Barnabas File

When a church finally realizes it is time for a change, the attitude is often, “Let’s just bite the bullet and get this done.”  In other words, we realize that this is needed, so let’s not waste time on reflection or preparation, let’s just act. There are times when expediency is important--an opportunity for a new ministry comes along and requires immediate action or a crisis requires a snap decision.  Most of the time, however, the church has time to address change with an appropriate time for discernment and choice. When it comes time to consider changes that are truly transformational, Jim Herrington and his colleagues writing in Leading Congregational Change suggest that you take the time to assure that your church has a base of spiritual and relational vitality.  If these core strengths are not present, change may rip your church apart. Spiritual and relational vitality are two dimensions of a single reality that Christ taught in this...

One my grandchildren’s favorite songs from the original High School Musical was “Get’cha Head in the Game.”  I think this is something that every leader should practice.  Leaders too often seem either weighted down by the past or lost in the future.  Either way, they become distracted from what is going around them right now. Knowing the history of a situation, especially in an organization like the church, is not a bad thing.  I am a historian by training, so I love to read about and seek to understand what has happened in the past that impacts the present context.  We can learn from and celebrate many of those things. Living in the past is not wise, however.  The past has good times and bad times, but all we have to work with is the present.  We learn from the past, but we don’t let it restrict us.  We need to concentrate on what God has placed before us right now and act. Likewise, I enjoy speculating about the future and...

Chaplain Pierce McIntyre offers helpful insights and prayers for dealing with every day life in his regular e-mails to friends and colleagues.  In an e-mail, he pointed out that there is an inherent contradiction in the term “holiday stress.”    A holiday is “a celebratory day, break, day of rest or vacation.”  Stress means “anxiety, impatience, and nervous tension.”  The two really don’t seem to go together, but we know that they exist in combination too often these days. We are now immersed in the “holiday season’ that is inaugurated with Thanksgiving, reaches its peak with Christmas, and then closes out with New Year’s Day.  This is a time of feasting, visiting, giving, reflection, and worship for most of us.  As McIntyre notes, however, it is often a time of stress as well. So how do we deal with the stress?  What are some things we can do to deal with the stress? First, we can set priorities.  What do we really val...

When I teach coaching classes for Central Baptist Theological Seminary, I use texts that come at coaching from different perspectives. Some are by strictly secular writers, while others are oriented toward churches or the business community.   Usually, the author or a text will have a particular model (often shown as a schematic) that depicts his or her approach to coaching. In evaluating the books we used this semester, one student pointed out that a couple of the models seemed to focus on coaching as a process while another looked at coaching as a relationship.   This raises an interesting question:   “Is coaching a process or a relationship?” From one perspective, there is a clearly delineated process in any coaching model.   Although I often say that every coaching conversation has three parts—a beginning, a middle and end—most models propose a way forward for the coaching conversation with several parts or steps to be accomplished.   Sometime...

The Nashville Tennessean carried the story this week of a former megachurch that is putting its facility on the market.  Built for a congregation of 6000, the church now averages about 850 on Sundays.  They plan to use the receipts of the sale to fund two or more satellite locations.  The pastor is reported to have said that worshipers prefer smaller locations where they can build friendships.   “It used to be that everyone wanted to drive to a big church,” the pastor said. “Now, they want to be at a church in their community.” I sincerely doubt his generalization that “everybody” wanted to be part of a megachurch.  There are many of people who do like to attend big churches (and 850 attendance is still a big church to most of us), but there are many smaller congregations that have continued to survive and even prosper despite the growth of megachurches across our nation.  A lot of folks have invested themselves in ...