“Pastor, what’s your vision for the church?”

This was the one question asked during my interview I struggled with. I was thirty years old and about to become the senior pastor (through a series of unusual circumstances) of a mid-size congregation with lots of challenges. To this point in my career I had only been ordained for three years and had only been an associate pastor. My vision for the church? How would I know! Yet here they were, asking me to provide for the congregation an inspiring and over-arching vision that would propel the congregation into the future. What I know now but had to learn was the practice of listening. Too often pastors are put into positions of leadership and authority and not yet well equipped enough to navigate (of which I was a textbook case). Listening is the key to leading well, but how we listen makes all the difference.

Exercise Listening

There are wrong ways to listen in order to lead. When asked to provide a vision for the future of the church I was about to be entrusted with, I fumbled with my answer. I felt inadequate because I didn’t have a good answer and I felt it reinforced the prevailing view of me at that time: I was too young and inexperienced to lead. So, I did what many have done, I over-compensated. I went off on my own, climbed the mountain and God spoke the vision to me. It was a good, biblical vision but it was mine. The people responded well at first because most just wanted to know which direction to face. Some remained silent which I took for agreement. Based on their acquiescence, we re-oriented our ministry and mission work around the new vision. When this new vision called for members to reach out to new people and share their faith, the results were disappointing. The vision sounded good from far but was far from good. I had listened to God but not the people, and when the people were asked to move, they could not and would not.

As bad as it is to not listen to the congregation it is just as bad to only listen to the wrong people and overreacting to selective input. Every congregation has those who fashion themselves as power players who like to voice their opinions. Pastors, who are generally conflict averse, tend to over-react to the complaints and opinions of these loud voices. When others fail to speak up, leaders assume these power players have the backing of the congregation, when in most cases they speak only for themselves. The fact is, there will always be 5-10% of the congregation that is mad at the pastor for something. These loud voices are definitely within the range where they can be withstood. Too often, pastors respond to these critiques and substitute listening to the people for hearing from a few loud voices. They will often claim to speak for a group of “people” but refuse to name any, because there are none or very few. It is a power play pure and simple. Pastors should balance these loud voices by intentionally creating room to hear from a fuller, more representative sample from the congregation.

Navigating these dynamics is challenging and often soul crushing work. If you are interested in clergy coaching check out our website for more information. You are not alone!

May God continue to bless the journey,

Pastor Ben Sandin