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

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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. This is a sad scenario that I’ve seen more than a few times. You stay in by lowering your expectations to the level of “nothing’s happening here, but nothing’s happening anywhere else either.” You lose faith but “keep on keeping on” because you heard this phrase in seminary. I’ve seen pastors come up with varying strategies for being able to “stay in,” in spite of the difficulties. Some of those strategies are good and godly and healthy and some are not. Pastor Dan Norman "This course showed me that I, as a solo pastor, have to do things that don’t come naturally to me and has given me some tools to do the hard things.” So last week I wrote about three ways to keep your church from driving you off to Loew’s or McDonald’s or Walmart. Two of them were poor choices; one was a good choice:

Climbing Solo: The Dangers of Being a Solo Pastor

So, what does it mean to live in a marriage-shaped culture for we who labour solo in the Lord’s vineyard? How do we affirm pastoral and counselling roles that likely include other couples’ marital preparation and support, when we don’t enjoy that blessed union ourselves? Are we really ministering from a place of authentic adult life and experience, or are we occupying a weird sort of waiting room until we grow up? As single people, do we have to defend our ministry calling? Learn to hate the twin pastor-killing sins of bitterness (because of what you did to me that you shouldn’t have done) and resentment (because of what you should have done for me and didn’t do). Being a solo pastor is a bit like free-climbing. The way forward is hard and often risky. The personal sacrifices and stress on one’s family are difficult for many people to understand. We have to do this. We are called to it. Something inside drives us forward. Love compels us to shepherd the sheep. I’ll start by saying it again: No one will do this for you. No one can do this for you. You are the steward of your own heart, your own health, your own sanity, your own godliness, your own joy. “Choosing joy” isn’t so simple, but a joyful life does involve a choice. Your choice. For you. Pardon my bullet points, but we can only list these today: Vision and ministry fit together. A God-given vision requires a church to step forward in practical ways to connect with real people in ministry situations. Faith is needed to begin new ministries, but this implies strategic thought, not a blind leap.

Solo pastors are almost always in small congregations. A church needs an average weekly attendance of 76 people for each full-time staff member. Half of the churches in America have a weekly attendance of less than 75. Most churches are small and they have solo pastors. There are s ome struggles unique to small churches – not enough money, limited and aging facilities, and not enough volunteers. So the solo pastor often takes on more than one person can possibly do. Pastors do a lot! I’m speaking directly to solo pastors today because, for the most part, pastors must do this themselves. Investing in your own health will reduce loneliness and stress while creating the opportunity to lead a healthier church,” McIntosh writes.

Solo Pastors: Here Are The Rest Of Those Ways To Keep Your

When talking about discipleship, Jesus advised his followers to count the cost. "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? . . . Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?" (Luke 14:28, 31). I wasn’t trying to be sensational last week when I wrote about how churches with solo pastors often “kill” their pastors, in the sense of rendering them unable to continue effectively in local church ministry. Solo pastors have an urge to lead a church beyond its capacity. As Christians, we must count the cost of discipleship, but the principle applies to ministry too—godly faith leads to strategically planned ministry.

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. A solo-pastor church can adequately add only one new ministry a year, and perhaps retool two other ministries. Hence, it's wise to consider if there are enough resources to complete any plan. Gary L. McIntosh (PhD, DMin, Fuller Theological Seminary) is president of the Church Growth Network and professor of Christian ministry and leadership at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. He is an internationally known speaker and church consultant who has written more than 25 books, including his most recent book, The Solo Pastor: Understanding and Overcoming the Challenges of Leading a Church Alone. He lives in California. Learn More » Sprinters go all out, exhausting themselves in a short race to win. Contrary to sprinters, long-distance runners pace themselves to finish a longer distance. Doing too much too fast in a solo-pastor church brings overextension, disillusionment, and collapse. For some, singleness may be a very specific calling from the Lord. For others, being unmarried may be an intentional lifelong choice. Still others may be single simply because circumstances have not afforded an opportunity for marriage. And while it may be that some may remain single for immature or selfish reasons, the same remains true of marriages.

Influence Magazine | How to Lead a Church Alone

If God gives the vision and the resources (or honest anticipation of resources), it's an automatic yes. If either one of these is missing, or if conditions are uncertain, it's a not yet. Then I got mad. After one particular “aha” discovery, I found myself yelling at an empty room, “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?!” Family Pressures So without scolding pastors or churches for the current reality, let’s get down to those seven ways – some of which are much better than others – to keep your church from killing you. A few days ago, I enjoyed lunch out with a friend after a Sunday worship service. My friend is a pastor. She is a woman. She is also single. Not surprisingly, as we talked about our lives and friendship, elements of these three life circumstances – single, woman, in ministry – appeared again and again. Since then, I’ve been thinking a lot about singles and ministry.

