ChuckLawless.com is a blog about Missions, Evangelism and Biblical Church Growth

      My question is a personal one.  I’ve been a pastor for three years, and I’m already getting burned out.  The church I lead runs about 100 in attendance, and they expect me to do just about everything.  I’m tired, my wife is frustrated, and my kids never see me.  I know this blog is more about church issues, but I need some guidance here.

Welcome to the first “Consultant’s Corner” column.  The goal of this column is to provide help for local church pastors and staff, and I need your help.  Feel free to add your input in response to the question posted.  After one week of responses, I’ll add my thoughts as a church consultant.  Thanks for your thoughts!

Okay, so I’m the new pastor of our church. I’ve been here for three months, and I inherited a staff of three: minister of worship, minister of students, and minister of education. I’m also the youngest of the staff. It’s important to me to build a sense of teamwork among our staff. What are some ways to do that? I’m looking for some practical, inexpensive ideas.

George Barna has released “megathemes” of the American religious environment as discovered through his company’s research in 2010 (http://bit.ly/eBKWvG), summarized below in bold print. Any honest church leader in America would not be surprised by Barna’s findings. 

Alongside those themes, I have included some of Michael Green’s conclusions in his classic work, Evangelism in the Early Church.  A comparison of these viewpoints is enlightening. 

1. The Christian church is becoming less theologically literate. Basic Christian truths are increasingly foreign, even to believers.

Green: “Primitive evangelism . . . included able intellectual argument, skillful study of the Scriptures, careful, closely reasoned teaching and patient argument.  It was no doubt because of the careful teaching instruction they were giving that the authorities were worried about this new movement: ‘You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.’”

2. Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented. Believers are increasingly likely to be isolated from non-believers.

Green: “The little man . . . was the primary agent in mission. . . . This must often have been not formal preaching, but the informal chattering to friends and chance acquaintances, in homes and wine shops, on walks, and around market stalls. They went everywhere gossiping the gospel.”

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