Mike Tyson was once asked by a reporter if he was worried about the fight plan of his up and coming opponent, Evander Holyfield. Tyson replied, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Seminarians can learn much from his advice, as they often have a romanticized view of congregational life.
It is common to transition from seminary to a first church with an ecclesiological idealism which envisions a unified, theologically-minded, missionally-aligned congregation who uniformly die to self and put others first. And in the rare exception that church discipline might need to take place, erring members are joyfully compliant in repentance and reconciliation. In spite of my conspicuous sarcasm, ecclesiology in real life is not nearly as neat and polished as we infer from text books. Our best-laid plans are often “punched in the mouth” by the effects of unforeseen crises that have the power to shape – positively and negatively – our congregational life. The challenge of ministry, then, is employing adaptive leadership in the face of such crises while also maintaining biblical fidelity that promotes a scriptural vision of the local church.
Four Crises to Expect
Four crises we face regularly are:
- Internal Conflict. These crises arise when personal rivalry, jealousy, or envy put personal preference over the greater good of the congregation.
- Shifting Identity. The identity of a congregation can shift when there is a change in leadership, location, culture, or size. These dynamics affect how the church views itself and its priorities in light of its mission.
- Unexpected Setbacks. Financial issues, moral failures, staff departures, and facility emergencies require solutions for which leaders are often unprepared and can lead to major setbacks if not properly addressed.
- External Conditions. Macro, societal crises affect churches as well as other organizations and institutions. COVID, for example, affected societal norms which required various levels of adaptation on the part of congregations.
A local church forms much of its identity through their response to crises. Many churches, for example, are still adjusting to the aftershock of a global pandemic that incentivized digital communication over incarnational presence. Congregations with decades of shared history were upended, seemingly overnight, from a crisis that exposed a vast, fragile understanding of church membership, the ordinances, polity, and discipline.
When led well, churches can respond to crises in ways that build resilience while also enforcing biblical practices of robust ecclesiology. For example, taking the Lord’s Supper in a church filled with internal conflict offers a chance to reorient the people around the meaning of the meal and its tangible expression of Gospel unity. Pastors can inform the people of both the vertical and horizontal aspects of the ordinance that necessarily bind them to Christ and to one another.
Start Preparing Now
The lessons learned from leading a congregation through a crisis are best taught through experience. Books and classes can help, but real life is the best teacher. At the same time, there are steps seminary students can take now to better prepare them for what is to come.
I suggest students take advantage of these five practices while still in school:
- Graduate with a robust understanding of Baptist ecclesiology. It is easy to dismiss the value of Baptist history and ecclesiology. It is essential that you have a good grounding of these subjects as you will head to churches often geared towards applied pragmatism more than applied theology. Make sure you understand historic Baptist practices, particularly confessionalism, church membership, the ordinances, and church discipline.
- Take a class on conflict resolution. Helping people resolve conflict will take up a large percentage of your time in local church ministry. Find a class in pastoral counseling or some other similar discipline that will teach you skills to do this better. Don’t outsource this work completely to licensed counselors. Local church pastors and staff members need to do this, as well.
- Get exposure to diverse church models. As much as I want you to graduate as a well-formed Baptist, I also think you can learn a lot from other models. Visit many different types of Christian churches while in seminary. Have coffee with pastors of different traditions and ask them lots of questions about the pressures they face. Doing so will help you to distinguish between biblical essentials and cultural preferences. It will also help you know what hills are worth dying on as you begin to lead a local church.
- Build emotional and physical resiliency. You will need this in local church ministry. You can start now as you learn to manage your time and handle all of the academic pressures put on you. Ministry leaders today need grit now more than ever. Do what you can now to develop this essential character trait in your life.
- Do local church internships and apprenticeships while you are finishing your degree. Seminary is a bubble, which is not necessarily a bad thing. At the same time, you need to do what you can to expose yourself to real life daily ministry. Many churches near your campus offer internships and other opportunities to serve. The more experience you have in “real church” ministry, the better prepared you will be to lead a church in the future.
Seminary won’t give you a script for every crisis, but it will shape you as a leader who can meet any crisis. It forms your instincts, your theology, your identity, your resilience, and your imagination. Ministry leaders who lead well in crises are not improvising. They are simply drawing on what God formed in them long before the storm arrived.
