Church leaders must face change with proper perspective

LUBBOCK—Church leaders need to take spiritual inventory of both their lives and leadership styles in order to grow and be most effective, speakers emphasized during plenary sessions of African-American Fellowship annual meeting in Lubbock.

Michael Evans, who was elected president of the fellowship and serves as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield, led a workshop examining church leadership against a backdrop of changing times and cultural transition.

“There’s a challenge to traditional leadership models,” Evans noted. “The question becomes: ‘Can you do it like you used to? Or can you do it like your father did?”

Statistics show marked changes and great diversity in the socio-economic and demographic composition of the African-American population, he pointed out. These factors contribute to unexplored church and community needs, which in turn affect—and demand—greater leadership responsibilities.

“What are the needs where you are? They will be different,” he said.

Evans encouraged ministers to engage the culture and close generational gaps. For example, some may use social media or sponsor a neighborhood block party to draw members of the younger generation into the church. Others may discover a need to sponsor foreign language classes to reach an ethnically diverse neighborhood.

The most important thing is to be obedient to whatever vision God bequeaths, even if it means having to “re-tradition tradition,” Evans said.

He offered the example of a fellow minister who started preaching on a secular hip-hop radio station.

“Where do you go when you’re fishing?” he asked. “You go where the fish are.”

But churches should first determine a set of biblically based “non-negotiables” before embarking on a new mission or ministry, he added.

“Make clear your mission, vision and values,” he said.

Evans also noted a sizeable benefit that comes from partnering with other churches. Increased exposure leads to greater support and collaboration—and a greater impact as the body of Christ. The goal, he emphasized, is to bring the most people into the kingdom of God as possible.