– Rev. Chris Brady, Capital District Superintendent
“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the gospel will save it.” Mark 8:35
Assessing current reality, Jesus could tell that the cost of following him on the path of discipleship would require his disciples to live in a new reality. It is easy for a church to seek to save its life. Cherished memories of holy moments that should be the foundation for empowering a church’s current and future ministry can quickly become chains that hinder a congregation from living into God’s preferred future. In this post-pandemic season, the church will require leaders that can inspire the congregation to be agile, aware, and willing to take risks that might fail as they walk by faith. It also means that leaders must be adaptive to every present reality of change.
An adaptive leader must garner skills to analyze situations quickly to comprehend events, recognize or cultivate alternatives, and act decisively. What contributes to growth as an adaptive leader: increasing knowledge, re-tooling skills, drawing on the God-given abilities already present, holy motivation, courage to put away fear and ego, and insecurity to learn from others – what I would name as vulnerability.
As we prepare to move into a new appointment season, my daily prayer for myself and the clergy and lay leaders of the Capital District is that we all adopt a posture for adaptive leading. The truth is that every church is a new start church in this season. The Acts church was feeling its way forward, and there were stumbles, but they never lost sight of the fact that they were bound to the Holy Spirit and aligned with God’s mission and Jesus’ vision; as a result, they would not fail as they walked by faith.
As I travel our district following Annual Conference, I will be asking the following questions of Pastors and Senior Lay Leaders that form your church’s leadership team:
- What is the mission of this congregation in its current contextual reality?
- How is the current reality of your context (Neighborhood, community, ministry) helping to shape your mission values? In other words, if you have visitors who never come back, maybe a value you need to reflect on as a community of faith is your hospitality factor.
- Tell me about your identity in your community. What are you known for? How have you corroborated what you perceive as your identity in the community?
- Who are the stakeholders in your community, and do they know you, and do you know them? Pastor, have you had coffee with the neighborhood block captain, community organizer, small business association chair, or rotary club president?