This book was written by Kennon L. Callahan (Jossey-Bass; August 15, 1997).
Amazon.com’s description for the book: Kennon Callahan shares a new understanding of leadership, and helps missionary pastors grow their leadership by cultivating new understandings and practices in seven key areas. Callahan guides pastors and key leaders in building on their creativity and imagination in order to revitalize their local churches and advance their missions.
Excerpts are provided below:
Professional ministers are at their best (and they do excellent work) in a churched culture. But put them in an unchurched culture, and they are lost. In an unchurched culture, they do a reasonably decent job of presiding over stable and declining and dying churches. They maintain a sense of presence, dignity, decorum, and decency—with a quietly sad regret—much like the thoughtful undertaker who sees to keeping things in good order throughout the funeral. P. 4
New understandings of doing ministry must be created with each new generation for the church’s mission to move forward. When an older generation imposes its understanding on the new generation—however innocently—both groupings become dysfunctional. Each new generation must carve out an understanding of ministry that matches with its time. P. 4
That concern for the “care of a church, the administration of a community” became subsequently a preoccupation with the institutional care of the church. And as the mainline denominations began to decline, the preoccupation with institutional survival increased.
At rock bottom, the understanding of the nature of leadership inherent in the view of that time was:
1. The minister serves inside the church.
2. The laity ministers in the world.
3. The world is seeking out the church.
P. 9-10
But what happens when the world quits seeking out the church? We are left with well-intentioned, “inside the church” ministers, whose understanding of the nature of leadership—with its related behavior patterns, values, and objectives—works best in a churched culture. P. 10
Old ways die hard—and the second reason is that they are familiar and habitual. Behavior patterns of any kind that have been ingrained and repeated for years upon years are not easily extinguished. It is not simply that these behavior patterns have been consistently rewarded over and over during the past nearly forty years. The rewards may have been diminishing over a long period of time. But as long as the familiar and habitual behavior receives even occasional rewards or intermittent reinforcement, it will persist. P. 15
Some persons might suggest that the invitation to be a missionary pastor has the ring of romanticism about it. To the contrary, the fact that we now live in an unchurched culture is not a romantic perspective, it is realistic.
The romanticists are those who behave as though it were still the churched culture of the 1950s, who still long for the busy, bustling suburban churches of the 1940s and 1950s. The romanticists look back to those grand times when their sanctuaries were full and long for that bygone era when people sought out the church on their own initiative. The romanticists are those who continue to spend most of their time in their offices, committee meetings, and administrative sessions, believing that this will somehow help.
The realist is the one who knows that this is a mission field and who behaves as a missionary pastor. P. 17
In recent times, the church growth movement has had an important influence in church life. And it has done us a good service in helping us to be outside in the world. The church growth movement has accurately assessed that this is a mission field. It has drawn on the biblical and theological understandings of evangelism to point toward the fundamental concern for witness and outreach on a mission field.
And it has done us a disservice as well; namely, it has reduced the issue to growth alone. Our current problems cannot be conveniently reduced to whether the church membership statistics are growing or declining. Our current problems have more to do with mission than membership, more with service than survival, more with the planet than the church plant, more with the human hurts and hopes of the world than the hemorrhaging of a denomination. P. 19
To be sure, atheism, secularism, and materialism are strongly present in an unchurched culture. But these are present in a churched culture as well. It is not so much that these are more present in an unchurched culture. More to the point, no major cultural value says that the church is important.
In an unchurched culture, people do not necessarily view the church as harmful or hurtful. Rather, people simply view the church as not particularly relevant or helpful. P. 20
The nature of leadership of a mission outpost takes seriously the distinctive qualities of that mission outpost. Leadership of a mission outpost is practiced with faithfulness and compassion, knowing that the congregation may, for many years to come, happily be a mission outpost. Leadership of a mission outpost does not have a goal of becoming a churched-culture local church.
