O — Outline a clear direction . Bless the past , as well as the future , by reminding people how God worked in your church in earlier years and how God is going to work in the future . Establish a vision for the future and begin aligning your talk , work , and ministry around that vision . A clear vision of the future is the best way to be rid of nostalgia for the past . Celebrate the positives in your church as you begin moving toward that new vision . Call attention to anything and everything positive that happens in the church . Regularly thank workers and leaders for the jobs they do . Highlight victories , no matter how small .
P — Pastoral leadership that inspires . Be positive . People watch everything a pastor does and says . The way you speak , preach , and teach sends clues about your own morale and hope for the future . Set a hopeful example in your language and tone of voice . Stop talking about problems and recast them as opportunities . Don ’ t talk about past failures ; begin focusing on what you have learned . Ask your leaders to try five new things this year . Tell them you expect some of the efforts to fail , but that failure is better than inactivity .
Ignore the failures and praise the successes .
E — Evangelistic outreach that is effective . Turn the focus of your congregation away from themselves and to those outside your church who have clear needs . Consider replacing one worship service each month with a planned gathering to go into the community as God ’ s helping hands to people in need . Ask members to call the church office throughout the month with anyone they know who would benefit from your church ’ s “ Good Samaritan Sunday .” Develop an ongoing list of people who have needs and appoint a task force to coordinate the process of meeting those needs in Jesus ’ s name .
Excerpted from What Every Pastor Should Know by Gary McIntosh and Charles Arn . Used by permission of Baker Books , a division of Baker Publishing Group ( http :// www . bakerpublishinggroup . com ). Copyright 2020 .
Gary L . McIntosh is professor of Christian Ministry and Leadership at Talbot School of Theology , Biola University . Dr . McIntosh has thirty-seven years of experience consulting non-profit organizations , coaching of leaders , and seminar presentations . He has analyzed over 1,200 churches representing some 90 + denominations throughout the United States , Canada , and Southeast Asia . His articles have appeared in numerous publications . He is editor of the Growth Points Leadership Letter , and has written or co-authored twenty-six books .
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