Don't give up on the larger, comprehensive vision, but invest your energy in meeting needs that match your present resources. Denominational officials, Bible college professors, and ministry coaches also will benefit from reading the book. The insights McIntosh offers will help them target their advice to the needs of solo pastors they are leading and training. I am saying that churches with solo pastors often, inadvertently, “kill” their pastors, in the sense of rendering them unable to continue effectively in local church ministry. Before we dive into those seven defensive strategies, I need to make one positive, faith-filled comment first, so I’m not misunderstood.

The Solo Pastor: Understanding and Overcoming the Challenges

Keep in mind, I don’t mean, “How do we build a meaningful ministry to singles?” Nope – completely different topic! That’s an issue for other blogs and books dedicated to programming, evangelism and “the emerging relevant church.” I’m talking about ministry-when-the-servant-is-single. Years ago, when most of us were single, sailing through that lovely phase of life after dorms and before mortgages, many of my circle were in seminary preparing for the pastorate. Some of us were already working in ministry settings. The running joke was that single/not-dating was a fine situation, even preferable when pressing hard into the MDiv studies. But the day after graduation, be sure to show up at that first church placement married, with two kids, one on the way, and a dog! It seemed people (and search committees) just preferred their pastors married. I’m talking about learning how to survive the solo pastorate by assertively, painstakingly, teaching, leading and training your church. Let’s get specific: Pastor Mark Pitroff “I enjoyed getting to know the guys in the group [and] I appreciated the thought, mind and spiritual challenges presented… I found many things that I was able to immediately apply, and I am still developing next steps that much of the discussion and training of this class helped to build a foundation for. [The handouts on strategic planning] will continue to be helpful in trying to guide our church to being more intentional. This [was] exactly what I was looking for at exactly the time I needed it.” Pastor Trey Turner I've appreciated so much Brian's very practical coaching as he's guided me and the leadership of our church as we've sought to become more effective for God's kingdom. His extensive experience in assisting churches navigate a variety of issues makes him highly qualified to help lead churches through congregational change.

Leaping from the ground to a rooftop several stories high sounds exciting, but it's possible only among fictional superheroes. In most cases, the best way to get on a rooftop is to use a ladder to climb up one rung at a time. Recognizing your limits and narrowing your focus help define priorities. By setting measurable goals, like rungs on a ladder, you can step progressively higher and higher until you accomplish your vision. I am so grateful to God for Brian, his ministry, and his friendship. As a result of his assessment and coaching, my church has experienced unmistakable, God-given renewal. We are increasingly living out our church's mission which is to love and glorify God by making disciples of Jesus Christ. This is clearly showing in terms of spiritual depth (i.e. more people are maturing as Christian disciples) and spiritual width (i.e. more people are becoming Christian disciples). Our communication is clearer, our structure is stronger, our leadership development process is better, our facility stewardship is more proactive, and our cultural mindset is now set on eagerly advancing the kingdom of God. I strongly recommend the Church Whisperer to you. Keep in mind that singleness, like marriage, is a circumstance of earthly life only (Luke 20. 34-36). I recall an extremely robust discussion I once had with a fellow grad student who held a rather rigid definition of healthy Christian adulthood. He was fixed to the idea this could only be expressed by those in marriages with many children. I pointed out to him that (aside from the obvious example of Christ) the history of God’s people includes innumerable stories of amazing people who minister and teach the Gospel, and (perhaps for reasons of martyrdom, war, health, social conditions or other factors) remained unmarried and without children. Unfortunately, he could not fathom that a healthy adult could embrace living and ministering solo. Even more unfortunately, this man was a leader in his local congregation! The truth is singleness is no more a deficit of person or character than marriage is an indicator of mature spirituality. Our church is extremely grateful for the insight, adaptability and wisdom Brian so graciously contributed to our needs as we transitioned. Our pastor transition was from Father to Son, which is by definition, difficult. Yet Brian was able to foresee issues, feelings and responses with high accuracy. Brian is personable, yet can direct when he needs to help us be reasonable and vision-oriented." Following are a few truths we need to remember. I hope they will affirm the single clergy among us, and perhaps encourage married people to better appreciate the ministry experiences they had before saying “I do.”