, counselor, mediator and sounding board. (Block, 2011) Although there may be some level of expertise and corporate knowledge on the staff, however if their experience is limited then the suggestions they offer would be at that same level. Seek out an external consultant with documented and reputable experience in building churches. Their intent would be to come in an analyze the organization through questionnaires, observations and interviews of people including a sampling of key staff and members to better understand the intricacies of the organization. The insight they offer and suggest will only be as good as what the organization will act upon. So when making such an investment, also buy into the time and team participation it will take to make those suggestions come to fruition.

Conclusion

The role of church still has value in the community. Not only as place of worship and spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but also in being a safe harbor for a myriad of ministries that will help the community and the people be uplifted and help improve their lives. The calling to do the work of God is a life-changing event. Although everyone has a position in God’s vineyard, the calling to serve in the role of pastor is critical to leading the church in a positive manner that gives the glory to God.

Pastors and other key members including church membership are in a position to make their church be at its best in the community as well as to spread the Gospel and it be a reflection in their daily lives. Their inactivity creates opportunity for new churches to crop up in their area and seek out members who may be dissatisfied with the current leadership. The choice is theirs. But, don’t forget how the Apostle Paul expanded the church into being a global presence and impact. Pastors, if it’s their true calling, should want their church to be seen as a place where families and those needing the Word while looking to work in the vineyard can come in and actively work. Can this be attained?

Biography

Dr. Jeffrey Jones served on active duty Air Force for 20 years. As a Retired Security Specialist, Dr. Jones has worked in a variety of security operations positions. These include conducting security assessments worldwide. He earned a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership at Regent University. Any questions about this article can be directed to him at jeffjo3@regent.edu.

It was in January 2016 when the execution of a young black man by a Chicago police officer was exposed that raised the flag.  Had it not been for a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the public would probably have never known what happened or better yet, seen the video footage. Is it any wonder why mistrust of the police and law enforcement continues to be an issue in urban and economically-disadvantaged neighborhoods. But, it still took well over a year for this tragedy to be exposed. Perhaps it only scratched the surface of a more deeper issue.  But it was more than enough time for Rahm Emanuel to be re-elected to another term as mayor. In a contested and heated reelection campaign did anyone stop to think what would have happened if this expose’ occurred and became a campaign issue?

After all, the police commissioner works at the pleasure of the mayor. Sure, the police commissioner was fired and the police officer involved was charged for his part, however whatever happens if anything to the politician. This is a recurring theme all over the nation in cities such as Ferguson, Baltimore  even NYPD and others whereas the elected official has the authority to let an appointed official go who’s become a political liability.

Most of these leaders get a golden parachute and end up recycled and running another ‘low-morale’ department elsewhere. Just ‘Google’ fired police chiefs or commissioners to prove my point.

We fast forward to the recent events in Baton Rouge and Dallas. There is a lot of outrage of what has transpired so various groups have began marching and protesting in front of police departments demanding a change in protocol and training. Local, municipal and state elected leaders have much authority and influence over the style of policing it’s officers impose on the public. Police leadership tend to focus on ensuring their officers are trained to standards in accordance to agency accreditation, but there is another side not often talked about.

Do the marching orders of the force comes from the elected official over the police chief?  After all, we all work for somebody right? As an example, in high-end areas of most cities, police are more community-oriented and responsive to the needs of the constituents. But, in poorer areas and those without a voice and most not likely to vote, police are more about enforcement of infractions of laws on the books thereby becoming income generators for the municipality, city or state.  Unfortunately when something goes wrong in the economic deserts, violence and looting occurs. Chances are because it’s not their property being destroyed. In reaction of course now the police have to put on their armor and deal with that stress-filled situation. Mind you, this is not always the case. Sure peaceful protests do occur but what more can be done for transparency?

It’s all about the presentation of the data and the communication of crime statistics and deployment of forces. But there are sensible solutions. A growing trend of cities are creating active citizens’ police and public safety oversight groups. These groups need the support of other citizens and the diversity of their voices in the community to be effective. But that’s not enough. Citizens from throughout community have a fiduciary responsibility to actively participate in the process. Not just talk about it, but also be about it.  Yes, become a registered voter; participate in local political forums with potential candidates while also actively becoming that citizen who cares for your respective community.  Make an investment in the process.

With social media and other mediums of communication the means to keep citizens aware is available. But, when a dancing cat can get more likes on SnapChat, Facebook or Instagram than an upcoming community meeting, then who’s the blame when the politician and police chief fail to live up to expectations of the public? Our ancestors fought for us to have these rights of inclusion, it’s time we honor their legacy.

Biography

Dr. Jeffrey Jones served on active duty Air Force for 20 years. As a Retired Security Specialist, he has served in a variety of command, strategic planning and security management & assessment positions. His experience involved him leading, preparing and coordinating complex force protection, public safety and asset protection programs; domestically and internationally.