Elevate

Celebrations and Recognitions

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We recently celebrated my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday with a surprise party. She was excited to see everyone and impressed that people made an effort to come celebrate with her. Celebrations are always exciting, and recognizing someone for who they are and what they have contributed is a good thing to do.

God gave his people annual festivals to celebrate at certain times during the year. He instituted thank offerings as part of the worship at the tabernacle and temple. And Moses and Miriam’s song of celebration after the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 15 is an example of his people celebrating God at work.

We need to celebrate God and his work in and through our church. I recently walked our church through a look at their history. There was one period of the church’s history that was so bad some didn’t even want to talk about it. I encouraged them to instead celebrate God’s goodness in helping the church find their way through that tough time. We need to celebrate God’s goodness when he helps us through tough times, his goodness in answering prayer, his goodness in providing the right pastor, and on and on. We always have things to celebrate and thank God for.

We should also recognize and celebrate people in the church. I know some churches are hesitant for various reasons, including not wanting to make others feel bad. We should not stop celebrating the contributions of people out of fear of offending those who aren’t contributing. Yes, we need to be respectful of others, but there is nothing wrong in giving someone a small gift to thank them for serving faithfully. There is nothing wrong with clapping in recognition of someone’s faithful service to a church. And it can be quite appropriate to thank someone who has had a long and faithful ministry in the church with some words of recognition and thankfulness.

In Philippians 2: 29 – 30, the Apostle Paul writes to the church in Philippi asking them to honour his friend Epaphroditus for how he helped care for Paul. Paul writes, “So then, welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to make up for the help you could not give me.” He wants the people in Philippi to extend special honour to Epaphroditus because he went above and beyond what was expected, even risking his life to help Paul. It is quite appropriate to honour those who have given of themselves to serve others.

In 1 Timothy 5:17, Paul even says it’s a good thing to honour the elders who lead the church: “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honour, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.” We should not be afraid to honour those who deserve honour and recognition. In Romans 12:10 we are even told to “be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.” It is good to honour others.

Make time to celebrate God’s goodness in your church. And take time to recognise those who have given of themselves in service to God through their work in the church.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

You Don’t Need to be the Answer Man

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Pastors often feel they have to be the ones with all the answers. They feel threatened or unprepared if they can’t answer every question they are asked. The problem is that some people ask intelligent questions and desire well-thought-out answers. One of our church members recently asked me a question, quickly following up that she didn’t want me to answer her right then but hoped to discuss the question with her and her family over a meal the next Sunday. She didn’t want an off-the-cuff remark but one that was biblical and theologically sound.

Some people ask good questions because they have a desire to learn and grow in their understanding of their faith and theology. Their questions arise out of personal study and deep conversations with others. They ask intelligent questions because they are knowledgeable and aware of the theological debates surrounding their questions. Honour these questions by taking time to think and pray and study before answering. Recognize when people are looking for an immediate, brief answer and when they are looking for an in-depth response.

Pastors don’t have to know everything about every question that will be asked. It is quite okay to tell someone you will get back to them, or, when possible, to study and research with them to find the answer. If you can show them your research process, you are discipling them to find more of their own answers. Don’t feel that you have to guard the treasure of truth but show them how to find the answers themselves. Letting the questioner know that you don’t immediately know the answer is not a sign of weakness. Be okay with taking time to respond intelligently.

Some answers are very clear, you just need to point people to the right verse or the right story in the Bible. If they are looking to clarify what Jesus said in a certain parable or a detail about Old Testament history, it may suffice to point them to the right chapter and verse. Some questions are more about interpretation. These questions may need more than a chapter and verse, but also a theological statement that helps clarify what is being said. There are some questions that may require pointing to the various common theological understandings.

A question on communion would be a good example of needing more than a chapter and verse. This discussion may benefit from an answer that explains the various theological understandings of the blood and body of Jesus. After explaining the various views, it would be appropriate to explain what your church believes and why.

People will ask you questions. Do your best to give them good answers. Take the time needed to research and discuss their questions with them.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Preparing For Change #3: Begin Your Change by Easing Into It

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We experience some changes gradually; others come as an abrupt shock. When prices at the gas pumps go up by a cent or two at a time, we don’t notice as much as when it is a five-cent increase or more at once. Easing into a change can help a church be more accepting of the change as it develops. This gives people time to adjust to smaller changes instead of the whole change at once.

Break the Change into Smaller Parts

For many churches, Sunday Worship services have a familiar flow. The order of service is the same each Sunday. If you want to lead your church in changing its service, you may want to begin with small changes. Instead of changing everything, change one or two things at a time.

