MIM Ezine, November 6, 2007

-- Book Review: "They Smell Like Sheep: Leading with the Heart of a Shepherd", by Dr. Lynn Anderson

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Angie closed her laptop as she finished putting the polishing touches on her sermon for next Sunday. She was completing her first year in the Pine Valley Church. As she looked back over the past year, she smiled as she thought of all the wonderful new friendships she had made. She even giggled at some of the humorous events that happened.

Then she sighed heavily. She did not realize ministry leadership would be so hard. She had no illusions that she would usher in the Kingdom all by herself in just a few months, but she pondered if she had made any progress at all. She had spent a whole year in long hours and intense focus, but she would be hard pressed to name one significant accomplishment that had eternal consequence. Moreover, she worried that she was further behind than when she started.

Such is the nature of change and transition. Even in places like Pine Valley, change is radically altering our understanding of ministry. Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk (The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World, Jossey-Bass 2006) explain the difference between continuous and discontinuous change. Change is always happening, but not all change is the same.

Continuous change is an evolutionary, predictable pattern of change. It is like male pattern baldness. If you knew my family tree and my genetic traits, it would not surprise you that I am losing my hair. That is not an uncommon change. It is not sudden or dramatic. It is just happening slowly and surely.L

Discontinuous change would be more like losing my hair because of chemotherapy treatments for cancer. If we did not know about the chemo treatments, we would be surprised by the sudden development. It is radical and unpredictable. It often is the result of outside forces we did not anticipate. We often label these kinds of events a crisis.

In this case, our methods and patterns for coping with change no longer seem effective, because it is very different. We are confused. Long range planning is no longer useful. We did not anticipate the crisis. What do we do?

Roxburgh and Romanuk point out that discontinuous change is the new norm for our culture. Even in places like Pine Valley, discontinuous change is reshaping and reforming our experiences of life.

In the church, the crisis is sharpened. Many people going through discontinuous change turn to the church as one place where there is relief from the distress of crisis. That is why some people want to sing the old songs and keep the building looking just as it has for several generations. It may be the one place in their lives that is not undergoing radical, discontinuous change.

Unfortunately, God did not call the church to be a shelter from the real world. To the contrary, God called the church to be an agent of discontinuous change. Is that not the meaning of salvation or transformation? It is not an evolutionary development from one state of being to another. It is a radical conversion to a new being.

We struggle for images and metaphors that describe this discontinuous change. We talk about being born anew, a new heaven and a new earth, and a seed that dies and becomes a new plant. The New Testament is full of stories of Jesus initiating discontinuous change, so much so that the leaders of the religious establishment plotted to kill him.

Leading discontinuous change requires a different set of tools than managing a slowly unfolding evolution. Sadly, many leaders give up before they start. They may feel they are already obsolete and useless. But anyone can learn. Anyone can develop these skills, but it is hard work.

Many leaders may be familiar with Martin Saarinen’s life cycle for organizations. (If not, the reader may want to check out Ministry in Motion’s archives for May 15, 2005, or it is available from Alban Institute: www.alban.org) The graphic often looks something like this:

Organizations experience birth (A1), move toward maturity (B1), and eventually death (C1). One writer has noted that none of the first century churches still exist today. However, organizations can create a new birth (D) and experience a new cycle (B2 and C2). This model works especially well for organizations and churches going through continuous change. Leadership manages the various stages and dynamics to open the door for the next stage.

In discontinuous change a different graphic is needed. The cycle does not have a beginning point and an ending point. It can continue through stages of birth, maturity, creative destruction, and renewal. The graphic below builds on the metaphor of the care and maintenance of forests. It suggests several key principles for leading an organization.

Forest management learned that by effectively preventing forest fires, they put the whole forest at risk. They discovered the overall benefit of allowing some limited fires in order to promote seed renewal. In a similar way ministry leaders will permit intentional confusion and chaos during discontinuous change in order to realign a congregation’s resources to her mission.

This is a clearer picture of how change -- continuous and discontinuous -- interacts.

Periods of discontinuous change are radically different. Past techniques and approaches may or may not work effectively. Effective leaders will seek to clarify vision and values as they create new leadership systems to cope with the unexpected demands. This is not a comfortable fit for many leaders. It is not the way many leaders have been trained. It is, however, much more like the first century church than any period in between.

Over the next few months I will unpack this concept a little more. While it may not be the instinctive approach for many, it can be learned. Perhaps it will put a few more tools in the tool box of our readers.

For this column I give credit to the work of C.S. Holling, Canadian ecologist, and Emeritus Eminent Scholar and Professor in Ecological Sciences at the University of Florida. Holling is one of the conceptual founders of ecological economics. I also acknowledge credit to Brenda Zimmerman, Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada, for the ecocycle diagram.

Tom Hanover has served in a variety of pastoral leadership roles for over 30 years, the last four as a District Superintendent supervising the ministries of more than 100 pastors and churches in southwest Ohio. He has a BA (cum laude) from Taylor University, and MDiv and DMin degrees from United Theological Seminary in Dayton.

