In Leviticus 25, Moses receives farming instructions from God:

‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the Lord. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the Lord.”

A few verses later, “Count off seven Sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven Sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property.”

For years 49 and 50, Israelites were not allowed to sow or reap – the land was to lie fallow. The 50^th year was celebratory year: all debts were forgiven, slaves were set free, etc. It was a year to remember and it usually happened once in a person’s life.

What if churches had Sabbath Years and Jubilee Years?

What if every seventh year a church:

• Seriously evaluated every current program and completely overhauled it to set it up for the next six years. A church probably can’t totally stop every program for a year, but they can embark on a year-long study and serious assessment to determine if the program should continue or not.
• Discerned what are the goals for the next six years and created new programs to meet those goals.
• Visited other churches and non-profits to learn from what they are doing successfully and unsuccessfully to see if and how those ideas can be implemented in their own church.
• Determined if its missions activities were successful and if it its missions funds (even the funds given to the denomination) were used for their maximum good.

What if every 25^th year (a half-jubilee) a church:

• Did an analysis of its staffing needs and current staff in order to implement a strategic blueprint to guide the church for the next generation (every 25 years) – that is a “half-jubilee” timeframe

What if every 50^th year a church:

• Studied its current facilities to determine

o   Whether the church needs to be in its current location or move to a new location

o   Whether the church needs to update or even gut and redo the current buildings

o   Whether the church needs to tear down its existing structures and/or build new facilities

This concept means the church intentionally designs and redesigns its resources (programming, staffing, and buildings) to meet the needs of the current and next generation(s). It follows a (biblical) model of intentionally evaluating why it is doing what it is doing and then decide what it needs for the next few years. Instead of just “keeping on keeping on” this makes the church really pray and study about what it wants to do going forward.

As to what date you start with, why not use the church’s year of origin as the basis?

Lead On!

Steve

When a pastor leaves a mid-size or larger church, the pastor vacates three critical roles (and a myriad of smaller ones): the primary preacher, the chief of staff, and the staff person who coordinates the decision-making bodies of the church. Below is a description of the reality and non-traditional solution for churches whose pastors leave.

Reality

• A mid-size to larger church will have 18-24 months without a senior pastor before the next one comes
• The current staff needs to remain focused on their primary areas using their skill sets without the distraction of meetings outside their respective competencies
• The church will experience a vacuum of someone who can coordinate and administer the church governance and personnel due to the absence of a senior pastor

Concept

• The church hires an Executive Administrator (the title is flexible) whose focuses on
  • Working with decision-making teams
    • Church business meetings
    • Coordinating Council
    • Personnel and Finance Teams
    • Pastor Search Team
    • Other teams as necessary
• Communicating, coordinating with, and leading campus staff members
• Assisting, as needed, with Pulpit Supply Committee to find speakers
  • The traditional model is to find someone who will speak every Sunday during the interim
  • Alternative solution – to get speakers for three months at a time. That lets the church see a variety of styles and people. It also prevents the church from “falling in love” with their interim and asking him or her to be the permanent pastor.
  • The role of the Executive Administrator is to help the church resolve any lingering baggage from the previous pastor and help the church leadership set the stage for the next pastor. The goal is to set up the next pastor for success.
  • The church must have a point person who, “in the meantime” can make or at least suggest tough decisions. Otherwise, the current staff will be inundated with requests for which they are unprepared.
  • This person must have experience in working with large churches, multiple decision-making teams/committees, and finance and personnel management. Business experience is valuable but non-profits use the legislative process more than executive directives (source: Jim Collins).
  • This person will not be a Sunday pulpit person since those roles should be filled by interim preachers and existing staff. This person will work with decision-making groups. Together they will keep the church informed regularly and invite church members to provide their input and attend meetings as they wish.

Coordination

• The last verse of Judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
• The church does not need a king, but it does someone to lead the staff and who can work with the church leadership so that the church and staff work together to achieve goals together instead of each person doing what they want to do.
• The departure of a pastor puts the church at its own crossroads – there are multiple paths from which to proceed, even backwards. The church needs someone with knowledge of churches and their inner workings but who can also help the church leadership determine what is needed in their context to help the next pastor and the church grow for the next generation.

Lead On!

Steve