Church Momentum Stoppers; a Must Read for Every Pastor
By Raul Rivera
Imagine experiencing the best year your church has ever had. Growth in numbers and discipleship over the last several months has been amazing, and for the previous 6 weeks alone there have been over 20 new salvations every Sunday. That is what Pastor Edgar had been experiencing when an accusation against him arose. A group of disgruntled individuals had come together and convinced some of the members that Pastor Edgar had too much control of the church. Despite the growth the church was experiencing, and the number of people that had been added in the last year, it all seemed in jeopardy because of a small group of disgruntled members.
Every pastor struggles with keeping momentum. It is a fact of life that momentum comes and goes. However, what I have discovered is that those who succeed the most are the ones who purposefully and endlessly strive to keep momentum on their side. I remember the very first time that I felt I lost momentum as a pastor. I had made a series of bad decisions because I was trying to avoid conflict with a disgruntled church member. I should have dealt with that person on my own and faced a very uncomfortable situation early before it got out of hand. Instead, I tried to appease him, and it backfired. While our young church had gained much momentum in its first year, it took a long time to recover from the loss of momentum brought on by that situation, and its effects were felt for a number of months thereafter. Let me share with you four things that kill momentum.
1. A Bad Sunday Offering: Young and small church leaders can experience weekly shifts in momentum based on the Sunday offering. A good offering, and all is well. But a bad offering, and we feel like the sky is falling and with it, the whole of our ministry! I encourage you to resist the perspective of "financial doom and gloom" over your ministry; keep the momentum by purposefully planning the next stage of growth.
2. A Disgruntled Church Member: One effective way to deal with a disgruntled church member is to wave good-bye. My advice may sound flippant and uncaring, but I know the dangers of keeping someone too long. It is a lot easier to maintain momentum by waving good-bye to one person than it is by waving to a large group who leaves because of the one. Pastors tend to overextend themselves trying to reason with someone who most likely will not turn to reason. A momentum killer is failing to recognize when it's better to release than to reason. That reminds me of a real momentum killer: the disgruntled church secretary or treasurer. No one knows more about the inner workings of your church than the church board secretary or the treasurer. They know where you are strong and where you are weak. When the secretary or treasurer becomes disgruntled, there is a tendency for the disgruntled and parting secretary/treasurer to make it a part of his/her call to warn others about you. He/she describes it in the most noble of ways: to keep others from suffering the same loss he/she has suffered at the hands of a bad pastor. Did you know that one of the most common reasons for IRS inquiries against churches are reports filed by disgruntled church secretaries and treasurers? Under the rules of section 7611, the IRS is required to inquire on any report by any person that sounds believable. Talk about losing momentum--imagine having to deal with that!
3. Repeating a Mistake: Nothing can take the wind out of your sail more than to make the same mistake twice. It takes away your momentum because pastors tend to be harder on themselves than they ought. The Apostle Paul shared great wisdom when he said he purposefully chose to no longer focus on the past but rather, press on towards the prize of the high calling. We would do well to remember the same. That is not easy to do. It is difficult to let mistakes go, especially when you realize that it is the second or third time committing the same mistake.
4. Noticing that there are many pastors more successful than you: No matter how large or successful your ministry becomes, you will always find someone more successful than you. Reason being, success is a matter of perception (Pr. 13:7). It is very good to rejoice over someone else's success, but it is always fatal to believe he/she has succeeded because he/she is better than you. This type of thinking takes away all momentum.
Fight the good fight
Keeping your momentum is a battle worth fighting. If you find yourself struggling with any of the above mentioned momentum killers, perhaps it is time to tweak that on which you are focusing. God's voice of encouragement reminds us that we are to fix our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith; He who calls you is faithful. When our eyes are appropriately focused on God, we find all else comes into its proper alignment.