Dr. Matt Sanders, Executive Pastor of Beth-El Fellowship, has submitted another article for ChurchJobs.net’s employment article database. Dr. Sanders’ latest is entitled, “Looking for a captain when you need a doctor? The importance of leadership style.” Here is an excert:
A live grenade lobbed into a crowd and a time bomb discovered with an hour yet to tick down call for different responses. One needs an immediate problem eliminator, the other a careful problem solver. The cruise ship crossing calm seas on a sunny day requires a different captain from what the warship heading into battle needs. The child with a tummy ache needs a different doctor from the child whose appendix could burst at any moment.
Different situations call for different leadership styles. The same is true for the church. The great pastor of the past, if he was truly great, likely succeeded for one of two reasons: (1) he excelled in multiple leadership styles and changed them to meet the dynamics of the church or (2) the one leadership style that he had fit the church’s situation for that time. The first is rare and any church that has one of those pastors in its history should count itself as blessed. The second is more common. Neither is that helpful when searching for a new pastor, because the church of today is not the church of yesterday nor the church that it will become.