Apologies for the long-ish silence!
Chapter Seven takes us in to Part Two of the book. Having surveyed the recently unchurched and heard the overwhelming importance of the role of the pastor/ minister/ leader, Rainer undertook a second round of interviews. He surveyed 101 pastors of churches who are reaching the unchurched.
Those surveyed came from churches across a range of denominations (but no significant percentage (if any) were Episcopalians/ Anglicans), age groups, ethnic backgrounds, social settings, and church ages (ie. local churches from less than 10 to more than 100 years old).
A number of findings are summarised in this chapter:
- Interview results from the 101 pastors have a statistically highly consistent degree of correlation with the results of the main survey of recently unchurched.
- Their average tenure was 11.8 years, compared to just 3.8 for all pastors.
- 87% were seminary trained (47% had masters/ seminary training, 40% had doctorates).
- An unquantifiable passion for reaching the lost and unchurched world was evident through the interviews.
- Leaders are readers - the top book cited was Rick Warren’s ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ followed by Oswald Chambers’ ‘My Utmost for His Highest’ and J. I. Packer’s ‘Knowing God’.
- Preaching - biblical preaching - was an absolute priority.
- They tended to be theologically conservative: 99% affirmed that salvation is only through Christ, 98% held to the inerrancy (complete or limited) of the Bible.
- They desired to be better leaders: through reading books on leadership, undertaking further study, formalising a mentoring relationship with another leader, seeking to upgrade skills in new areas like finance or administration.
- Having an intentional plan to reach the unchurched, and executing on it, was critical.
- Personal holiness, integrity, leadership by example, a vibrant prayer life, personal Bible study, ability to institute change, ability to cast vision, Bible knowledge, personal evangelism and communication skills were, in order, the top ten personal characteristics as rated in relation to leading their local church.
That’s quite a list! And knowing something about how difficult it is for many local churches in Melbourne to find a pastor when they need a new one, this list makes me want to keep praying that the Lord of the harvest raises up more workers for His harvest field.
If you’re in need of a pastor, I think this list suggests that you either look to a good theological college, or find the most godly and capable person you can to send to one. It takes a while to cook them properly, so we’d best start sending them now!
If you’re a pastor already or wanting to be one, be encouraged! Here are some ways forward from this study. If you haven’t already, start working on your personal holiness; preach the Bible; find a godly leader to be a mentor; start reading; start praying and planning.
