This month as I was praying about our work together, the phrase “Hold your horses!” persistently presented itself. It comes at a time when my experience in my church is one of watching in dismay as event after event after new ministry after keen idea suddenly presents itself as wanting to launch right now, and without anyone seeming to ask whether “yet another event or activity” is a good idea or what it is hoping to achieve. At a time when my operational staff capacity is at an all time low, demand and expectation seems to have suddenly jumped out the box and burst out in every direction. An exit of a long-serving member of staff resulted in a sudden free-for-all of multiple people grabbing resources without any oversight or management.
As a planner, I like to be in control and have thinking time to react and bring the strands of running the different processes of the church together in harmony at the same rate – a bit like bringing the horses in front of a coach together in harness to run at the same time and in the same direction. I liken the phrase “Hold your horses!” to the instruction given to the charioteer or coachman to bring the horses that you need working together, to the same canter and rhythm and to ensure that they are working together.
I’ve been very challenged by reading the book “Simple church”, written by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger. It is stylistically jarring for the UK audience but scores an unbelievable bulls-eye in explaining why our churches naturally default to feeling like an untethered fire-hose spraying water in every direction except for the one we’re trying to focus it on. My church has suddenly felt like my set of four horses at the front of my coach have unexpectedly multiplied to twelve, but are pulling in every possible direction. It’s impossible to steer, and I am not sure that any of them know that they can’t go off in the direction they would like to.
I have felt dismayed when I’ve looked at the names of the horses, “youth”, “children”, “18-30s”, “congregation”, “men”, “women”, “mission”, “performing arts”, “stay & play”, and on they go, and each resolutely has its own characteristics, value, and can’t simply be told to “go find another coach”.
The book accurately pulls out the core processes of an effective church – introducing people to Christ, discipling them, bringing them into service. If I were to drape each of 3 horses with saddlecloths bearing those labels, I would bring my fourth horse in and label it as “and the infrastructure to make that all happen”. Our divinely appointed job is not to worry about how many horses may comprise our team of horses, but to align them all with these four key elements. Any horse that cannot be aligned to demonstrate these core requirements has no place in your pulling team.
He [Jesus] is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:17
Our job as administrators and operations personnel is to hold the reins of the processes and ministries of our church and ensure that they are working smoothly together – and use the instruments and tools at our command to manage the necessary speed between stops, and the times we need to canter and at others to gallop ahead. In every part of our work let us endeavour to help our colleagues and church see how it is possible to bring Jesus into the practicalities – of introducing people to Christ, of becoming disciples, or growing into service, and the systems and strategy that underpin them all to be effective.
Julian Mander
Executive Director, UCAN.