{"id":829113,"date":"2024-06-03T05:00:37","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T10:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=829113"},"modified":"2024-05-31T11:18:03","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T16:18:03","slug":"the-perils-of-a-checklist-pastor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/the-perils-of-a-checklist-pastor\/","title":{"rendered":"The Perils of a Checklist Pastor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The church\u2019s problems seemed easy to diagnose in our consultation with the congregation. The church was not reaching people with the gospel. They counted on transfer growth in earlier years to sustain their ministries. Of course, transfer growth means that the church was receiving (taking?) members from another church. Transfer growth is elusive these days. If churches are not growing by conversion or evangelistic growth, they probably are not growing at all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The pastor\u2019s two responses to my questions surprised me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Me: Do you know your church is not reaching people with the gospel?<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor: Yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Me: Can you tell me why you think that is the case?<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor: Because I don\u2019t have time to lead the church in evangelism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Digging Deeper<\/strong><\/p>\n

I appreciated the pastor\u2019s honesty and thoughtfulness. He did not make excuses. He did not blame others. And he knew the problem.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving to the next step was rather easy because the pastor already diagnosed the problem. And to some extent, he took responsibility. His challenge was his inability to see a solution. \u201cHow can I find hours I don\u2019t have?\u201d he asked me.<\/span><\/p>\n

That question led me to request the next step of him. I asked the pastor to write down his closest estimate of the number of hours he spent leading his church and being a pastor to the people. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he had already done this exercise to some extent.<\/span><\/p>\n

He suggested to me that we should meet the next day. \u201cThis won\u2019t take long,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll have your list to you tomorrow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Checklist<\/strong><\/p>\n

He seemed eager to share his list with me. This pastor did not want to continue doing the same things he had done for some time. He eagerly sought solutions.<\/span><\/p>\n

I received his email a few hours before our Zoom meeting. It was straightforward. \u201cHere are my typical work hours. Of course, they are always subject to change. You can\u2019t neatly predict a day in the life of the pastor. Anyway, this checklist is a close estimate of my workweek.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n