For example, if you want to add some variety to the service, you could begin by breaking the usual group of worship songs into two smaller groups, inserting a scripture reading or prayer time in between. Then, after a while, you could move the second group of songs to the end of the service for a time when you want to follow a sermon on praise with singing praise songs as a sermon response. After people get used to some changes in the singing, you can change how the welcome and announcements are done. If you always start with a song and then the welcome and announcements, try starting with a video clip highlighting a ministry in the church before doing the welcome and announcements. Instead of depending on the song to gather the church to worship, gather them with a video followed by a scriptural “call to worship” from one of the psalms.

Whatever your change, see if there are ways of breaking it into smaller changes to allow people to adapt slowly. As people see you make small changes that work, they may be willing to try a bigger change next time.

Do a Trial Run

It may be appropriate to introduce a change by announcing it as a “trial run.” You can set a date for the trial period. The caveat that this is a temporary change that will be evaluated later may give your church the willingness to try it for a while. You could even introduce the change by explaining that you are looking for a way to do things better, but you aren’t sure if this is the best way to do so. You can encourage your congregation to give you feedback as you try the change.

If you introduce a “trial run” change, make sure it is a long enough period to give it a good test run, but a short enough time to still be a trial period. If you introduce a change that you will try for a year or two, that is obviously no longer a trial run. And make sure to stick with your timeline. Do not extend it. Respect people by keeping your promises.

Promise an Evaluation

Whether it is presented as a trial run or not, you can promise all those involved in implementing the changes that you will be doing a thorough evaluation, which they can take part in, on a certain date. Evaluate it against the intended purpose. Be honest with the results. 

Three options arise out of an evaluation. First, if it didn’t do what you hoped, you can always revert to the old way. Second, if the change didn’t work, you can adjust aspects of it and try again. Or, third, you can introduce a completely reworked change to try again. You may have to wait a while before people are ready to try again, but that will give you time to figure out how best to move ahead, if that seems the best option.

May God guide you as you introduce change to your church.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Make Prayer a Priority

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We have the incredible opportunity to talk with our Heavenly Father regularly. 1 John 5:14 tells us: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” We can come to God in prayer, not afraid of him, not afraid we are intruding on his time, or worried that what we are asking is too trivial for him to care about. As pastors, we need to help the members of our church know they can talk to God in prayer too, and often.

Personal Prayer
It begins with the pastor’s prayer life. If you are not praying, it will be difficult to lead your congregation in prayer, You need to lead by going ahead. You need to talk with God often – not just because you are a pastor, but because you are a follower of Jesus. Have a conversation with him. Expect him to answer your prayers. Talk to him about your own spiritual life. Talk to him about your family. Pray for your church members by name. Use a prayer list to help you pray for everyone. Pray for specific aspects of their lives.

Implement practices that will help you improve your praying. Schedule a regular time daily for prayer. Read books on prayer. Read the prayers of the Bible. Equip yourself so that you can equip others.

Hands of a man praying in solitude with his Bible.

Corporate Prayer

Make sure that your church is a “house of prayer.” Include prayer in any meetings you have. Make sure you pray in your services. I attended a church once where the sermon was on prayer and the only prayer in the service was a quick wrap-up after the sermon. That is not good. Yes, we need to read scripture, and we need to worship in song, but we also need to pray.

Schedule prayer events for the church throughout the week. Plan regular prayer meetings. If you have small groups, ensure that the groups are taking time for prayer. You could even give them a guide or a list of things to pray for each week or each month. The “prayer chain” has been replaced in many churches with more updated options, but find an app that works for your church where you can share prayer requests with the whole church quickly, calling on everyone to pray for certain needs.

Special Prayer Opportunities

It is good to plan special prayer events or focuses throughout the year. I have often invited the church to a “3-week prayer” focus on a certain theme or topic, providing a guide which includes a few verses of scripture and prayer requests to pray.

Setting aside a “day of prayer” can be a good way to focus the church on prayer all day for one day. Invite people to come pray together at the church early in the morning before they go to work. Invite people to connect to an online prayer event over the lunch hour. Have a special prayer service in the evening. Send out hourly prayer reminders and encouragements to keep people praying.

In one church, we did an all-night “prayer vigil” open to all teens and adults. We began with a Saturday evening prayer service. People signed up to pray for an hour. Some people came on their own, some came as a group. One group in the middle of the night was three teen girls. One group early in the morning was dads and their sons. People could choose to follow guides prepared for them to read and pray through. Then, Sunday morning, we had a Celebration Service where we worshipped God, and people shared some of what they had experienced and heard from God!!