Mission outposts may be of any size—small, medium, or large. What counts is not their size, but their spirit. The spirit of a mission outpost is one of mission, whereas the spirit of a churched-culture local church is one of maintenance. P. 23
RELATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS
The first distinguishing mark of a missions outpost is that it delivers the relational characteristics of an effective congregation. The relational characteristics are:
1. specific, concrete missional objectives
2. pastoral and lay visitation in the community
3. corporate, dynamic worship
4. groupings of significant relationships of sharing and caring; roots, place, and belonging
5. strong leadership resources
6. a solid, participatory decision-making process in a stream-lined organizational structure
There are also six functional characteristics:
7. several competent programs and activities
8. open accessibility
9. high visibility
10. adequate parking
11. adequate space and facilities
12. solid financial resources
A mission outpost delivers five out of the six person-centered, people-centered relational characteristics of effective churches. A mission outpost may also deliver several (three or four) of the functional characteristics. Pp. 28-29
Second, in helping the grouping to discover and fulfill the four foundational searches in this life’s pilgrimage, the missionary pastor, as leader, is the one who is primarily:
- proactive
- relational
- missional
- intentional
The leader is not basically reactive, responsive, organizational, or institutional. Given their human failings, doubts, and misgivings, however, leaders continue forward with a consistent sense of direction and work at being increasingly proactive, intentional, relational and missional. P. 75
Their sense of belonging is discovered and, as best it can be, fulfilled in a relational neighborhood of acquaintances, work associates, and friends—the new “extended family” of relationships. Sometimes this relational neighborhood of friends overlaps with the sociological neighborhood in which one lives. And thus the sociological neighborhood becomes also a source of belonging.
Seldom does the relational neighborhood overlap with the geographical neighborhood. In some small towns and some rural areas the relational neighborhood and the geographical neighborhood may yet overlap. But the geographical neighborhood has receded as a primary source of belonging. The search for belonging is primarily lived out in the relational neighborhood—the network linkages of our time. P. 105
People come to a church longing for, yearning for, hoping for this sense of roots, place, belonging, sharing, and caring. People come to a church in our time with a search for community, not committee. P. 106
About now, you should be asking, “If there are so many out there searching, how come our church isn’t full?” Some of them have probably visited your church. Eventually—and inevitably in some churches—the visitor discovers that the perspective is so institutional, the mentality and values are so organizational, and the behavior patterns are so functional that the people of that church are simply too preoccupied with their own busyness to welcome them, to share some personal warmth with them. Pp. 106-107
It is ironic that the program emphasis on small groups in many local churches has further contributed to this heterogeneous diffusion. Frequently, these programs and activity groupings have represented the epitome of socioeconomic exclusiveness. There is considerable need for local churches to create new communities of reconciliation, wholeness, caring, and justice. P. 108
As the culture has become more heterogeneous, we see a fourth consequence in the enormous diversity of local churches. Our pastors have greater difficulty in this current time than in the time gone by when they move from one church to another. One reason is that when a pastor moved from Grover’s Corners to another town, the culture was relatively homogeneous—there was some parallel commonality with where he had moved to. It may not have been George and Emily next door, but it was Bill and Sue.
As pastors move now from one church to another, there may be little commonality at all. Indeed, the high probability is that in our time a pastor is moving from one collection of socioeconomic, cultural, vocational, and theological groupings to an entirely different collection of subcultural groupings. Sometimes it is like moving from rural North Dakota to Los Angeles; sometimes it feels like moving from northern Indiana to South America. P. 111
People learn to be leaders. Leadership is learned. Leadership cannot be taught. The opportunity and possibilities are within the person who seeks to develop his or her own leadership competencies. Mentors help. Teachers and resource persons will contribute greatly.
