21 Steps to Courageous Church Leadership

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21 Steps to Courageous Church Leadership

• Dr. John P. Chandler
• The Ray and Ann Spence Network
• for Congregational Leadership

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(No Transcript)
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Summary of Ten Leadership Conversations

• Transcripts of interviews with some of the most
  effective pastors in the U.S.
• What patterns emerged in these conversations?

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Patterns Vision, Leadership, Structure

• Vision
• Maintaining clarity
• Courageous honesty
• Opportune reinforcement

• Leadership
• Processing criticism
• Gaining tenure
• Finding life-giving learning communities

• Structure
• Releasing ministry
• Shedding outdated practices
• Thriving amidst complexity

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1. Often, the obstacle to vision clarity is found
within the leader.

• Performance trap
• Codependence

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2. The ultimate measure of Kingdom vision is
human and community transformation.
Congregational transformation is but a means to
that greater end.

• Vision and values unite, not personality
• Not church, but Kingdom

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3. Admission of personal defects to oneself and
others is the pathway to the next level of
leadership.

• Speed of the leader
• Sherpa, not guide

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4. Frank and ongoing assessment of ones
giftedness and calling are critical matters of
open discussion.

• What chapter of ministry are you in?
• With whom can you talk about this?

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5. Sometimes we are compelled to announce that
the emperor has no clothes.

• Prophetic role
• Church members not customers nor consumers, but
  missionaries

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6. Persistence repetition of the vision is
irreplaceable.

• Nehemiah every 26 days, or the people will lose
  it
• Developing intentional processes

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7. Articulate interpretation and daily
incarnation of vision are ongoing mandates.

• No churchy jargon!
• We are translators
• Not just your talk, but your walk

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8. Criticism of leaders by congregations is a
pervasive and painful thorn in the flesh.

• Pastor Pigface letters
• Culture of criticism in churches
• Vulnerability of pastors

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9. Leaders can and should quarantine destructive
criticism.

• Closing the back door can be overrated!
• Not rewarding dysfunction

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10. There is a strong correlation between
effective, courageous ministry and a long-term
match of pastor and congregation.

• Most pastors interviewed had served 15 years or
  more in one place

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11. Long tenure is a joint project between pastor
and people.

• Boards taking the lead to encourage tenure for
  the well-matched pastor

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12. Succession planning will be critical.

• Sustainability
• Intentional transition of long-term leaders
• They have roles before and after they officially
  finish

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13. There is a horizontal revolution happening!

• Intentional networks
• Leader to learner
• Peer to peer
• Mentor to protégé
• Flattening of hierarchies
• RASNet

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14. Learning communities keep leadership
dialogical, energizing, and accountable.

• Beyond autocracy to the full creativity of the
  community of leaders

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15. These communities are a source of energy,
strength, and joy to those in them.

• Would you come back from vacation to go to a
  staff meeting?!

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16. Pastors in growing ministries understand and
practice appropriate span of care.

• Beyond people-pleasing to reproducing and
  multiplying ministry

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17. The way beyond hoarding ministry is to
measure outcomes of transformation

• Beyond shepherd-sheep to body of Christ
  images
• How much are people and communities changing?

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18. Courageous leaders create congregational
cultures where change is assumed, transition is
welcomed, and leaning into the future is the
default posture.

• The attitude toward change itself matters much
• The past gets a vote, but not the only vote

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19. There are strong cases to be made for both
evolutionary and revolutionary strategies for
spurring change and transition in congregations.

• Cry only once! or
• Slow, steady, evolutionary pressure

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20. There can be great blessings in spiraling
complexity.

• Contrarian do larger churches do a better job
  with benchmarks of discipleship?

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21. Leadership amidst complexity requires humble,
patient, sharing.

• Beyond the bottleneck of what the pastor can do
  to the glorious mess of shared gifts in leadership

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For further exploration, go to www.amazon.com and
search John Chandler

• Courageous Church Leadership Conversations With
  Effective Practitioners

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21 Steps to Courageous Church Leadership

• john.chandler_at_vbmb.org