How to make room in your ministry

I received the following comment on my blog the other day:

Would you be willing to give some wisdom to those of us who've begun black reformed churches with the hope of making a more direct impact within the greater black community[?]. For example, though I've been extremely blessed to have gifted, godly and reformed musicians I know that's not always the case for small black reformed churches. Also it seems that almost all of us could use gifted brothers like yourself to help share the load with teaching, preaching and just being an example.

You mentioned that the leadership in black evangelical churches tended to be autocratic and controlling so perhaps you could give some wisdom re: that.

Basically, it's my conviction that black reformed churches will especially need those brothers and sisters who've embraced reformed theology and practice to help us in our press to reform our church and culture. So how can we make room in our ministries for your presence and gifts?

Thanks for your help.

Here is my response:

I found the pastoral leadership in the two Black evangelical churches that my family and I became involved with to be controlling and autocratic. In both cases, the senior pastors were also the founding pastors. Maybe, that was part of the problem. Both pastors were highly protective of their “baby”—i.e., the church they started. The leadership philosophy leaned strongly toward “My way or the highway”. Everything was fine as long as everyone agreed, but if someone happened to disagree or hold a differing opinion (and I’m not talking about central doctrinal issues, I’m just talking about peripheral issues or differing opinions as to methodology), that person was considered not “submissive” to leadership, and viewed as a threat. I feel that made for a very unhealthy church environment—spiritually and emotionally. There were no questions, you just agreed with the pastor. Period. Now, I can understand why founding pastors would feel protective (and shepherds should protect the sheep), but these pastors, I think, took things too far. They came mighty close to crossing the fine line from merely protecting the flock to trying to control people. In my opinion, this kind of aggressive over-protectiveness will drive away those same brothers of whom you speak, who could potentially help share the load these Black pastors bear.

It seems to me that Black pastors (indeed, all pastors, whatever their race or ethnicity) must come to terms with the fact that their church is not their church, it’s Christ’s church, and its success or failure ultimately depends upon God, not them. Also, there needs to be a greater appreciation of the gifts/people that God chooses to give to the local Body; they shouldn’t be viewed by the pastor as potential threats or competition. In other words, Black pastors must deal with their feelings of insecurity. The pastoral leadership at the mostly White church that my family attends doesn’t view me as a threat. I’m free to hold differing opinions from the leadership on issues that are non-essential. They don’t confuse unity with uniformity. Maybe, that’s because our church is non-denominational and our membership consists of people from various church backgrounds—or no church background. I’m not sure. The sad thing is, I’ve never, in my adult life, experienced this kind of emotionally secure leadership in any Black church of which I’ve been a member. My observation has been that many Blacks just don’t trust other Blacks. Maybe this is just a “Black thing”—a hold-over from slavery. I don’t know. Whatever the cause, it’s a tragedy when this kind of distrust prevails in Black churches that are supposed to be evangelical and Bible-believing. This issue, I think, needs to be honestly faced by Black evangelical pastors: Are other Black brothers and sisters allowed to come along side you to help you without you driving them off because you feel threatened by their presence?

The thought occurs to me that we are most prone to try to control others when we forget that God is in control. We can’t fill the role of the Holy Spirit in someone else’s life: The Spirit is Lord (see 2 Corinthians 3:17a). I think when we get this truth into our heads and hearts, then we’ll be ready to make room for the presence and gifts of our brothers and sisters. When we’re truly ready to receive our brothers and sisters, then I think we’ll be able to effectively pray that the Lord would send laborers (see Matthew 9:35-38), trusting Him to send the very people we need to do the work He’s called us to do.

I hope I’ve been of some help. May God bless you as you follow Him.