Not What I Signed Up For
When I was a freshman in high school, I went to a musical audition because I was interested in being part of The Sound of Music. This involved a little bit of singing and a little bit of dancing, but they did not ask me to read any lines. Later in the week, I found out that I had gone to the wrong audition. I made the show choir and now had a choice to make: do I accept the unexpected position, or do I walk away from all of it? Likewise, many pastors these days have found themselves in a position that they didn’t think they were auditioning for.
In late September of 2023, I attended a small pastors conference in South Dakota focused on the current state of ministry and hope for the future. The conference's premise is reflected in this article's title: The deal I signed up for as a pastor is not the same one available to pastors today. Years ago, a person signed up to be a pastor in a Christian culture where the general population automatically treated them with honor and respect. At the end of thirty or forty years, they could expect a nice retirement party with punch and desserts brought in cake pans. But something shifted.
Many churches have a mission to sustain existence. Fewer and fewer people claim to be Christians, and a fraction of those take any action to demonstrate their faith. Church buildings are more extensive than many congregations can support, so the church's main priority becomes maintenance and sustainability. However, some of these churches will have a small group of dedicated leaders embark on a study or retreat to determine the core of what their church should be and how they should act, with the outcome being some variation of the same answer for each group: Go and make disciples. The Great Commission. Matthew 28:18-20.
Pastors shoulder an enormous burden of encouraging the faithful few committed to following Jesus in an agnosticly humanistic society. They carry this like Frodo through in Mordor from The Lord of the Rings and even may begin to look and act like early Theoden from the same story.
The response to these difficult circumstances is to be shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves, as Jesus said in Matthew 10:17. The holiness movements of the church may have long focused on the innocence of Christians. Still, it is time that Christians embrace the other half of that verse while maintaining their innocence. This is not the only time Jesus talked about shrewdness; it’s all over his teachings!
The parable of the shrewd manager
Pearls before swine
Reading the signs of the sky
Yeast of the Pharisees
Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s
The parable of the ten virgins
The parable of the wheat and the tares
This is a short sampling of the times that Jesus encouraged his followers to be good critical thinkers in advancing the Kingdom of Heaven and that shrewdness is needed by his followers today. The following are ways that Christian leaders can be shrewd.
Practice the Gospel in every relationship.
Be vulnerably honest and lead with grace since forgiveness is baked into who we are as Christians.
Do everything with outsiders in view.
Filter everything we do to eliminate insider language while expecting visitors.
Be human.
Don’t hide behind being the expert; repent when you get it wrong.
Make a plan.
A bigger version of your current church is not a plan; how will you interact with outsiders?
Lean into story.
Stories, not propositions, will take you places that persuasion cannot.
Live and lead with urgency.
We have unlimited power in the Holy Spirit, so urgency (not haste) should drive a stake through the heart of complacency.
Purpose yourself to be charitable.
Assume the best in people and their stories, and model this as a leader.
What will it look like for all Christians to advance the Kingdom of Heaven as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves? If you are interested in spending more time looking at how this would be possible in your contact, Contact Us.
