This post is part of a series of posts that have been incorporated into Part 1 of my online article, “A Comprehensive Church-Based Ministry to Men.”
In my last post I discussed what it means to reach and utilize all of the men in your church. But now the question: what do churches that accomplish this goal look like?
Over the years, as I have traveled the country doing my ministry, I have had the opportunity to learn about many churches that are successfully ministering to men on a church-wide basis and they generally have 13 common characteristics.
In this post, I will cover four characteristics of these types of churches and they involve their pastoral leadership. For without proper pastoral leadership at the head of the church, no church can succeed in reaching and utilizing all of its men.
1. Churches that reach and utilize all of their men have a strong and long-tenured male pastor.
“Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” 1 Corinthians 4:2
Here is a sad statistic: the average tenure of a pastor in a church is 4 years. That is shorter than the average tenure of an NFL coach, which is 4.6 years. An even sadder statistic is the average tenure of the previous pastors in my first church: 18 months. No church is going to successfully reach and utilize all of its men with that kind of track record.
When I took my first church, I made a commitment to stick around. I am glad I did because it was not until my third year that I began to make real headway with the men in that congregation. Why? Because I had to earn their respect so they could trust me.
Church experts agree that there is a strong correlation between the length of a pastor’s tenure and the health of his church. I might add that there is also a strong correlation between the the length of a pastor’s tenure and his ability to reach the men in his church.
It is often difficult to stay through the hard years, which are normally the third and fourth years of a pastor’s tenure at his church. Those are the years when people in the congregation decide whether or not they like the new pastor and, if they don’t like the new pastor, either leave or stay and try to drive him out by causing dissention.
A pastor must wade through this type of conflict by being both faithful and strong if he is going to reach his men; he must be willing to take the hits when the going gets tough in order to reap a harvest.
2. Churches that reach and utilize all of their men have a high view of their pastor and his ministry.
“The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.” 1 Timothy 5:17
The Greek word here for “honor” in its verb form is timao. It can be translated “to honor,” but also “to pay a salary.” The latter meaning is how the NLV translates the verse: “Leaders who do their work well should be given twice as much pay, and for sure, those who work hard preaching and teaching.”
The relationship between these two meanings, “to honor” and “to pay,” is logical. For example, business owners honor their employees by paying them well.
All too often churches dishonor their pastoral staff by paying them poverty wages. That is a sin. Impoverishing your pastors is disobedience to the teaching of the Word of God. No pastor is going to be able to reach and utilize his men when the church dishonors him this way.
Here are some suggestions on making sure your senior pastor and pastoral staff are being compensated well.
- Form a compensation committee that reviews staff compensation at least annually.
- Use a standard salary guide for pastors and staff, such as the compensation handbook that Church Law and Tax Report puts out.
- Be an advocate for your pastor in the area of compensation so your pastor doesn’t have to ask for a raise himself.
- Most pastors work fifty to fifty-five hours a week, so be generous with vacation time. For example, one week off for secular workers is normally 9 days: 5 work days and the weekends before and after. But one week off for pastors is 7 days: 5 weekdays and only one weekend before or after. Also, pastors rarely get three day holiday weekends because Sundays fall in the middle, and some holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, often mean additional work for your pastor. Even the vacation time your pastor does have sometimes gets interrupted because pastors are on call for emergencies 24/7. I was called back to my church from much needed family vacations due to emergencies more than once.
- If yours is a small church with limited resources, distinguish between what your church can pay your pastor and what your church should pay your pastor. Then make a commitment to him that as a church you are setting as your goal to reach within x number of years the proper level of support he deserves.
3. Churches that reach and utilize all of their men have clear and relevant biblical preaching.
“It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:3-4
Olympic gymnasts and preachers have one thing in common: they take something that is extremely difficult and even scary to do and make it look natural and easy. Gymnasts go through agonizing training for years so they can throw their bodies around in amazing and seemingly effortless ways on balance beams, high bars, long horses, even on a gym floor.
In similar fashion, preachers go through years of stressful and expensive graduate training to learn how to study the Bible and then preach it to their congregations. In their pastorates they agonize mentally and spiritually for hours every week on sermon preparation so they can stand up and preach a coherent message on Sunday morning for twenty to forty minutes.
Imagine doing a twenty page term paper every week and then delivering it orally to a classroom filled with your fellow students and your professor. That is what it is like preaching weekly in a church, only your fellow students are your congregation and your professor is God.
Churches that reach and utilize all of their men have pastors who take their preaching responsibility very seriously; they unapologetically spend a huge part of their time in sermon preparation, and they grow in their ability to preach clear sermons that men can relate to spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally.
4. Churches that reach and utilize all of their men have clear and regular presentations of the gospel.
All pastors know that on any given Sunday morning there are probably people sitting in the pews listening to him who are not saved. A conscientious pastor will make sure he gives a clear and compelling presentation of the gospel in the worship service on a regular basis.
This doesn’t mean that every sermon has to be an evangelistic message. Otherwise, you will wind up with a congregation of immature Christians who just know the gospel. But it does mean that everyone in your congregation should know how to be saved.
The first requirements, then, of a church that wants to reach and utilize all of its men are that it have a devoted male pastor who is committed to preaching the Word and the gospel, and a congregation that respects and supports him.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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