What makes an effective pastor different from an effective church planter? We talked about the characteristics of an effective planter in the previous post today. Here we want to examine what makes a pastor effective.
Earlier this year a new book was published that’s name is very suggestive in this regard: 15 Characteristics of Effective Pastors (by Kevin W. Mannoia & Larry Walkemeyer, Regal Books). It’s approach is different from that of Dr. Ridley and the behavioral characteristics of church planters. Whereas Ridley researched a multitude of church planters across North America to determine the characteristics of those most effective, Mannoia and Walkemeyer enlisted a “focus group” (my word) of nine acknowledged, significant ministry leaders across North America and determined from them the characteristics they believed most significant in effective pastors.
These fundamental characteristics are:
Grace and Growth. Possesses a lively experience of God’s grace and growth in his Christian walk.
Love for God. Possesses a deep, personal love for God.
Spiritual Formation. Develops regular habits for spiritual formation (devotions, etc.).
Personal Integrity. Values and consistently manifests personal integrity.
Love for the Church. Demonstrates a love and a zeal for the Church of Jesus Christ through his actions.
Servant Leader. Demonstrates a godly servant attitude in personal and leadership roles.
Model of Holiness. Models and leads the congregation in the pursuit of personal and corporate holiness.
Prayer Life. Models an effective, regular, growing prayer life.
Holy Spirit Empowerment. Believes in the power of the Holy Spirit and expects the Holy Spirit to work in an ongoing way.
Inspired Preaching. Exhibits an ability to preach God’s Word in a fresh, invigorating way.
Sure Calling. Lives and ministers out of a clear sense of calling.
Godly Character. Demonstrates godly character, manifested through the fruit of the Spirit.
Personal Accountability. Invites and embraces personal accountability.
Strong Marriage. Possesses a strong marriage with obvious loving regard for spouse.
Visionary Leadership. Possesses an ability to communicate a vision and motivate others toward it.
It could be argued that the two lists (here and in the last post), as varied as they are from each other, suggests a wildly different kind of leader is necessary for these settings. Perhaps. On closer examination, though, you will note that these particular characteristics are not all the “same kind” of behavioral characteristics as some are “single-behavior specific” (preaching, praying, etc.). In addition, many more here are internally focused on character pursuit and development (holiness. integrity, character, spiritual formation, etc.). Calling is included here, but context and strategy are not.
My belief is that BOTH lists are beneficial. While planters may be more entrepreneurial in calling and nature and pastors may be more, well, pastoral in calling, both sets of lists are instructive and helpful in prayerfully analyzing whether a planter or pastor may be “effective” in their ministry. The differences in leader roles are more likely personality variations than just behavioral characteristics.
What’s most important among the things Ridley and other behavioral psychologists have taught us is to recognize that a person’s past behavior is the best indicator of what his future behavior will be. Their ideas may be good and interesting, but they won’t help us predict their actions in the days ahead. This is huge, since many who select church planters or a new pastor get caught up in the suggestions or thoughts the prospective leader may have, but ignore the telltale signs from his past that imply he’ll act otherwise.
So if either or both lists are found to exist in the candidate, does that insure success? Of course not. This makes John W.’s comment even the more important to note, for he writes:
I think the context and strategy ‘fit’ become more important. The church should already have a mission, vision, history, etc. and it’s almost like the incoming pastor has to match up with that in a sense.
And I’d add to that “the existing church’s tradition, methodology, personality…” Making sure the candidate is the right “match” to the people, place and plan are probably the most important variable, all other things being equal.