But all the efforts to “teach” leadership come to naught, not because there are not excellent teachers involved, but because the focus is on what the teacher is teaching the person, rather than on what the person is proactively learning. You are the person who can learn leadership. You are the person who can best grow forward your leadership competencies as a missionary pastor. P.141
People are helped best with their foundational life searches, in relation to the emerging trends in the culture, by a grouping that has selected and that reinforces and rewards leadership values set A. Thus, both unchurched persons and churched persons are drawn primarily to local churches with set A. Precisely in these missions teams persons learn best the nature of leadership important for these times. Pp. 149 & 151
People learn leadership best in a leadership environment of objectives, not activities. In an environment of objectives, people learn a sense of intentionality and direction. In an environment of activities, people learn busyness and fragmentation. P. 153
People learn leadership best in an environment wherein there is a high delegation of authority, not responsibilities. People do not learn leadership in an environment of responsibilities. They learn passive behavior there, not leadership.
Two principles will help. First, the greater the range of authority, the more likely the level of leadership competencies is to grow. The more fully persons are given authority, the more likely they are to develop their leadership competencies. P. 154
The church is particularly good at not doing that. One of the pivotal reasons the church loses competent leaders daily is because it is perfectly willing to give them a multiplicity of responsibilities but virtually no authority. People tend not to continue participating in organizations that stifle their own growth and development. Pp. 155-156
The point is that more authority and fewer responsibilities help persons grow forward their leadership; less authority and more responsibilities help persons develop passive behavior. P. 157
The better way forward—particularly if you want to develop solid leaders—is to leave them alone to do good work and to grow as leaders as long as the following five criteria hold:
1. They are accomplishing significant objectives (doing good work).
2. They are matched with their best competencies.
3. They are “growing in the work” (their leadership competencies are advancing).
4. People are satisfied with their results.
5. They work vigorously to add new people in new leadership posts. Pp. 163-164
The key posts—the real power posts, if you will — relate to the central characteristics of:
1. specific, concrete missional objectives
2. pastoral and lay visitation in the community
3. corporate, dynamic worship
4. significant relational groupings
P. 164
An environment of rules and regulations, legalism and laws best develops passive, dependent persons. Leadership values set B thrives on the development of policies and procedures, requirements and standards, penalties and punishment. The result is passive, organizational, institutional, reactive—persons who are primarily dependent. P. 168
There are trade-offs in every system. Since it is not reasonably possible to do all three with equal strength, which two are the best two to focus on?
A. unchurched persons and groupings on the local mission field
B. persons and groupings in the congregations
C. the organizational and institutional structures of the local church
Professional ministers choose B and C. Missionary pastors choose A and B.
A denomination that chooses B and C will want to train pleasant funeral directors who will wait patiently until the dying patient has succumbed; they will then preside, with solemn dignity and grave decorum, over a thoughtful funeral. A denomination that chooses A and B will best focus on the local development of excellent missionary pastors and mission team leaders. P. 173
There is a direct correlation between the evaluation process used by a denomination and the morale of its ministers. The more hierarchical the orientation of the evaluation process, the lower the morale among the ministers. The lower the morale among the ministers, the more likely a denomination is to be fading and dying. P. 179
The list of competencies in the evaluation form is usually a list of professional minister competencies. Study the list closely. The weight of the competencies is toward activities inside the local church. Regrettably, pastors are heavily influenced by the list. They conclude that the list is the norm for what is (sic) means to be an effective pastor. They pattern their behavior accordingly. The personnel committee and the denomination reinforce these conclusions.
The result: The evaluation process creates pastors who try to improve competencies that used to work well in a long-ago, churched culture. Key principle: The way people are evaluated shapes who they become. P. 181
Note this word of caution: The statement, “We should take care of our own before we take care of others,” is not a plea favoring local mission. The comment really means, “We should take care of those who are already inside this local church.” Persons who say we should take care of our own are rarely involved in any hands-on way in local missions. The phrase is mostly used in a self-centered way.
