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How Did We Get Here?
Can an introspective individual with a rich interior life be a successful minister of a growing church?
Over the past 10 years the church-planting world has been able to identify, with disturbing accuracy, the kind of individual it takes to lead a rapidly growing church in North America. Five “knockout” factors have been codified. A candidate who cannot demonstrate proficiency in all five areas is not likely to succeed as the lead pastor in a growing church. “Introspective” and “rich interior life” do not make the cut.
The five “knockout” factors are visionizing capacity, intrinsic motivation, the ability to relate well to the unchurched, an ability to get people to “buy into” one’s vision, and a “cooperative” spouse.
The Orchard Group routinely seeks candidates with all five qualities. In doing so, we have watched our new churches grow 10 times larger than they were just 20 years ago. While I am pleased with the growth, I must admit the whole profile makes me uncomfortable.
Is visionizing even a word? Is intrinsically motivated just another way of saying “driven by demons from within”? To speak of buying into one’s vision shows just how much the church is influenced by the free-market economy. Or maybe you prefer the term sold on. Either way it sounds more like Madison Avenue than the apostle Paul. And exactly what is a cooperative spouse? I assume it is a wife willing to allow her husband to work long hours without complaining too loudly.
In 1990 I completed a master’s thesis in which scores of senior ministers completed a psychological profile exam commonly referred to as the DiSC test. Of the 16 personality types identified in the test, only three describe the kind of minister who is likely to possess all the traits listed above. Those profiles have names like Persuader, Inspirational, and Results-oriented.
How did we manage to create a church in which only three of 16 people are likely to be effective in leading a church through sustained growth? Is it right that almost 80 percent of those called into ministry are so easily excluded from leadership?
Can this possibly be good for the long-term health of the church? How much should the minister of an American church resemble the chairman of an American corporation? Or has God simply raised up leaders for this place and this era, just as he has done since the beginning of time?
Are these even good questions, or am I just having a conversation with myself? Is anyone still reading?
PREVIOUS COLUMNS:
November 18, 2009 - You Can Please Some of the People Some of the Time
November 11, 2009 - Lost on the Short Walk Home
November 4, 2009 - What Are Your Plans for the Future?
October 28, 2009 - For Whom the Bell Tolls
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