Attention all church slaves wake up and smell the roses!

I am your servant not your slave.

Someone once said that your attitude determines your altitude. One of those feel good, fuzzy sort of statements that church leaders sometimes make at conferences to get a cheer form their audience that precedes a pep talk from the word of God. It is not a statement that I would use but there is something in this idea of attitude. If we do not have a positive attitude in how we approach church growth for example can result in its success or failure. Likewise how we are viewed and view others can also determine our attitude.

Why it is then, for some, the success or failure of a senior church leader is based on whether they are pastoral or not? How many people do they counsel? How many of the congregation do they visit? Do they regularly pray for the sick and do they visit the hospital? Are missionaries being supported? Is the Sunday school and Youth programmes being run properly? Is their preaching of good quality and how many people are they leading to the Lord each week? Progress reports need to be written for the board meetings. Elders need to be placated, children need to be disciplined, marriage counselling is a requirement, sermons need to be prepared and if you have time make sure your family is at church and totally transparent and that you are on time every time for everything. And for all of this we will gladly pay you a pittance and maybe give you a manse to live in, after all you are doing the Lord’s work.

There is no doubt in my mind that to be a great leader you need to work hard. You just have to read the autobiographies of famous business people and politicians to see that in order for them to succeed they had to work hard. The same can be said of churches. From my observations of those leaders that are growing vibrant, relevant churches, I see hard work, energy, enthusiasm, vibrancy and magnetism. Hard work in- so- much as some of them worked up to 80 hours a week when first they were establishing their churches. As those churches grew they raised up leaders that helped take the load. Those senior leaders never seem to run out of energy everything they do appears to the untrained eye to be at full speed. Each day, each project, each department in the church is treated with the same enthusiasm and vibrancy. People are draw to them, they catch the heart of the leader and run with his vision. There is an excitement and life in their churches. People are engaged with people not just the normal Sunday morning chitchat of “How are you” but the development of real lasting friendships. This is what I would call doing real life together. And all of this because of the hard work of the Senior Leader and their team.

So what is the difference between the two very real examples that I have just given in the preceding paragraphs and why is it that we are still getting statistics from the United States such as; 57% of pastors suffer burnout in their first three years of ministry. 52% would gladly take another job if they were suitably trained and 48% admit to suffering from depression. 28% also admit to thinking about suicide, and sadly 1% of pastors do commit suicide.

To my understanding and observation the answer is simple, attitude. In the first example it was the response of the senior leader to the attitude of their congregations. Whereas in the second example it was the response of the congregation to the attitude of their senior leader. The first served but acted like a slave the second just served.

The difference between a servant and a slave is ownership. A servant owns the job or position whereas a slave is owned- often by slave masters who set the pace and the running. The servant on the other hand takes ownership of their position and sets their own pace and running. The Bible tells us that we were slaves to sin, in other words sin owned us. The Bible also tells us to serve on another, and to do acts of service.

In my early ministry I suffered burnout. This was due in part to the fact that I did not know the difference between a servant and a slave. I thought because I worked for the church I had to attend every single meeting. Six days and nights a week did I work and rarely rested on the seventh. When the phone rang I answered when I was told to go somewhere I went. When I was treated with disrespect, or I couldn’t pay my bills, or didn’t eat properly I took it as my lot to suffer for the Kingdom. Simple put I was a slave to what other people wanted and what they expected of me.

A successful senior church leader, takes ownership of the position. They instil vision and get excited about what they are doing for God. They encourage others to catch the vision and take ownership. The expansion of the Kingdom is about working with one another not just the one doing all the work. The congregation picks up on the attitude of their leader who is there to serve and realise that it is their job to too serve.

 The success of the early church was not based on a slave mentality- though many of the early Christians were slaves, but on a desire to serve one another. Their lives and attitudes had been changed and they wanted to tell others of that change. I believe that if we work from the second example of right attitude then the appalling statistics such as those already mentioned above will be greatly reduced if not eradicated. We will create churches that succeed, remain vibrant, do not stagnate and mummify. They grow and make a real difference in their communities.

I am therefore your servant, I am not your slave. Will you help me serve?