Productive Leadership

A Guide for Ministry in the Small Church

Roy L. Spore

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781666711066
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Église chrétienne

Productive Leadership is a celebration of the small churches of America and the lasting legacy they have provided for the Christian landscape. Combining attributes of proven leadership with stories from the New Testament, it provides a practical guide for developing and maintaining fruitful ministry and is written for lay and clergy leaders in these small- to mid-size churches. Utilizing experiences from actual ministry situations, it uses both successes and failures to learn how to work together, taking the reader from assessing the cultural values of a church through discerning God's vision for ministry and working together in leadership. Complete with step-by-step exercises for individuals, councils, and committees, the various chapters form a map for developing effective ministry in what often seems to be a futile mission field. Readers are invited to examine leadership qualities by identifying their own characteristics and competencies and how they are best used in working within the ministry of their local church. Well suited for individual readers, it is also a valuable resource for church councils to discover how they can best work together toward the fulfillment of their mission, making the most productive use of their time and resources. Anyone interested in the future ministry of small churches will find this book to be a valuable resource.

1

A Foundation for Productive Leadership

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.

—Luke 5:1–7

Peter and Andrew had been fishing all night, with nothing to show for their efforts. They were undoubtedly tired from their work, perhaps frustrated from their lack of success, and possibly even questioning the future of their chosen profession. Then Jesus showed up and everything changed: the emptiness of the night’s labor was transformed into a miraculous catch. In this brief story is a model for productive leadership. Consider the unwritten portions of this story.

As fishermen, Peter and Andrew were accustomed to hard work. They had invested themselves completely in a profession that was, at the very least, adequate for their livelihood and perhaps, at times, quite lucrative. From their years of experience, they knew how to catch fish and they knew where to catch those fish. Their nets were woven to suit the needs of their craft. Their boat was designed with a shallow draft, as were most of the fishing boats on the lake, so that they could easily maneuver into the shallow coves where the fish gathered. They read the tides and phases of the moon to know when to fish. Their training, their understanding, their ambition, and their commitment came together to create a proven system for success. Yet on this night, that success had not come.

As they were cleaning their nets, Jesus came walking along the beach, followed by a throng of people. Did the fishermen know Jesus? Probably: they were, after all, from the same region and, according to Luke’s version of the story, Jesus had healed Simon’s (Peter’s) mother-in-law at some point in the past. Thus, there was a high likelihood that their willingness to let Jesus use their boat was not simply an act of blind obedience. Yet the Jesus they knew was not a fisherman: he was carpenter who had recently begun itinerating throughout Galilee with a message of hope for the people, accompanied with acts of mercy toward the sick and possessed within their midst. Why, then, should they trust this itinerant preacher who acted like he knew more about fishing than they did?

His instruction to them was to, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” This suggestion went against all of Peter’s understanding: his boat was better suited for the shallow waters of the shoreline; his nets were tightly woven to capture schools of fish; his training and experience were more suited for his traditional methods. In short, he was not ready for what Jesus asked him to do and he saw no future in it: “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.” Yet something led Peter to trust Jesus: maybe it was the prophet’s charismatic personality; maybe it was the miracles Peter had already seen and heard about; maybe it was nothing more than a desire to prove to Jesus that fishing is best left to fishermen. In his acceptance of Jesus’ challenge, Peter found yet another miracle: his nets were filled, his success was granted, and his future was ensured.

Doing Church

Echoes of Peter resound through the contemporary Church. Countless studies of the local church in today’s society bear out a profound truth: churches that were once dynamic and vital now suffer from an aging membership, decline in attendance, economic crises, and an absence of youth and children. This fact is especially true in rural areas, where churches tend to be small, community and family oriented, and very traditional. Each year scores of these churches close their doors, unable to counter the trends that bring about their decline, and even more fall into a downward spiral of hopelessness. Like Peter before them, leaders of these churches carefully clean and tend their nets, preparing to cast them yet again into waters that will not produce enough fish to sustain them. Feelings of frustration run rampant in the local church, lifelessness gives way to despair, and, eventually, even the leaders begin to disappear, questioning their sanity in giving themselves to what seems to be a hopeless cause. Yet, while this scenario seems to be the accepted norm, is it the inevitable future of these churches? Many would say “yes” to this question, citing what they believe to be the cause: a fundamental trait in smaller, rural churches, expressed in the now-trite phrase, “But we’ve never done it that way before.” There is a perception that these churches would rather die than change. Thus, while their community/neighborhood changes around them, the church seeks to remain the same, holding on tightly to the past to preserve what little they have left and guarding the traditions that they once held dear. While this is certainly true of some of the churches, it must not be taken for a general principle. The majority of churches that I have encountered would do almost anything to keep their doors open and their ministry vital. It is not that they are afraid of change: they fear that making changes will rob them of their identity and heritage, both of which have provided meaning for their lives of faith. Change is all too often presented as an “either-or” choice and church leaders are caught up in a tug-of-war between what they have been and what others think they should become. It is quite possible that the future of these churches does not depend on who wins this battle and that, in fact, even engaging in the tug-of-war at all may be a source of decline and despair. Perhaps the future of the small, rural church rests on a very basic understanding of who we are and what we are called to be. With this in mind, let us re-visit Peter’s story by noting three things.

