15 Characteristics of Effective Pastors

W. Mannoia Kevin, Larry Walkemeyer

Description

The church finds itself in a period of great diversification and multiple expressions. In the midst of great change, we have become confused about what really makes for healthy and authentic pastoral leadership. What are the basic and common characteristics necessary for pastors to be effective? How can lay people understand the pastoral call more fully and partner better with pastors for the health of their church? Here Mannoia and Walkemeyer examine the foundations of pastoral effectiveness and bring together nine experienced pastoral leaders to discuss the basic characteristics that exist in effective pastors. Regardless of context or personality, ineffectiveness in pastors and subsequent ill health in churches is often not the result of a lack of calling, but instead is the result of misappropriated efforts to find success. Let's help those who are called to be good stewards of their call. And let's help churches have a chance to be healthy under the leadership of effective pastors!

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 04 septembre 2007
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441224132
• Langue: English

Extrait

P RAISE FOR 15 CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE PASTORS
I wish I had been able to read this book when I began my ministry. It is full of valuable insights to help pastors navigate the perilous waters of leadership in the Church. The panel of experts adds multiplied worth and assurance that these are not just off-the-cuff ideas. This is a must-read for every pastor and lay leader. It gives pastors something to guide them, and Kevin Mannoia's usual creative slant on deep truths helps to put it all within easy reach. The word pictures alone are worth the price of the book. If you thought effectiveness was about a pat formula, you need to soak yourself in the wisdom of this book. You will never think the same about pastoral effectiveness.
Robert H. Schuller
Crystal Cathedral Garden Grove, California
Kevin Mannoia and Larry Walkermeyer have given us a crash course on ministry inside out. They aptly explain how the multi-layered work of pastoring can be, and is, a many-splendored experience when there is an openness to God, an understood calling, a love for people and a commitment to serve. This is a needed guidebook that is well-written and well-timed.
James Earl Massey
Dean Emeritus and Distinguished Professor-at-Large Anderson University School of Theology Anderson, Indiana
15 CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE PASTORS
G RACE AND G ROWTH
L OVE FOR G OD
S PIRITUAL F ORMATION
P ERSONAL I NTEGRITY
L OVE FOR THE C HURCH
S ERVANT L EADER
M ODEL OF H OLINESS
P RAYER L IFE
H OLY S PIRIT E MPOWERMENT
I NSPIRED P REACHING
S URE C ALLING
G ODLY C HARACTER
P ERSONAL A CCOUNTABILITY
S TRONG M ARRIAGE
V ISIONARY L EADERSHIP

© 2007 Kevin W. Mannoia and Larry Walkemeyer
Published by Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakerbooks.com
Baker Books edition published 2014
ISBN 978-1-4412-2413-2
Previously published by Regal Books
Ebook edition originally created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Other versions used are:
AMP—Scripture taken from THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE, Old Testament copyright © 1965, 1987 by the Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified New Testament copyright © 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
CEV—Contemporary English Version. Copyright © American Bible Society, 1995.
KJV—King James Version. Authorized King James Version.
THE MESSAGE— Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson, 1993, 1994, 1995. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
NCV—Scriptures quoted from The Holy Bible, New Century Version, copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing, Nashville, Tennessee. Used by permission.
NLT—Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Dedicated to pastors and pastors to come who pursue effectiveness in their calling to build the Church to the glory of God.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
What Makes an Effective Pastor?
1. Grace and Growth
Possesses a lively experience of God's grace and growth in his or her Christian walk
2. Love for God
Possesses a deep, personal love for God
3. Spiritual Formation
Develops regular habits for spiritual formation (devotions, fasting solitude, and so forth)
4. Personal Integrity
Values and consistently manifests personal integrity
5. Love for the Church
Demonstrates a love and zeal for the Church of Jesus Christ through his or her actions
6. Servant Leader
Demonstrates a godly servant attitude in personal and leadership roles
7. Model of Holiness
Models and leads the congregation in the pursuit of personal and corporate holiness
8. Prayer Life
Models an effective, regular Rowing prayer life
9. Holy Spirit Empowerment
Believes in the power of the Holy Spirit and expects the Holy Spirit to work in an ongoing way
10. Inspired Preaching
Exhibits an ability to preach God's Word in a fresh, invigorating way
11. Sure Calling
Lives and ministers out of a clear sense of calling
12. Godly Character
Demonstrates godly character, manifested through the fruit of the Spirit
13. Personal Accountability
Invites and embraces personal accountability
14. Strong Marriage
Possesses a strong marriage with obvious loving regard for spouse
15. Visionary Leadership
Possesses an ability to communicate a vision and motivate others toward it
Conclusion
A Final Word on Being an Effective Pastor
Appendixes
A. Using 15 Characteristics of Effective Pastors
B. The Delphi Process
C. 64 Synthesized Characteristics
D. 15 Characteristics Summary Descriptions
About the Delphi Panelists
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project has spanned many years. Through the process, many folks have impacted the outcome—to say that we are the only ones to have made this book a reality would be misguided.
As you can imagine, it is very difficult to list everyone who has touched the effort. If it isn't the space that would limit it, it's the memory! You might think that two minds could remember better than one, but the reality is that two authors just increase the number of folks to whom we owe a debt of gratitude.
There are some people, however, that we want to recognize for their involvement. Without them, there would be no book.
First and foremost, we are deeply grateful to each of the nine panelists for their patience and willingness to participate. They engaged in a long process and provided the basis for everything contained in these pages. These are folks who possess deep wisdom, broad experience and wonderful insight, and the characteristics themselves are the result of their gracious participation. You'd go a long way to hear just one of them in a conference, and here you get their collective insight and wisdom! Thank you to each of them.