Let’s remember that we have a God who loves us and wants to have a regular conversation with us. We can go to him with anything and anytime. And, Pastors, let’s make sure we help our church to pray too.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

When Pastoral Care is Unnatural for You

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I get excited about many parts of church leadership. I love to work on vision and strategy and even bylaws, and the constitution. I enjoy preparing and preaching sermons or teaching lessons, but I am not naturally aware of people’s needs. I don’t mind spending time with people, in fact, I enjoy it when I do, but caring for people is not readily on my mind. My mind is quick to look at how to plan, lead, and direct, but I need help and reminders to slow down and be with people. Maybe some of you can relate? If so, some of the following ideas might help both you and me.

Listen for the needs people express.

This is so straightforward that it hardly seems worth mentioning, yet I don’t always do this well. When people have conversations with me, I may stop and pray for them right there if they mention a need, but I often forget to check in later to see how things went.

Sometimes you hear people raising a prayer request in a group. The other day I heard someone ask for prayer for a test she had to undergo. That was a great opportunity for me to make a note somewhere to check in on her later. If someone makes a worry known, they likely want people to be aware and take notice. This might be a great time to arrange a coffee or make an appointment to meet with them and care for them.

Follow up on cues others notice.

Recently, I was meeting with a Transition Team at a church, going through the church’s Health and Vision Assessment we had just completed together. There were many encouraging and helpful responses from the congregation, but there was one person who consistently answered negatively. I didn’t pay too much attention. I thought he may just be a more thorough person and generally critical, yet a few on the team suggested he may need a visit from me. I hadn’t even considered that but agreed to their suggestion. I met with him and he seemed glad and was very willing to talk. He even indicated that he signed his name to the assessment in hopes someone would meet with him. We had a great conversation. I’m not sure we resolved anything, but he did appreciate the opportunity to be heard. Be alert to other cues that a person needs some attention.

Pause and evaluate the day in light of people.

It might be helpful to stop at one point in your day to think and pray through your interactions of the day, asking God to point out anyone who needs a call, a text, or a visit. You could do this at the beginning of your day, asking God to point out who from yesterday needs your care today. Or you might choose to do this at the end of your day, reflecting on the day that was, and planning how you might connect with people who come to mind.

If this is difficult, it can be helpful to keep a checklist on your desk with questions to prompt you to reflect on your daily interactions. Some questions could include:

  • Who has medical needs that are weighing on them?
  • Who expressed a specific need today?
  • Who is dealing with concerns in their marriage or family?
  • Who is leading or serving in a ministry and needs encouragement?
  • Who is dealing with depression and could use a personal connection?
  • Who has someone else suggested needs care?
  • Who has been absent from church for a while?
  • Who has the potential for greater leadership responsibilities and could use a conversation to discuss the possibilities of this?
  • Who has exciting news personally or in their family that you could celebrate with them?
PASTORAL CARE CHECKLISTDownload

Pastoral care is an important aspect of effective leadership, but it doesn’t always come naturaly. If you are like me in this way, I hope this post encourages you to adopt some of my suggestions or find methods of your own to help you notice ways you can better care for those you lead.

May your ability to notice people who need care expand as you are intentional about it.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

What Your Office Says About You

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What does your office say about who you are or what you value?

When you walk into my office you will be bombarded by my Coca-Cola collection. It began with one unique Coke can years ago, and has expanded a lot over the years. I’m hoping the various cans, bottles, and trinkets show a bit of my human and whimsical side.

You will see picture of my family: my wife and two daughters, at various ages and at various places. A friend of ours drew a picture of my wife and the dog we had at that time, that I treasure. Anyone coming into my office should see that I love my family, and that my family includes my beautiful wife and beautiful daughters.

I have a wooden map of Africa on display, which would give me opportunity to talk to anyone interested about my sister who is a missionary in Zambia, and about a trip I was able to take to be at her wedding.

On the window sill is a small glass award given to me in recognition of 25 years of service as a pastor with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. This tells people that I have been a pastor for a while.

Spread all throughout my office in various shelves and on my desk are books. Anyone looking through my shelves would soon recognize my favorite authors, and favorite themes or topics I like reading about. If they looked closer they would find two books by H. Andy Wiebe. They would realize that I am an author.

My office proudly displays a Tassimo coffee machine, announcing my preference for coffee.

On my desk sits a complete season of six DVD sets of “Corner Gas” in a little case my daughter made for me years ago. People might get a sense of my humor as they see that.