Those persons who contribute money to their local church (some of which goes to support national and world missions) tend to use their financial contributions as their excuse not to become involved in hands-on local or world mission. They rationalize by saying, “Oh, yes, we are in mission. We give money to the following causes…” Financial support for missions does not relieve a congregation from its responsibility to give personal support for mission(s) and mission teams. P. 207
Key principle: Have just enough people on just enough committees to achieve wise decisions and accomplish significant results. Note clearly that the goal is not fewer people on fewer committees. The goal is wise decisions and significant results. P. 210
A leader can gather a committee. A committee cannot gather a leader. The best way to kill a cause is to give it to a committee. A cause needs a leader. P. 211
Effectiveness is more valuable than bureaucracy. Bureaucracy has its value. Effectiveness is more valuable. A bureaucracy is of value when it generates green tape—policies and procedures that “move things rapidly forward.” Some bureaucracies are capable of generating green tape.
Regrettably, many bureaucracies are more skilled at generating red tape—policies and procedures that block and stop, bog things down, slow them to a crawl. Enormous bureaucracies have developed in our time, each with its own special agenda. Frequently, that agenda includes the bureaucracy spending considerable energy in justifying its own existence and increasing its size. P. 218
The organizational principle of effectiveness does encourage the concomitant values of excellent mistakes and creativity. There is a direct correlation between the value of excellent mistakes and the level of creativity in an organization. This correlation does not condone a pattern of inept, incompetent, mediocre work. Rather, it encourages the value of creativity. Quite simply, the more positive the recognition for excellent mistakes, the higher the level of creativity in the grouping.
People’s creativity is advanced when the organization encourages improvisation, initiative, spontaneity, and new ideas. In many organizations it would help to give an annual award for the best mistake of the year. P. 220
A commitment to decentralization and a corollary commitment to “frontline” action, accomplishment, and achievement are dynamic commitments for proactive grass-roots leadership. They stand over against centralization and coordination as ineffective qualities for contemporary organizational structures. Someone once said, “In a centralized system, we were top-heavy in management. We were keeping beautiful track of what we were not doing.” People interested in productivity are drawn to action-oriented, decentralized groupings. P. 225
The missionary pastor discerns that what helps one with despair is mission, not success. At bottom, despair has to do with whether one’s life will count. The string of quick successes is used to create the illusion that one’s life does count. But what is eternal is the mission of God, not the fleeting successes of humankind. As a missionary pastor, the art is to discover constructive ways in which you can participate in God’s mission in this world. Stay the course in that mission. Then one’s life does count, in enduring and abiding ways. P. 249
As we have moved from a churched culture to an unchurched culture, many of these Third churches have found themselves in an even more desperate plight. In the churched culture, they had perhaps only three of the twelve central characteristics well in place. And they came to depend on the churched culture to deliver to them a range of “new” churched people.
When the culture shifted to unchurched, their plight worsened. New people were no longer showing up. They could no longer depend on the culture to sustain them. Hence, they turned to the pastor or the denomination. They had depended on the churched culture. Now they would depend on the pastor or the denomination. They simply shifted the focus for their dependency. P. 250
Fourth, constructive help provides positive reinforcement and recognition to those persons in the local church who are advancing and developing their mission. Sadly, some pastors are preoccupied with persons in their stable and declining or dying church who demonstrate a dependency pattern. The focus of energy and resources is on them. As a result, they overlook or neglect to boost along the persons who are developing some strength and vitality. P. 253
It would not be helpful for the founding participants to consist solely or even primarily of already longtime churched persons. Mostly, their experience will have been in stable and declining or dying churches. They will have learned well how to build stable and declining and dying churches, having learned the behavior patterns that focus on the functional, institutional approach to the local church. P. 258
The primary focus in the first and the second years is on helping people to discover a sense of mission, involving shepherding and visitation; worship and prayer; and roots, place and belonging, sharing and caring. In this new emerging community of the faith, mission teams would be encouraged and would be the major value. Small, short-term organizational task forces would do modest work. P. 258
These communities have an abiding strong focus on justice. They are not communities of pleasant generalities and pious statements. They are missional communities that take seriously the difficult ambiguities of societal and ethical concerns in our time. These communities wrestle with those concerns.
These communities are more interested in societal issues than social graces; more interested in poverty than platitudes; more interested in inequities in the culture than in study committees in the church. These communities live out compassion and courage, not timid, calculating pieties. P. 263
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