Eight Ways Pastors Can Cultivate Long-Term Tenures

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Sam Rainer

October 23, 2016

 

Generally, long-term pastor tenures are better than short-term pastor tenures. The context where the pastor ministers can impact the tenure. The church body can impact the tenure. And the pastor can impact tenure length. Below are eight ways pastors can cultivate their own long-term tenures.

  1. Elevate your family above your career. You simply cannot overestimate the importance of family stability. Your family is not a quantifiable metric in the decision to transition or not. One wise mentor once told me, “If your wife ain’t called, then you ain’t called.” He’s right. Your family is the front line of your ministry. They come first. If they want to stay, then in the vast majority of cases, you should not lead them to another place of ministry.
  1. Stop basing fulfillment on the size of your church. A 2,000-attendance church is not more fulfilling than a 200-attendace church. Your worth to Christ is not dependent on the size of your church. Success is no longer about “arriving” at the large county seat churches like it was in the 1960s. Quite frankly, such ideas should not have existed back then. They certainly shouldn’t exist now.
  1. Live in the community where you pastor. I once consulted a church where the pastor left after several years because he simply did not connect with the community. He lived thirty minutes outside of the city where his church was in order to get more house for his money. It’s hard to love a community if you don’t live there. Additionally, some communities are easier to love than others. A New Englander might have to work to love the Deep South. A Southerner might get culture shock in Miami. Californians know that the northern part of the state is quite different than the southern part of the state. To love a place over time, you must live there.
  1. Don’t cast your preferences as vision. One of the biggest unseen and internal faults of a pastor is creating a vision around personal preferences. Just because you like something doesn’t necessarily mean it is best for the whole of your congregation. You don’t always have to get your way in your church. In fact, if you always get your way, then you’re creating a toxic culture.
  1. Pick your battles. Too many pastors die on mole hills. I knew a rural church where the new pastor got fired in his second year. He decided to discard all of the tchotchkes families had donated throughout the years. He thought they were ugly. He was right. However, the church chose ugly décor over a foolish pastor.
  1. Continually ask long-term questions. You minister to people in the moment, but you must also lead them towards the future. The person struggling with a dying parent does not care about your ten-year vision right then, but they will be glad you asked the right questions about leadership ten years from that point.
  1. Have a plan to develop and equip staff. Without a formal plan to develop staff, you will be alone in your long-term vision. If you don’t bring along your staff, then it is highly unlikely you will bring along the church as well. You must do the hard work of developing staff to survive long-term at your church.
  1. Discern the difference between snippiness and disunity. That comment about the lack of choir robes is most likely just snippiness. Don’t treat the offender as if he’s killing the church. You should expect criticism as a leader, especially if you are the lead pastor. You are the person everyone sees. High visibility means you will have both influence on people and critiques from people. Most criticism aimed at you is not disunity. If you can’t handle criticism, then you should not be the leader.

 

This post is an excerpt from a research article I wrote for Church Answers Monthly. It’s part of a premier coaching ministry with Thom Rainer.

11 comments on “Eight Ways Pastors Can Cultivate Long-Term Tenures”

  1. Jack Gandy says:

    Thanks for that article. Just about everything you said hits home to. I have been at my present church for over nine years, and the roots I have developed during that time in developing friendships and doing ministry are paying dividends far in excess of anything I could have imagined.

    1. Jack Gandy says:

      hits home to me!! sorry about that goof-up!

  2. Deborah D. Young says:

    Being the wife of a “2nd staffer”(he served as associate pastor of education & senior adults) for almost 40 years, I really do appreciate your comments. However, unfortunately for us….we were serving on staff at a time when other than our daughter (who normally came first), our life was in, around and about the church. Although we are still members of the church my husband last served, we are blessed to be able to venture out; new ministries, new friends and always trying to be the hands and feet of Jesus wherever we walk.
    THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENTS; WELL, WELL WORTH READING AND IMPLEMENTING IF NEEDED.

  3. Mike says:

    Thanks for the article, Sam. I find #4 the most insightful – as a leader, it’s difficult to not make your own preferences into everyone else’s vision. When serving under someone else’s leadership/vision, this can really turn into a grindstone if you don’t let go of your own preferential vision (I know from experience!).

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