When a lay volunteer or church leader leaves unexpectedly, it can send a shock wave throughout the entire congregation, especially if your church is small to medium size. It’s a shock to think that Christian workers, especially leaders, could so abruptly leave their work. Who were they dedicated to anyway? Were they hurt in some way? If so, couldn’t they rise above the criticism? Shouldn’t other people’s opinions not matter? Shouldn’t we be so passionate about the Lord’s work that we would make it a priority to stick in there and work out whatever problems exist?

Often people won’t give a reason for why they have left or the reason given seems flimsy at face value. Sometimes a person might leave because they are burned out and the only way to get out of a church responsibility without criticism is to leave. Others leave because they feel a lack of support from their leadership or someone in the church has hurt their feelings. My minister/ husband has heard all too many gut wrenching stories from former members of cruel comments made by staunch church members to newer workers. Others leave because of guilt over their daily lifestyle or shame over family issues. They leave so no one will know their pain.

1. Deal with the rift immediately. This tells the person you do care. It will also minimize gossip. As other people ask you, “Is so-and-so coming back?” you can honestly answer, “The leaders are aware and are dealing with the issue.”

2. Keep the problem in perspective. The person’s spiritual well being is far more important than the church’s loss of a good worker.

3. Deal with the core issue. This may be difficult to discover. One person who left our church was overwhelmed with family care giving. Instead of recognizing this and admitting her need, she lashed out against the church. We had to realize her attacks weren’t personal and that she was having a difficult time realizing the source of her dissatisfaction.

4. Encourage forgiveness and restoration on both sides (James 5:19,20). If hurt feelings are left unresolved, they will grow into a bitter spirit and poison the entire group. The individual who leaves takes the hurt into the next church they join.

5. Don’t beg the person to come back. In fact, while you want to restore to fellowship, it’s best that the person not be restored to their original role of responsibility. Evidently, this person has shown that they, in some way, need some “time out.” If the person chooses to stay in the congregation, reassure them that, “perhaps it is time for us to minister to you for a season.” If they still choose to leave, let them go and accept this as perhaps God’s way of pruning the branches of your fellowship.

6. If the worker has left a major gap in your programming, seek to fill the position with a temporary worker as soon as possible to keep the flow of the program going. When our youth sponsor left the church suddenly, our youth ministry team realized we needed to have some kind of program immediately to show the youth we were still interested in them. We brainstormed a list of once a month activities and a list of people who might sponsor a one-time youth event. Before the evening was over, we already had several events and one-time sponsors planned.

Take your time, however, about finding a more permanent worker. As management expert Ken Blanchard once said in a workshop, “Recruit for character, not for skill.” Use the loss of the worker to evaluate your future choices of workers. In the congregations we have served, we have observed that often the workers who left were people we had pressed into service too quickly after they had joined the church.

The loss of workers is always a frustration and a disappointment for a leadership team, especially if the exit involves conflict. If the leadership handles the situation quickly and quietly, they will greatly reduce the risk of further damage to the entire program or congregation.

Karen Wingate has served in Children’s Ministry for over twenty years and has written for Ministry in Motion in the past. She has written curriculum for Standard Publishing, the Salvation Army and Rainbow Publishing. Check out her blog, “Inside The Classroom” at www.childrenteach.blogspot.com

Ministry in Motion has launched a new blog for readers just like you at http://ministryinmotionnet.blogspot.com/. It is a place to ask questions, exchange ideas, and encourage other ministry leaders in our growing network.

This month (September) Tom Hanover will check the blog posts regularly to respond to questions and share ideas on strategic leadership. Stop by and let us know how ministry is going for you!

I recently attended a meeting with youth workers and pastors. At this meeting we were sharing different stories about what was going on in our churches. One of my friends shared a story that I found so totally crazy I had to share it with you. I had my friend write the story for this month’s rambling. I hope you enjoy.

There are few times in life when one specific situation reveals everything that is wrong with the big picture. This is one of those times.

At my church we have a “newcomers” lunch monthly where anyone who is new or interested in our church is welcome to have lunch with the staff. It is a time to get to know each staff member and the staff members to get to know the interested newcomer. Usually the most exciting part about the lunch is the free pizza.

One Sunday afternoon after church I entered the room, grabbed my pizza, and took my seat. I was enjoying my cheese and pepperoni pizza -- I guess that’s all churches are allowed to order -- when I felt a presence of something behind me. I looked up from my cup of soda halfway expecting to see it shaking like the famous scene from Jurassic Park, because the largest man I have ever seen in my life had just entered the room. The man grabbed his plate of about six pieces of pizza and found a seat next to me.

As the introductions began, each person was encouraged to give their name and why they liked coming to our church. When his turn came, the large man began to speak. He gave his name and then the bomb dropped. He said the reason he liked coming to our church was because he could come to church and never feel challenged to do anything. He said he didn’t feel pressured to change at all.

