GROWING PAINS
When a church grows, the pastor has to change, too.
Calvin Miller
October 1, 1987
In that long ago, far away book The Peter Principle lies the doctrine of my insecurity. The book states that climbers on the ladder of life are promoted rung by rung until they eventually reach a level they're not equipped to handle. Thus, by doing well, a person arrives at a plateau beyond his real capabilities and successfully "out succeeds" himself. I have often been haunted by the fear that my church will one day outgrow my ability.
Only one word can prohibit this imagined debacle: adjustment. Not my adjustment to the crisis moments of ministry. Such moments belong to every pastor. Not my adjustment to wrenching business meetings or to those lonely nights that follow the hectic days when it seems that, for all my acquaintances, I haven't got a friend in the world.
No, the adjustment required is the ability to relate in different ways to the congregation as the membership expands. This difficult adjustment, I believe, is the reason many church planters cannot grow a church from inception to super congregation. How does one relate to church members at the difficult plateaus of growth?
One church growth expert said that because of personal inclinations, there are some "fifty-member pastors," some "two-hundred-member pastors," some "five-hundred-member pastors," and some "two-thousand-member pastors." I'm not sure his statement is altogether true. But if it is, I find myself wondering which is my own magic number of competency. I only know that congregational vitality is somehow related to my ability to lead, and I don't want my church to lose its vitality as it grows.
The whole subject makes me paranoid. Year after year, I cannot escape the dread feeling that I'm not growing as fast as the church. How do I keep adjusting-to ...
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