Upon entering my office anyone could see my printer and a paper cutter and hole punch close to hand. I would be able to explain that I love teaching and often build my own booklets to use for boards and churches.

And noticeable to anyone checking out my office would be the number of Bibles on display. I have one shelf full of about twenty Bibles in various sizes and translations. On my desk are another two Bibles which I use most of the time: A New Living Translation Bible and a New International Version Bible. It would be clear that I value the Bible, and hopefully clear from the shape some of them are in, that I read the Bible often.

If someone looked a little closer at my desk, they might find a couple of prayer journals indicating that prayer is important in my life. If they asked, I could explain how I pray and how I long to not only tell God my needs but love to listen to and hear from God.

I would hope that my office reflects a person who loves his family and loves God! I would hope my office would show my love for reading and learning and growing. I hope each person who visits my office sees that I am someone who enjoys life.

What does your office say about you? Would people know something about your values? Would the items in your office give you opportunities to talk with people about what is most important to you?

What does your office say about you?

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Keeping Your Board Purposeful

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As a pastor, I have spent many evenings around a board table (or plastic folding table), discussing the ministry of the local church with appointed leaders. Each board is different in how the members work together, how they make decisions, and how they attempt to fulfill their role. But how can you, as a board, ensure some basics that will help the board meetings be meaningful and effective?

Do you know why you meet?

Board members do not meet as a church board just because that’s how it has always been, or because the government requires non-profit organizations to have a board. Each board member need to understand what their main purpose is and how they contribute to accomplishing that.

Purpose: A board exists to look after the “big picture” of the church.

This means that you, as a board, need to know the big picture. You need to know the vision of the church, the values and policies and procedures, and how they speak into how the board governs.

This is essential because the board is in place to ensure that the vision, values, policies, and procedures are clearly defined and followed. As a board member you may have been involved in forming these documents or you may arrive after previous members have completed that work. Now each board member needs to understand them clearly so you can help ensure they are fulfilled.

In a church board, much of the work is done by the pastor. If the church is smaller, board members may be involved with the pastor in following through on decision that are made. In larger churches, the board may be more of a policy board entrusting the lead pastor and his staff to do the working out of the decisions. The board sets the policy and entrusts the lead pastor to fulfill what has been decided. He then hands off aspects of that to the rest of the staff to accomplish.

In either case, the board needs to know the guiding documents well enough to know if the decisions they make are in alignment with this guidance and the scope of the board’s mandate. Board members need to know how the guiding principles speak into every decision that is made. These documents are intended to guide the decision making process and keep the board, the pastor, and the church heading in the agreed upon direction.

One aspect boards often forget is their role as “gate keepers” and “protectors.” The board functions as a gate keeper when it makes sure that leadership and the church are not heading in a direction away from what they stand for and believe in. They function as gate keepers when they ensure that vision, values, policies and procedures continue to guide them. As gate keepers, the board must receive regular updates from pastors and ministry leaders to be aware of where these leaders are going and to ensure that it is in the right direction.

A church board needs to also see the importance of its role in protecting the church. This may involve protecting the church from teaching or practices that do not align with what they believe the Bible teaches or what they have agreed upon in their guiding documents. Protection also includes protecting the people of the church from physical and emotional harm. Many churches have clear safety guidelines and practices in place to guide their ministry to children and youth and seniors. Church boards need to ensure they are protecting all who attend, serve, or lead the various ministries of the church.

If you are a board member, remind yourself and your board regularly that everything you do should be about promoting and protecting the big picture of the church. While there are times boards should get involved in day to day activities of the church, they should never relinquish this role of promoting the big picture and protecting the church.

Keep looking up

Andy Wiebe

Good Systems Enable Good Work

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We can create systems that allow our work to be done easier and better.

Systems are the procedures and practices – even rituals – that we put in place in order to do a job. Some of these emerge naturally as we repeat certain tasks, but often we need to carefully think about crafting a system that will enable us to do our best efficiently.

A system includes all the little things we do in order to accomplish a task. Adhering to well-known systems helps people understand new settings or tasks with little training. People generally know where to park when they go to the local mall. There are curbs and signs and pained lines that everyone understands and can follow easily. We don’t need a training session every time we go to a new parking lot because the system is usually pretty clear.

The ushers at my church have a system that allows each usher to know when it is their turn to serve. They know they are to wear an “usher” tag and know where to find it. They know where to stand to greet people and ensure they find a seat.

They know when they will be called on to collect the offering and where to get the offering bags. They know where to take the bags when the offering has been collected. They all do it the same way every Sunday, no matter who is on, because they follow a clear system.

