The Art of Effective Pastoral Leadership: Playing to Your Strengths
In the cliche ridden conversations that usually happens when sports journalists interview coaches, the coaches will often talk about trying to control the game so their teams can “play to their strengths.” Most games have several paths to victory and most coaches have a preferred style of play. As a result, the coaches build their teams to their preferred styles and try to dictate the game to that style every time they play. Some teams are built for speed. Others play slowly and methodically, wanting to control the game in a step by step process. Like I said, there are lots of ways to win. We just have to be sure we play the game to our strengths..
The challenge for all of us is to first understand our strengths and then focus our time and efforts so we play to our strengths. Paul reminds us all of us have been given spiritual gifts to join Christ in His kingdom work through the church. The sad truth is pastors don’t do the hard work of knowing their own gifts. Too many pastors show up, look at the church, determine what they think needs to be done and then set off to do it.
For whatever reason, every pastor thinks they can do whatever needs to be done to move the church forward.
They can’t. We can’t.
A pastor can do what the pastor is gifted to do, but no pastor can do everything.
No one person has all the gifts needed to accomplish the mission of God in a local church. The diversity of gifts celebrates the vastness of God. Each of us is gifted and as we work together, the presence of God is made known in a way that can’t be duplicated. For some reason, few pastors do the difficult soul work of discovering their gifts and end up with a ministry of trial and error.
The first step in effective pastoral leadership is understanding our own wiring. Once the pastor understands their gifts, then they can organize the church leadership structure to best support those gifts and compensate for their weaknesses. While every pastor has skills they can improve, they shouldn’t be too energetic about trying to strengthen their weaknesses. Studies have shown only minimum improvements can be made in our weaknesses, and that’s after a lot of hard work. It’s better to focus on our strengths.
Once the pastors understand their gifts and communicate this to the church, the congregation is then free to claim their own gifts to reinforce and expand the church’s ministry.
This is when the church is living at the church’s highest level…
Each member is using their gifts to serve God, the church and their neighborhood so their diversity and synchronization glorify God and accomplish the church’s kingdom mission.
This happens when the pastor claims their own giftedness and aligns their ministry accordingly. For instance, some pastors are great preachers. They love the Word. They love to study, teach and preach. Their sermons open up doors for conversations with their congregation and other times, the sermons open up opportunities to minister to their communities– but it all starts with their sermons. Other friends are wonderful pastors. They love their congregations fiercely. Their sermons, ordinary by the standards of oration and presentation, are impactful and life changing because the congregation knows how much their pastor loves them.
Both styles work, but they only work when the pastor understands their gifting and works in the strength of their calling and design. Like I said, there are a lot of ways to win. We just have to be sure we’re playing to our strengths.
Do the hard work.
Spend the time in prayer, Bible study, and conversations with trusted friends to fully understand your journey and how God has designed you to serve Him best. Then, gratefully receive these gifts and strengthen them under the Spirit’s guidance.
Then, lead your church to do the same.
You’ll be amazed at how God has gifted His church to love their neighborhood in His name. There are lots of ways to win. Play to your strength. Let your uniqueness and the uniqueness of your church live out the gospel in ways only you can.