First, Peter knew what he was doing long before Jesus showed up. Peter and Andrew were not amateurs, occasionally trying their luck by dropping a net into the water; neither were they “fair weather fishermen” who only set out in their boat when the conditions were optimal. Their life depended on their success and they were in their boat, casting and hauling in their nets, day in and day out. Their experience had taught them how to be most successful and they used that experience well. The issue that they faced was not that they did not know what they were doing: they did; but in this particular moment, their old, proven tactics weren’t working. In order to catch fish, they needed a new point of view, and Jesus provided that new perspective.

We make a serious mistake when we assume that the reason for the decline of the small church is that they do not know how to “do” church. Most of these churches have endured for generations; many of them have been bastions of hope and deliverance within their communities through the hardest of times. The elders of these churches were leaders long before most of the people reading this book were born. They have received, trained, and sent forth seminary students and new pastors throughout the decades, often imparting their wisdom, sharing their knowledge, and giving their love to men and women who were just beginning to explore and realize the meaning of ministry; and when professional ministers were not available, they continued the work of the church under the own leadership. In myriad ways, these churches have given more than they have received. We owe to them a huge debt of gratitude for being the church in places where, without them, there would be no guiding force within the community. Instead of dismissing their leadership as archaic and irrelevant, we should honor them as the saints, learn from them how to face hardship, and celebrate with them the many triumphs of their legacy.

As we consider the future leadership in these churches, we must do so by honoring the past leadership that is already present. The standard cry of the small church is “We need new leaders.” It is a cry that must always be heard, for new leadership is always needed for the continuity of the church: from each new generation new leaders must be raised up to take on the mantle of responsibility. The older, veteran leaders of the church often face a sense of futility, continually casting the nets of their service into waters that produce no fish. They are tired, weary of performing tasks that seem to produce nothing, blinded to any possibilities of the future being different from the current trend. But simply raising up new leaders does not ensure the future success of the church. Someone needs to train these leaders and that responsibility falls upon the saints of the church. Jesus did not send out a new team to catch fish: he taught the existing team a new way of fishing, utilizing what Peter and Andrew already knew and redirecting it to make it productive.

Thus, the second observation is that what Jesus offered was not a fundamental change in what Peter was already doing, but it did require a new mindset. Jesus did not tell Peter that he had to go buy a new boat; he did not compel him to fashion new nets; and most importantly, he did not tell him he was wrong and that he didn’t know how to fish. Furthermore, Jesus didn’t suggest to Peter that the method, location, and practice of fishing to which he was accustomed was irrelevant and archaic and that he must abandon what he already knew. It would be fair to assume that, in spite of the miraculous catch, had Peter continued to fish for fish, he would still return to shallow bays and coves and the methods that had worked well for him in the past and that, in all likelihood, he would have continued to catch fish in these locations and with these methods. But Peter also would have been more willing to move into the deep water, to try out some new possibilities, knowing from his experience that a new way of fishing would also produce fish, most of which could not be caught in the shallows.

What Jesus offered Peter was a new opportunity for practicing what he did best, and that created a new vision for his future. Proverbs 29:18 declares: Where there is no vision, the people perish (KJV). Churches always rise to meet their vision: churches whose vision is one of hope and growth will rise to make that vision a reality; churches whose vision is of decline and demise will experience the fulfillment of this vision. Too often, the only vision that small churches have is not a vision of hope, but a vision of decline and defeat and they fail because this is all they can see before them. Leadership that produces abundance does not abandon the past but builds upon it to find a new vision for the future. Yet that vision seldom comes from within and certainly cannot be seen when the focus is on perpetuation of unproductive practices. Ministry in the local church that is productive is born out of a vision of God’s Kingdom within their midst, which in turn is the result of a deep and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Thus, productive leadership is always spiritual. Without Jesus, Peter would have continued doing what he was doing. Maybe it would have been adequate; perhaps at times it even would have been successful. But without Jesus, it would never have been miraculous. Jesus gave Peter a new vision, a new perspective, a new possibility for his future that carried the promise of an abundant catch.

Third, the obedience demonstrated by Peter, which was likely based on a prior relationship with Jesus, provided the opportunity for the miraculous catch. It was not the simple invitation of Jesus that brought about the catch, but that invitation combined with Peter’s faithful response. Peter might well have declined the invitation to set out into the deep water. He certainly knew more about fishing than Jesus did. The weariness of an unproductive night’s work clearly gave him justification for declining the opportunity for more work. But Peter agreed and moved into the deeper water. It is possible that Peter remembered what had happened at his home with the healing of his mother-in-law; at the very least, even if he had not witnessed them firsthand, surely Peter would have heard stories about miracles that had taken place in other homes, in other towns, in other lives. Knowing what had happened in the past created a sense of trust in the ability of Jesus to work wonders in the future.

As small churches in rural areas hear the invitation to move into uncharted territory, they must do so remembering the past and how God worked in and through them. Naming and claiming those moments of triumph from their past provides a reason to trust a new vision for the future. While a large part of this retrospective claiming will be to see how they, as the saints of the church, rose to meet the challenges before them, an even greater part is to recognize the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in the midst of those challenges. Thus, to be ever spiritual means to see that the successes of the past, whatever they might be, came about because they were willing to listen to and obey the call of God in the life of their church; knowing how that call led them in the past creates a trusting relationship that can lead them into their future.

Yet in the midst of all this comes a striking reality: it was not Peter’s vision or desire that brought about the miracle, nor that of his fishing team. Only the vision brought into the moment by Jesus made possible the catch. As leaders consider the importance of finding a vision, they must realize that too often the guiding vision of the church comes from within, based on their own desires or needs. There are also times when the vision is created by see...