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Solo Pastor: Understanding and Overcoming the Challenges of Leading a Church Alone

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Pastor Steven Boyd “I found value in our meetings and am grateful you invited me to be part of it as a ‘future senior pastor.’ I enjoyed being able to be part of the conversations and glean from those beyond me. Thanks for your leadership with the group and your heart for pastors!” These practical realities come to the fore in McIntosh’s book. He begins each chapter with a conversation between a new solo pastor and a mature one about problems solo pastors face. (The characters are fictional, but the problems are real.) Each chapter ends with three questions and two ideas. Readers who journal their way through these sections will develop a better sense of what they need to do to pastor their congregations more effectively. No pastor sets out to do this, but it happens, over time, to too many of us. I’m talking about getting tough, hard, contemptuous, sarcastic, and cynical. I’m talking about emotionally, and sometimes physically, isolating yourself from all except a few individuals. If so many churches are even smaller than the small church I was pastoring, why did I have to search so hard to find them? Why weren’t these principles front-and-center in every seminary, church leadership conference, and book? Since that is true, it follows that being called and equipped to ministry does not hinge on marital status. In His fully human incarnation, Jesus submitted His divine self to be a servant (Philippians 2.6), and lived out that ministry as a single man with rich relationships. Peter was married. Paul was single. Priscilla and Aquila were marriage and ministry partners together. Whether single or married, each of these giants of the early Church chose to follow Jesus, and were used powerfully by God for the spreading of the Gospel. Single pastors and married ministers alike need to explore their fitness for ministry based on Scriptural principles, not lifestyle stages.

Solo pastors: 8 ways to make the most of limited resources

How far will our resources stretch? As with building a building or fighting a war, beginning a new ministry and then running short on resources will lead to failure. Too many failures in a solo-pastor church create a fear of taking future steps of faith. A shortage of resources doesn't close the door on new ministry, but it does mean serious effort must be given to weighing the resource demands and costs. Because relationships are so important in solo-pastor churches, this observation by McIntosh is worth highlighting: “Solo pastors must move away from thinking they have to make all the decisions and create a collective alliance with board members. Purposeful relationships truly signal leadership maturity in the solo pastor.” Leading a church alone presents obvious challenges, as well as unexpected opportunities. Gary L. McIntosh examines both in his new book, The Solo Pastor. He presents his material in four parts. How can a church balance faith and practice? This is one common problem in solo-pastor churches. Churches thrive on big vision (faith) but face the reality of limited resources (practice). Here are some insights and tips to consider. With God’s help and very careful, deliberate, intentional, effort, the God-called, God-gifted solo pastor can succeed in his work and thrive as a child of God. Your pastorate doesn’t have to kill you.

But more often, the distraction is as innocent as a hobby, a parachurch ministry, a community group or even an athletic team or an organization that we ourselves or one or more of our children are involved in. These activities can be innocent and helpful. But if we’re deeply involved in them because they get us away from a disappointing ministry which we’re neglecting, giving us “strokes” that we’re not getting from our congregations, something is wrong. Let us, then, follow the diverse example of the early Church and celebrate our gifts regardless of whether or not we have a ring on our finger and children in our home, setting an example for our congregants and the world around us that our lives find meaning and purpose not in our lifestyles, but in the salvation and redemption we find at the Cross!

Solo servant leadership: Single and in ministry – Clergy Care

The “woods are full” of good men who have served as solo pastors who are now selling insurance, building homes or working at Home Depot. Please don’t do this. Your church deserves better. Your Lord deserves better. God didn’t call you into the ministry so you could be a placeholder. Don't give up on the larger, comprehensive vision, but invest your energy in meeting needs that match your present resources. Karl Vaters became frustrated looking for help as a small church pastor. Everything was written from the perspective of a large church, and most of that didn’t apply to a smaller congregation. He says it’s hard to find help when pastoring a smaller church: Investing in your own health will reduce loneliness and stress while creating the opportunity to lead a healthier church,” McIntosh writes.An important insight emerges: “The key ingredient in the solo-pastor church is love.” Why? Because the relational dynamics in solo-pastor churches differ from multi-staff churches. Big vision, modest means" is a silent reality churches find difficult to manage. While a church doesn't wish to lower its dreams, it must strategically use the resources God has provided. This means sharpening the focus of the church on its primary resources: spiritual, people, facility, and money. Each of these resources overlaps the others, strengthening or weakening each one.

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