At this moment the sirens, horns, bells, and whistles started going off in my head and my eyes nearly popped out of my head in astonishment. “What the (insert unpastorly word)” I screamed inside my head. This was everything that was wrong with this man. He didn’t do anything and wanted a church that catered to that need. I looked at the other staff members expecting them to be just as concerned with the statement as I was, but that was precisely when the second bomb dropped. My Senior Pastor quickly responded with a humble thank you to the man. He said that he always tried to have a gentle leadership style that only suggested things to people, but never pushed them to do anything. I could not believe what just happened. This man was just affirmed for his ability to do nothing at all. God then revealed to me that this was not just a reflection of this one man, but of our whole congregation, and quite frankly the church as a whole.

My emotions moved from rage to great concern. Everything that is wrong with our church had just been played out. This man refused to change and repent of his sin, which was obviously gluttony. Our church is harboring many people like him who are looking to avoid any type of transformation and our Pastor is the number one advocate of this spiritual safe house.

Christians need to be challenged, stretched, and broken to become who Jesus wants them to be. But if we continue to never challenge and only gently lead, then we cease to preach the Gospel and therefore cease to see people transformed. We need to recover a Christianity that changes lives and stops people from living a life that screams “God accepts me just as I am.” God does accept us just as we are, but he certainly doesn’t want us to stay that way. God spurs us to change which results in us being closer and closer to Him.

Feel free to contact Scott to agree, disagree or just pick his brain about youth ministry you can contact him at: rscottmiller1@aol.com Scott would love to hear from you!

R. Scott Miller is the Director of Christian Education and Youth at Milford First United Methodist Church in the suburbs of Cincinnati, OH. In his 17 years of youth ministry, Scott has written and developed much of the youth programming used in his churches. Scott has a B.A. in Radio/TV and Journalism from Morehead State University and an M.A. from Asbury Theological Seminary. Scott is the author of 7 Things Christians Don't Do and What To Do Instead by Abingdon Press.

Dr. Lynn Anderson is founder of Hope Network Ministries, an organization that equips church leaders with coaching and mentoring skills. One of her nine books, include the first in the Sheep series, They Smell Like Sheep: Spiritual Leadership for the 21^st Century. And Leading with the Heart of a Shepherd picks up where the first book left off.

Anderson uses a unique plant analogy to describe the differences between leaders in the church, by drawing a distinction between Banyan Tree Leaders and Mesquite Bush Leaders. A Banyan tree’s thick foliage prevents anything from growing underneath them. Mesquite bushes, on the other hand, drop seeds that scatter and grow a multitude of mesquite bushes. Rare stand-alone leaders, such as Billy Graham and Rick Warren, are Banyan Tree Leaders, but most leaders fall into the Mesquite Bush Leader category. The are servant leaders—like Jesus--getting dirty along with their sheep and inspiring and mentoring others to become leaders for Christ.

They Smell Like Sheep, Volume 2 is written for Mesquite Bush Leaders as a guide and to provide encouragement. Anderson gained insight through interviews with more than 200 key church leaders across the U. S. and Canada.

She divides the book into sections: A Heart for God, A Heart of Integrity, A Heart for People, The Heart of a Servant, A Heart that Moves at a Measured Pace, and A Heart Flooded with Hope. Rather than give highlights of the entire book, I felt it best to focus on areas that I found to be particularly beneficial to our readers.

Every chapter has a Cardiovascular Workout for Shepherds’ Hearts with an interactive question or quiz that readers can complete to gauge how they are doing. One particular Cardiovascular Workout quizzes shepherds on gospel and cultural practices.

Anderson lists 55 practices and commands that appear in the New Testament and polls us on whether they are meant to be gospel (commands or precedents God issues for all peoples and cultures) or whether they are cultural (commands or practices present among God’s people but not by God’s universal command). The exercise is intended to help leaders gain a new perspective on the core essentials in New Testament Christianity.

Chapter five covers the importance of integrity in leadership and emphasizes just how crucial it is to be an excellent role model. People are watching us and will come to faith through stages. If we don’t show integrity and authenticity as spiritual leaders, we may lose their trust and block or stunt their faith growth. Of particular interest is Anderson’s expansion and diagrams based on John Westerhoff’s theory of how people come to faith.

Another unique topic covered is providing encouragement to aging leaders. Chapter 16 discusses moving from warrior to lamp. When we reach a place in ministry where we are no longer able to keep up with the physical demands of shepherding, Anderson encourages us to remain steadfast, shining our lights and using our wisdom to mentor and encourage other leaders. In a society that values youth and tends to devalue the aged, these words of encouragement are badly needed.

Though you may have many leadership books on your shelves and might have already read They Smell Like Sheep Volume One, this second edition still provides fresh insights and encouragement every leader needs to hear.

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DBMIM -November 6, 2007