When I write a sermon, I have a system I have developed over the years. I don’t have to learn how to write a sermon every week because I have a system of how I choose a scripture text and create a sermon. I know how I will do my research. I have a list of questions to ask myself to guide the interpretation and research part of the process. I know how to write an outline. I know what questions to ask to make sure I have an appropriate application. I have a list of questions that guide me to bring creativity into the presentation.

A system helps me complete the work efficiently and accurately. Sometimes, when things are not going well in a church or organization it may simply be that we do not have a clearly defined system that everyone follows. This can cause conflict when individuals try to work according to different systems.

If something falls through the cracks, it may be that we have a faulty system. For example, if important announcements are consistently absent from the weekly bulletin, it may simply be that the person responsible for the announcements did not know how to communicate those to the person creating the bulletin.

As we develop new programs or change existing ones, we need to think of what systems to establish to set up the new program for success. Systems give clear directions for what to expect, when, and in what order and help us remember to do things that we might otherwise forget.

In developing systems be clear about the expected outcome. Identify the steps required to achieve the outcome and make it as simple as possible so that new people taking on the responsibility for that area can easily and quickly know what is expected, and then do it efficiently and accurately.

Here are some simple steps to develop a system.

  1. Think through the whole process and what steps would help you get a consistent result.
  2. Determine which person in which role is responsible for each step along the way.
  3. Lay out the best order for the tasks to be completed.
  4. Print out or post the complete system step by step indicating who does what in the process.
  5. Train people to know how to do each step and give them authority to do those steps.

Systems enable good work. Take the necessary time to develop them clearly and make them available to the right people.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Thank You!

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As we come to the end of this year, I want to thank each of you who read this blog. Thank you for allowing me the privilege of sharing from my heart, things I’m learning and discovering in my journey as a pastor and church leader. We serve a great God who loves us deeply – enough to send His Son to die for us and open a way for a personal relationship with Him! We are all learning every day. Thank you for considering my thoughts in your learning.

Thank you!

And have a Happy and Successful New Year

Andy

Invite Books to Mentor You

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Every leader benefits from reading regularly. Even those who do not enjoy reading can benefit from disciplining themselves to read. The authors we read become our mentors. We can benefit from being mentored by those whom we may never meet and who do not know us personally, but who pour into our lives through their written words. Many of us do not have access to pastoral mentors; these authors can become that for us.

As you read, you will find certain authors that you connect with or who seem to speak into your context in a way that you find helpful. There are certain authors I have read at different times depending on the situations I was working in or issues I was facing. Choosing a book allows you the opportunity to tailor your mentoring experience to your specific needs.

Let me share four authors and some of their books I have personally benefited from.

Nelson Searcy is the – founder and lead pastor of The Journey Church in New York and author of a many church leadership books. Many of Searcy’s books are about a specific system that he has developed in his church. I found many of the principles to be adaptable to my situation even in a smaller rural church.

A few of his books that I have benefited from are:

  • Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully – Engaged Members of Your Church
  • Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups
  • The Generosity Ladder: Your Next Step to Financial Peace
  • Maximize: How To Develop Extravagant Givers In Your Church

Andy Stanley is the – founder and lead pastor of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia and author of many books, mostly about church leadership. I especially appreciated his teaching on preaching and vision setting.

A few of his books I have benefited from are:

  • Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend
  • Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication
  • Visioneering: God’s Blueprint for Developing and Maintaining Personal Vision
  • Seven Practices of Effective Ministry

Preston Sprinkle is an – author, speaker, and teacher. I have especially appreciated his books addressing gender and same sex attraction, as well as other issues of today.

Here are a few of his books that have helped me understand the discussion around these issues better:

  • Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say
  • People to Be Loved: Why Homosexuality Is Not Just an Issue
  • Go: Returning Discipleship to the Front Lines of Faith
  • Fight: A Christian Case for Non-Violence

Thom Rainer –  is a writer, researcher, speaker, and founder of Church Answers, a website where many pastors connect and learn together about church ministry and the life of a pastor. His books are usually short but filled with practical advice about the church.

Here are a few of his books I have enjoyed:

  • Becoming a Welcoming Church
  • I Will: Nine Traits of the Outwardly Focused Christian
  • Who Moved My Pulpit?: Leading Change in the Church
  • Unchurched Next Door

I read a lot, but these are a couple of authors I have read often and enjoyed how they spoke into my life and ministry.

Invite leaders to mentor you as you read their books. Learn from their experience and expertise. Look for a couple of nuggets that apply directly to you as you read. And keep on learning.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe