A great church leader recognizes the need to increase attendance as well as creating an atmosphere that fosters spiritual development in its current members. There is fine line to tread between the two and it becomes a day to day battle sometimes to maintain the sanity of it all. Here’s a few things that can be applied in your church to manage this predicament.
1. Get to Know People Before You Give Them Authority
I’ve seen this happen more than I’d care to admit. A new member comes to the church a few times and wants to help, great, right? Not always, in fact, there is a lot of growing pains involved with assigning work to people in church. If only every person could read each others minds! You can save yourself a ton of trouble if you work them in slowly. Don’t give a rookie too much responsibility but be careful not to dampen their eager spirit.
Focus on uplifting feedback instead of all the changes said individual needs to make. Point out things they’re already doing well or that you believe they are capable of with God’s help. Give the benefit of the doubt but always do it with small things first.
If someone isn’t able to make it to church frequently, don’t bother giving them any responsibility at all. The subject needs to show commitment to showing up before they can start to make a difference.
2. Patience is a Virtue
This one will take some time, be patient. While you’re blazing a trail of vision and having faith that God is changing lives and saving souls its easy to become jittery, like you’re going to shoot out of your skin at any moment. The fact is, a lot of things take time to manifest so even though you may be “on fire”, relax, focus on your next task.
Among all of the greats that have shaped our society with inventions, wealth, and war there is a similarity. A brick-by-brick mindset. You’ve got to build your dreams and the kingdom of God brick by brick, step by step, not all at once.
3. Mind Your Tone
This is by far one of the most powerful things you can ever do in your ministry. Some 55% of our communication is visual and 38% is vocal. (Source: finance.yahoo.com/news/pf_article_102425.html) If that doesn’t say a lot, I don’t know what will. That only leaves 7% to what we actually say!
Your tone is powerful and effective. Just like a huge boat is powered by a small rudder, our tongue acts the same. When you speak always try to sound encouraging, not condescending! Your ministry will not last long if you come across like you think less of your audience.
A surefire way to figure out your tone when you’re speaking is to ask your audience. Another good way to recognize your tone is to think about the way you address your listeners. If you’re constantly talking about how things “should be”, that’s a sign you’re actually discouraging instead of encouraging.
God bless.