DISARRAY OR DOUGHTY

I Was Just Thinking About - - - 

Disarray is defined as disorder and/or confusion. It requires no special skill set or motivation for a person or organization to gain this status. The Thesaurus amplifies disarray by linking it to terms such as: anarchy, chaos, lack of discipline, disorganization, unruly, dishevelment and mess. It is a sad state of affairs if and when this occurs in churches and with ministers. John Maxwell is a gifted Speaker and Writer on Motivation and Leadership. In one Blog on “Five Lessons I Learned When Just Starting Out” he references his first Pastoral Call: “Though the church was small, my dreams were huge. The people of the church were more than happy to let me chase those dreams, but due to size and budget restrictions, it was up to me to do the chasing! I was young, I was determined, and I set out to succeed with nothing more than a little willpower and a lot of confidence.” This is a make or break type situation in ministry. 

Statistics can be manipulated except when they can be substantiated by facts. The following statistics were provided some time ago by The Fuller Institute, George Barna, and Pastoral Care Inc. The list is long and detailed. A bottom-line summary includes the following:

• 4,000 new churches begin each year and 7,000 churches close.
• Over 1,700 pastors left the ministry every month last year.
• Over 1,300 pastors were terminated by the local church each month , many without cause.
• Over 3,500 people a day left the church last year.
• Many denominations report an “empty pulpit crisis”. They cannot find ministers willing to fill positions.
• The Number One reason pastors leave the ministry — Church people are not willing to go the same direction and goal of the pastor. Pastors believe God wants them to go in one direction but the people are not willing to follow or change.

It is difficult to watch anyone or anything that is in process of dying. Those who have to make the life or death decision struggle to reach a determination. The obvious is that there comes a time when a reality check must be embraced and Life-Support unplugged. Some Churches should assess their status and face this reality. Rather than Attempting to hang on, they need to move on. Rather than gasping for continuing on, they need to recognize death when it is staring at them and proceed to burial. Rather than continuing with a “last man (or woman) standing” mentality, there needs to be a willingness to cease and desist. There are other Church possibilities for one’s attendance and participation that can be considered. This is similar as it pertains to Ministers. For Ministers leaving Ministry, there is a place for personal assessment. The Minister must consider: “Am I a person legitimately called by God and committed to serve Him as a Pastor/Minister? Or, am I a person given to Disarray (includes appearance, organization and Sermon structure) or am I neat in appearance and oriented to being Doughty (steadfastly courageous and resolute; valiant)?” Some men dropping out can be a good thing and can be an indicator that they never should’ve “dropped-in” in the first place. 

For the careless Pastor/Minister, disarray is never the order of the day. In His Parable of The Banquet (Matthew 22:1-14), Jesus Christ stated: “But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes. Friend, he asked, how did you get in here without wedding clothes? But the man was speechless. Then the king told the servants, Tie him hand and foot and throw him outside into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.” Pastoral Ministry has definitive protocols that supersede the supercilious (arrogant, condescending, stupid). It means one is serving the King of kings and representing Him honorably. Has your “Church” become a ho-hum affair that has lost its motivation, imagination and ambition? Does the Pastor/Minister have a servant’s heart and does he genuinely love the task of ministry and those with whom he is privileged to minister? Prayerfully – Consider these things with me!