With so many different judicatory names and structures, for the sake of clarity let’s call these people area leaders and churches congregations.  Here’s common challenges.

·      A challenge for area leaders is to learn how to serve many congregations.   

Many new area leaders have twenty years of serving as a pastor or the leader of an organization.  The move into area ministry is like seeing a city from the top of a mountain rather than street level. Best practices can move us up the learning curve. 

·      A challenge for area leaders is to influence autonomous congregations.   

There is amazing diversity in how authority flows in different tribes between an area leader and the local church.  Recognizing these differences we will interact on three strategic ways we influence congregations.    

The calling of the overseer-pastor

         The conflict with a pastor and the board

         The church member’s responsibilites

·      A challenge for area leaders is to lead diverse congregations. 

The fog can lift as we understand diversity is not just color or nationality; but every kind of diversity in a community that impacts us.  Diversity can be economic, educational, and international. All diversity is a gift from God to manifest his glory and mature us. 

·      A challenge for area leaders is to catalyze congregations to multiply.  

Effective area leaders develop new skills.  Managerial leadership can be needed for our own staff; but serving the congregations takes us into the chemistry of catalytic leadership. Catalysts are in close proximity and create new connections without fusing to that reaction, just as area leaders develop close relationships without becoming part of multiple congregations. 

·      A challenge for leaders is to communicate to and among congregations.  

Emails are the daily diet of area leaders.  Some are simple replies and others can require great discernment.  Here you will find over ten sample emails to emulate and take to a new level with your own touch. 

Communication among churches is an ongoing challenge. For years I received request for information to be communicated to churches and it burdened me.  But then, we developed a regular communication piece that goes to over 3000 people.

The opportunity

I am available to meet on Zoom to cover these five challenges for church area leadership.  The first Zoom call is an hour of sharing our stories and getting to know each other.  Then, before each Zoom you receive a pdf of the next session to read and reflect upon.  We meet for five sessions at your speed for a fee of $500 to be paid after the third session by happy campers! 

One added benefit is that I am available between Zooms for immediate input by appointment.  As I redeploy to coaching, I hope to serve you as we build relationships in the Gospel that glorify our great God.

Superintendents

We explore 5 challenges for moving up the district ministry learning curve from local church to area ministry.

Here are 2 of the 5 challenges.

Learn how to serve many congregations

The move from the local church to area ministry is like seeing a city from the top of a mountain rather than street level. Best practices can move us up this learning curve

Learn how to influence autonomous congregations

There is amazing diversity in the way authority flows in different tribes from an area leader to the local church.  We recognize the nature of this autonomy is as diverse as different restaurants, so it is critical to understand the way authority works in our tribe.

Three critical involvements are strategic ways we can influence autonomous congregations.    

The calling of the pastor

         The conflict of the pastor with the church board

         The church member’s role and responsibility