Leadership Crisis

In a strange sort of way I hope you don’t need this article. But just in case, if you and your church are in a difficult season with a potential leadership crisis, I trust the thoughts in this article will be helpful to you.

I love the local church, and at God’s invitation, I have given my life to it. Overall it continues to be the most rewarding endeavor I could possibly imagine. When the church is working as God designed it, there is nothing quite like it. There are other times, however, when the church is a mess. Personally, I’m highly motivated either way. Success or mess, I love the church, and I’m fired up to help strengthen it any way I can.

This article is written to leaders who find themselves in a mess of crisis proportion. First, let me say take heart. You can navigate through tough times no matter what is happening. Keep these four things in mind.

1. It’s not your church. It belongs to God, and He cares even more than you do.
2. Set your vision on the long haul, not the short run.
3. Don’t panic. God isn’t panicking and remember He’s the owner.
4. Think much and pray more.

I can’t tell you I’ve seen or heard it all because I haven’t. But I have listened to hundreds of first hand accounts of churches in trouble. What sets them apart from each other is how well they solved the problem. A classic story, somewhat generalized for the purpose of this article, is a church split. Church splits happen too often. In fact, depending upon your definition, they may happen more often than you imagine. If you include each time more than one couple leaves a church, meaning two or more families leave over the same reason, splits happen on a regular basis in many churches. More typically, however, we refer to the more dramatic splits where it’s more like a 60% – 40% kind of fissure that makes headlines.

So let’s take a more dramatic case, since the topic is Leadership Crisis. A church in San Antonio, Texas wanted to sell their property, relocate and build a new building. More accurately stated, the Pastor, staff and board wanted to relocate. It was a congregational government so a vote was taken. The membership was split nearly 50-50. The older generation wanted to stay, and they controlled the money. The younger generation wanted to go and they controlled the volunteer power. This is overstated, but accurate enough to paint a picture of what happened. So the pastor and board made the call, it was time to sell and relocate.

No one would have guessed what happened next. The tension got so thick, and the infighting became so all-consuming that the Senior Pastor took it as a sign from God to resign. He delivered his final message, packed up his office and left. No fuss, no muss. No drama. Just gone. He had been there for 9 years and the people loved him.

Now the congregation was up a creek and wondering if God knew where the paddles were. They agreed to temporarily set the issue of relocation aside in order to hire a new Senior Pastor, but every candidate soon discovered what was going on. And none wanted anything to do with it. The candidates knew that whatever side they choose, he or she would lose the other half of the church. There are more details to the story, but this is enough for you to see the leadership crisis.

The following five guidelines will help you navigate your leadership crisis. The situation can be different, but the principles apply.

First understand how the church landed in crisis.

Did the leadership fall asleep at the wheel? Was it the right idea but the wrong time? Was there too much talk and too little prayer? Did you surprise the key influencers? Has there been too much change in a short period of time? Is there a small group of disgruntled but influential people stirring up the mess? Is there a general lack of trust in the leadership? Is there a lack of confidence in the leadership? Is it a good idea but the people lack faith? These are the kinds of questions you must ask and answer. Understanding how a congregation polarized in the first place will give you great insight toward a wise solution. Don’t jump in to “fix it” mode until you know what the real problem is.

Focus on the people more than growing programs.

This is not the time for innovation, new programs, and strategic effort to build the various ministries. It is important to invest your effort, energy and prayer toward healing and community. When emotion is high and unity is low activity is not the answer. Honest conversations, forgiveness and abundant amounts of grace are needed. This is not to suggest that the real issues are to be swept under the table and people should pretend like everything is fine. To the contrary, sometimes getting to authentic community can be exhausting. The point is that investing in the growth of a program will not solve the problem. In fact, it might make it worse.

Maturity is essential. I urge you to seek after maturity in the body more than momentum toward winning one side or the other to the opposite view. If you “win” the people that fast and easy, you didn’t really win them. You simply silenced them and that is only temporary. That said, don’t try to make everyone happy. Challenge them to seek God first and set their agenda aside.

Secure an interim pastor, or outside help.

Stabilize emotion by securing neutral leadership. Neutral leadership sounds like an oxymoron, like jumbo shrimp. But what I simply mean is a pastor who does not have an agenda to either remain or relocate. In other words, an interim pastor is needed. The interim’s vision is healing and community. The interim is not a lightweight. He may send some contentious members packing. If the leaders attempt to immediately find the next long term pastor the people will polarize even further. They will choose according to personal agenda rather than God’s choice and the result will be a nightmare.

In the case where the pastor is not leaving, but the church is on the verge of a split, for whatever reason, outside help is needed. I highly recommend a skilled consultant, or team of consultants with a good reputation be retained to help you get through the difficult waters. If you are part of a denomination, perhaps a denominational leader can step in to help.

Don’t make any major changes, but do go after “quick” wins.

This is similar to the earlier thought that crisis is the wrong time to develop a new ministry or invest in long term program design. It is the wrong time for major changes in existing ministry programs. The congregation is already polarized, a ministry shift of any magnitude would likely add fuel to the fire.

It is smart, however, to set your sails toward a quick win. This is different than something connected to an established ministry or launching a new ministry. A “quick win” is an all church effort to give yourselves away in a clearly New Testament endeavor. This kind of “outside” activity resonates with God’s heart and will draw the people together. A good example would be a ministry of compassion. There are many to choose from. For example, you could get involved in a food drive for the hungry, or a building project with habitat for humanity, or perhaps a special weekend for single moms and their kids. The key is actually getting involved, not just writing a check. These quick wins are short term, high impact, and close to God’s heart. The congregation begins to feel better about who they are, and starts to remember what is really important.

Communicate hope.

The pastor (interim or not) and church board must deliver a clear message of hope to the people. This will help strengthen the church while you are in a short season without clear direction and long-term vision. You do have vision, but as stated it’s more toward unity, maturity, and community. This healing is critical, but you can’t sustain a church for long this way. Direction and forward-moving vision will be needed. Let the people know that it’s coming. It’s God’s church and He didn’t bring them this far to leave them in the desert! Speak often of God’s love, grace and power. Tell stories of previous successes. Tell about progress being made and invite them often to prayer with each other.

I trust that the words of this article will encouragement you and add value to you and your church if you are in a difficult situation.

From INJOY’s The Pastor’s Coach Volume 9, Issue 8. This article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland’s free monthly e-newsletter The Pastor’s Coach available at www.INJOY.com