Barnabas File

When I was in the military, I was never a very good marksman.  There were no hunters in our family, so I have never handled a weapon and I barely qualified with an M-14 rifle.  I could see the target, but I only rarely hit it and I never put in the time and effort to become more proficient.  What if I had been willing to put in the time to get better, but I was not sure what my target was? I often find people who are highly motivated and want to do well, but they are not sure about their target.  How do you hit the target if you don’t know what it is?  In order to be measured on your success or failure, you have to know what you are trying to achieve. There are many discussions today about “healthy congregations,” but too little decision about clear targets or objectives.  In Missional Renaissance , Reggie McNeal explains that if we really want to adopt a missional paradigm for the church, we are going to have to “change the scorecard”—that is, com...

When I was a youngster, my home church in Mobile called Jim Tucker as Director of Education and Promotion.  Brother Tucker was a Christian educator.  He directed all of our education programs including Sunday school and Training Union and was the lead person in outreach.  (He also was the congregational music director since our choir director was a woman!)  He was part of a long line of congregational educators that began sometime in the 19 th century with paid Sunday school directors.  The lineage was continued by those who served as Directors of Christian Education, Ministers of Education, and more recently Ministers of Christian Formation.  Although all of these individuals have had a personal ministry with believers, their primary purpose in the early years was to lead programs that would nurture Christians in the faith. In recent years, however, there has been something of a change in emphasis in their work from program to process.  This...

A man rushed up to a woman standing beside a road and asked, “Did a large group of people just pass by here?”  She replied, “Yes, they went that way,” as she pointed over her shoulder.  “Good.  I’m their leader.” We have heard some variation of this story many times.  One thing it teaches us is that people will often move ahead even if a leader is not involved.  Whether they are moving in the right direction is another matter. My experience tells me that staff teams—in churches, denominations, and not-for-profits—really do want leaders.  They expect the leader to identify a direction, set the pace, and provide the resources and encouragement needed to move forward.  If the leader fails to do these things, then the situation can become very chaotic. This is especially true of pastoral leaders or the person we identify as the “lead pastor” in a congregation.  Although the people that he or she works with may be more talented and experienc...

How often have you heard someone say, “I’m just not being fed” as they left your church to join another?   I have always thought that such a statement was a bit humorous.   After observing my own children when they were young and receiving a refresher course in recent years with grandchildren, I have learned that youngsters learn to feed themselves pretty quickly.   In fact, there seems to be an inherent drive for them to learn to feed themselves.   This doesn’t always mean that they make wise choices, but they do want to ingest food.      This leads me to some observations. First, most children are motivated to feed themselves.  I am not sure that this is completely connected to hunger.  I think it has a lot with a desire to provide for their own basic needs without parental assistance.  They want to learn how to do this for themselves.   When a believer lacks this desire, what has gone wrong?  Why have they assume...

Throughout Christian history, there have been leaders who have exercised pastoral leadership outside of the congregation.   We could point to those who founded and led monastic orders, mission societies, Bible leagues, and various para-church organizations.   Founders of movements and church planters are often in this category. There is a new impetus for this type of leadership.  Such leaders are ministry entrepreneurs.  Many of them are young adults who have found a cause and are too eager or impatient to wait for the church to address it. Leaders in these organizations engage in theological reflection, leader development, team building, effective communication, and administrative skills just as the pastor of a larger congregation does, but there certain other skills are necessary if they are to be effective. First, they must practice cultural awareness and sensitivity. Entrepreneurial leaders deal with culture both internally and externally.  Th...