John Burke
Maxie Dunnam
Jack Hayford
Walter Kaiser
H.B. London
Stephen Macchia
Gordon MacDonald
Jesse Miranda
Brenda Young
Even as we write this list, we are awed at the depth of understanding they represent and grateful for their love for pastors.
In addition, we are deeply grateful to the tremendous people who assisted us in identifying these panelists. They helped to ensure that the pastors who comprised the panel were truly ones to listen to.
Thanks to Michelle Price, who was ever-faithful in following up on the panelists, putting together the mailings and doing the hard office work of the survey logistics.
Chief among those deserving thanks are the members of the Walkemeyer and Mannoia families. For affirmation, support and loving encouragement, thanks to our children—Lindsey Walkemeyer and Kristyn, Christopher and Corey Mannoia—and especially to our wives, Deb and Kathy. We love you.
Regal Books deserves a huge thank-you for seeing the possibilities of this project and taking the risk. We are honored to be part of the Regal family, and we deeply appreciate the faith they have shown in us.
What a blessing to convey to you, the reader, our thanks for venturing into this book with faith that God will give you fresh insight for effectiveness in ministry.
And we humbly thank our God for the grace and confidence to allow these thoughts to flow.
All we are, we owe to You, Lord, and all we have, we surrender to You. For Your glory and for Your Church, we give ourselves afresh. Thank You.
Kevin W. Mannoia Larry Walkemeyer
I NTRODUCTION
WHAT MAKES AN EFFECTIVE PASTOR?
Have you ever wondered how often you're the topic of conversation in the parking lot? How good a job you're doing? How effective you are? It may make you shudder to think that people chat about you behind your back, but at least you and your church are important enough to bother talking about! Folks are interested in the Church and in effective leadership to further its mission.
Effective pastoral ministry flows from a complex integration of calling, character and competence, contextualized for Kingdom growth in the local community. Our greatest dream is for every pastor to pursue God with surrender and vulnerability to the Spirit's shaping so that his or her effectiveness will grow. Pastoral effectiveness translates into healthy, growing churches. To help pastors in the pursuit of effectiveness, we decided to find out what effectiveness looks like. We hoped that in providing some handholds, the climb to greater effectiveness might not be so daunting.
As we planned to address the question, we knew that adding our voices to the already myriad opinions on the subject might only confuse matters, so we set out to gain a consensus among a group of recognized pastoral experts. That way, we could craft a picture of pastoral effectiveness in concert with a qualified panel by drawing on their collective wisdom.
As times change, so the Church must change. For that to happen, leaders—specifically pastors—must grow, learn, develop and stretch to greater effectiveness. However, the mixed results of health and growth among local churches are indicators that this is not occurring.
A few years ago, the Association of Theological Schools began a project to study how to strengthen the connection between seminary education and the needs of churches. At the root of the project is a belief that a chasm is developing between our a