Last week I was reviewing some notes I’d taken back in 2001 at a church planter training event. I didn’t note the name of the person speaking, but something this person said really stood out to me so I wrote it down:
There are only three ways to lead the church:
1. Risk Taker
2. Care Taker
3. Under Taker
• Risk takers put their faith in God and say, “Whatever it takes.”
• Care takers put their faith in opinions and say, “Whatever the people want.”
• Under takers talk about their faith in the past and reminisce saying, “Whatever went wrong?”
Seeing those points I’d noted so long ago really got me thinking. Every church has a preference for Risk Takers, Care Takers or Under Takers. I’ve worked in vocational ministry since 1990 and I’ve served on staff in all three of these environments.
Today I’m inspired to tell you a parable about a church who lived under all three kinds of leadership:
There was once a church that was planted to reach people who did not know Jesus. They started the church under leaders who were Risk Takers. Reaching the lost was the highest goal and taking risks to reach that end was praiseworthy and exciting. The church grew and God was doing great things among the people.
15 years later, taking risks became harder. After all, the church had much more to risk. They had more people, buildings, money and materials than they had when they started 15 years prior. Now it seemed that risking money, facilities, things and people was somehow “irresponsible.” Eventually they shifted into Care Taker mode. Maintaining the status quo and satisfying the people became the most important goals.
20 years later the church was a beautiful picture of what had once been. The buildings were reminders of the great things God had done there. The members got together regularly to celebrate all their church had done. It was always such fun to reminisce about the history of the church. They loved recalling the days when hundreds of children roamed the halls, when the baptistery was used every week, when people were coming to Christ every time the pastor spoke.
But those times had passed and the halls became considerably less busy. The kid’s rooms had mostly been converted into “adult educational space” and the average age of the parishioners had gone up considerably. Without being conscious of it, the church had slipped into Under Taker mode. To keep the people happy, changes had all but disappeared. The church had frozen in time, but the members hadn’t. They continued to age…and eventually die…one…by…one. Where weddings were once a regular occurrence, now funerals dominated the scene.
The common denominator in ALL growing churches is this: Leadership that is not afraid to believe God for the impossible! Those leaders consistently take risks believing that God will take care of the results. The only way for a church to continually avoid Care Taker and Under Taker mode is to always change and always take risks for the sake of reaching the lost. Leaders must remember that anything else puts the church into a slow, steady decline and eventual death. Take risks. Stretch your faith. Without such things, the consequences are catastrophic.
So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith— this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure.
~Gal 3:9-10 (MSG)
