Lessons from Church Leadership

I have heard it said that leading a non-profit is easy.  My experience is the exact opposite.  I firmly believe that if you can motivate and lead people who have no economic reason to follow you (like getting a paycheck), you can lead anyone. 

As I’ve stated before, I’m a man of faith.  I’ve been very active in church life most of my life.  I served on the board of three separate churches.  It was when I served as the chairman of the Elder Board for a church, that I faced my toughest leadership challenges.  I have served as the chair two separate times.  The first time, I was the youngest chair of the board in the church’s history.  I served in this role for a couple of years, leading the church staff through strategic planning and personal development activities.  We were transferred, so I stepped down.  We returned to this church a few years later, and I was elected to the board (and chairmanship) a year after return.  It was during the next few years that I faced my toughest leadership challenges.

This church had a congregation-led governance model.  That meant that the staff (pastoral and administrative) reported to the Board of Elders.  Shortly after I became Chairman again, our Senior Pastor resigned.  Until the church found a replacement for our Senior Pastor, leadership (even spiritual) of our church reverted to the Board.  As leader of the Board, I became the de facto leader of the church.  This was an incredibly humbling time for me.  I didn’t (and still don’t) feel worthy or qualified to lead.

There were a number of issues I had to deal with during this time.  Before the Senior Pastor left, I facilitated a strategic planning effort for the church.  This pulled on my experience at Chevron, where I had been trained to facilitate teams through numerous strategic planning efforts.  It was different only in that I wasn’t a neutral facilitator, but as a member of the congregation, I had a stake in the future of the church.

Shortly after the senior pastor left, an issue arose that struck the church to the core and severely tested my leadership skills and abilities.  While we were seeking a replacement, it came out that one of the elders was having an affair with another elder’s wife.  Both families were very visible in their service to the church.  I became aware of the situation at the start of a board meeting.  The elder who was having an affair showed up only to submit his resignation from the church and the board.  The wife of the other elder was an active member of the worship ministry, and would be visibly absent the first Sunday after this affair came to light.  As a board, we had a duty to explain the situation (as best we could while protecting confidentiality and staying true to our legal duties).  That Sunday, after worship, I called for an all-church meeting.  I had a script that had been approved by the board and our counsel.  There were certain things I could and couldn’t say.  After the script, I opened the floor for questions.  As you can imagine, the congregation was stunned.  I had to do my best to alleviate concerns while adhering to the right and proper things to say.  I still very clearly remember that after-church meeting.  I also remember the fallout from this incident meant that some folks left our church.  The whole event still saddens me whenever I recall it.

Our search for a new pastor continued.  I had to lead the congregation, the Board, as well as the Search Committee (who reported to the Board).  At the right time, we met the perfect candidate.  The Search Committee met with this candidate and watched him preach a few times.  The board met with this candidate a couple of times.  The second time was rather long and involved.  It was clear to everyone that this was the right person for our church at that time.

The candidate had one request of our church.  He wanted to transition the church from a congregation-led model to a staff-led model.  There would still be a need for the Board of Elders, but in much more of an oversight, governance, and consultation role.  I really agreed with the candidate, because I strongly felt unqualified to lead in many of the areas that were required of a Senior Pastor.  At a closed session, the Board met and discussed this request.  We unanimously agreed to the change in governance models.  We also agreed unanimously that the candidate was the right person to lead our congregation at that point.  We offered the job, and got a conditional acceptance.  The candidate would accept the job AFTER the church constitution was changed.

As the Chairman of the Board, I took the lead on a communication plan with the congregation.  We started a period of time explaining the rationale for the change to the congregation.  We also spent much time in congregational meetings to work through the rationale, the actual wording of the constitutional changes, as well as addressing any concerns from the congregation.  I gained a lot of experience communicating and dealing with tough (sometimes very confrontational) questions in a public forum.  When the vote came, the congregation voted to accept the changes the Board recommended.  The Board then went into a transition mode with our new Senior Pastor.  I still have very fond memories of developing a friendship with our new Senior Pastor, and working with him during the transition.

This leadership role was my toughest role in my leadership life.  In spite of this, I learned many invaluable lessons that I was able to apply in all leadership roles.  These included:

• Sometimes a leader doesn’t get to choose when they need to step into a leadership role.  I wasn’t the most qualified person to lead a Board of Elders of a Christian church, but I was the one who was available and willing to step up.
• Leading volunteers is hard.  In a vocational leadership role, your employees need to follow your leadership in order to get a paycheck.  That’s not the case in a volunteer organization.  Understanding and embracing this early on helped me to understand the next lesson.
• If you can lead volunteers, you can lead anyone.  When given the option, the easy choice for a leader would be to lead employees (where you control their paycheck and motivation to do a task or job).  If you can lead without the “threat” of the paycheck, you can more easily lead when you have that control.
• Not everyone will follow you as a leader.  There were many times we lost some members of the congregation.  This was very hard for me to take.  I felt much sorrow, but had to stick to the vision and plan.  There are times when some people don’t want to go where you’re leading.  As a leader, I feel I have a moral obligation to work with them, and gracefully help them transition.
• Transparency and vulnerability during difficult times is an absolute requirement of a leader.  I was rather open with as much as I could legally and morally share during this leadership role.  I got feedback from many people (including some that left the church) that my openness was greatly appreciated.  It developed trust with the followers.
• A leader needs a support network outside of the organization.  I cannot tell you how helpful my family and friends outside of the church were to me during the toughest times.  If you don’t have a circle of trust outside your current organization, get one!

Looking back on this experience, I grew tremendously as a leader.  The best analogy I can come up with is that of a foundry.  In order for steel to be strengthened and formed into useful tools and equipment, it has to go through extreme heat and pressure.  I definitely felt the heat and pressure during this time, and realized afterwards that I am a much stronger person and leader.  I wouldn’t trade this experience.

I’d love to hear your comments.