5 Warning Signs of a Personality-Driven Church
The current issue of Outreach Magazine includes an interview with Brad Abare and Phil Cooke about personality-driven churches. Here’s a paraphrase of the list of warning signs that Brad and Phil identified in the interview:
- The pastor doesn’t go on a vacation for any significant length of time. And, when he does, it isn’t announced.
- When the pastor doesn’t preach, the attendance drops.
- Unspoken fear that if something happened to the pastor, the church would be in trouble.
- The pastor is unwilling to listen to and consult other team members. The staff and volunteers are there to carry out the directions of the pastor.
- There’s no succession plan in place; therefore, leadership development isn’t happening.
Do you agree with Brad and Phil’s analysis? What would you add or subtract from the list?
I agree. This certainly isn’t a healthy thing to have in any church. When we are leaning on the pastor more than the bible or on Jesus himself it leads to unhealthy attachment.
I was thinking about one church as I was reading the list, but they don’t fit the description. Thankfully! Their volunteers have a voice and so does their congregation.
WOw, I realize that is my church, I need be somewhere I can grow.
More warning signs.
6) Your pastor preaches in 2D by way of video projector from another location.
7) Your pastor’s name is as prominent on the signs and church bulletins as the name of the church.
8) Your music minister’s CDs are available for purchase in the lobby.
9) Your pastor’s DVDs and books are available for purchase and advertised in the bulletin.
10) Your church is “growing” by letter and statement, but not so much by baptism.
Much to think about here…but am a little bothered by the fact that neither guy actually works for a church. Kind of feels like taking shots from the outside.
So true. One I would add is the pastor’s face is plastered all over the website, bulletin, marketing materials, etc.
we just need to be careful… there is a fine line here because the personality of the pastor can’t be completely taken out of the equation.
I guess as a PK for 21 years and a faithful church volunteer since then, #1-3 don’t really bother me.
For a smaller church, if the pastor isn’t there, it is a big deal. The pastor is the visible leader of the church, pointing to Christ. If he/she is not there, there is a bit of anxiety for some people. Who’s the guest speaker? Will they be weird? What if I bring my unchurched friend that weekend and the guest speaker decides to go on a rant? (true story)
Obviously it’s different if you have several pastors on staff, but the first part of the list feels a bit petty in tone. Maybe I’m just reading it wrong…
I work for a church that used to have a senior pastor who fit this profile. We’ve turned a corner and after 18 months with a new senior pastor, we are working on getting healthy now. I wouldn’t use baptisms as the measure either, though. You need to be transforming people after baptism too. That way you’re building real disciples!
For those of us who say, “Wow – that sounds a lot like out church.” – what do you suggest we do? Especially if we support the pastor? And if while we fit the criteria, we see that God is clearly moving and doing amazing things through the church and pastor? Thanks!
OK, as a senior pastor, I confess I don’t have the kind of charismatic personality to lead a “personality-driven” church. But I have nothing against the guys who are able to leverage their personalities to reach more people for Christ. Are some of the comments just jealousy?
eddiecberry says: “we just need to be careful… there is a fine line here because the personality of the pastor can’t be completely taken out of the equation.”
Funny, I thought the Holy Spirit was the only thing you can’t really take out of the equation… The Pastor canNOT become more important than the Message or the One about whom the Message is…
@Paul Rose Jr
I think you missed the point of the comment. God elevates people into leadership for a reason and a part of that is their personality.
Every time Moses was separated from the people of Israel there was a problem. Was his ministry personality driven? Or was it that his personality helped point people to God?
I also think what @Rachel has to say makes a lot of sense. In a smaller church all of the congregants know the pastor personally. This means the attachment to the man will be stronger than in a larger church that has multiple people speaking on a regular basis. Once again this is not necessarily wrong but can be unhealthy if not properly addressed.
I don’t know what I would add or subtract from this list, but I do think that probably all churches are personality driven to an extent. Some not necessarily because of the pastor but more because we as sinful humanity have a tendency (and a need?) to lift up our leaders and glorify them. Some of that is well-intentioned, I’m sure, but it can get seriously out of whack. It also may be attributed to our looking to leaders to lead which translates into, “then all I have to do is follow” vs. all of us leading together.
I’m the successor to a founding pastor in a scenario similar enough to the 5 warning signs. I’m proof of a succession plan, but I came from outside the system after over a year-long search. There was no internal succession plan, therefore no leadership development. As the “new guy” (I’ve been here for 2 years), I observe the corollaries/consequences to the 5 warning signs:
1. I’ll be the “new guy” for a long time.
2. It causes high anxiety in the system when I take vacation.
3. Ongoing anxiety because something did happen to the pastor – he retired. And ambivalence about the new pastor.
4. An expectation that I will have the answer and “be” the answer to every question, challenge, opportunity and task.
5. No real leadership pipeline beyond a relatively small handful.
It’s a journey of a lifetime to work through these things and help us better reach our full redemptive potential as a church. By the time God calls me to Macedonia, or home, or wherever, I intend that we’ll be way beyond these 5 “signs.”
I agree with the assessment having been at a church that meets the criteria they referenced. Here are some other signs that I’d like to add to the list:
The church becomes the platform for his other ministry organization / speaking ministry.
The small group attendance is far less than worship attendance because people are driving considerable distance just to listen to the preacher without a real desire to connect with others.
I wonder if we would come to the same conclusions if we looked at the disciples of the first church after the resurrection. Peter certainly hogged the mic. Paul dominated the script. And I can hardly think of a message about love and action without thinking about James. These guys personalities came through in their preaching, teaching, writing, etc. Remember, Paul even went so far as to say, “Follow ME as I follow Christ.”
Hmm, why didn’t he just say follow Christ?
Probably because God works through men and women in the unique way that he’s shaped them. I don’t think of churches that have a gifted speaker in the pulpit 80% of the time or more as personality-driven…anymore than I think of churches that are heavy on biblical literacy as bible-driven. Both are leveraging their gifts for the kingdom. Neither are as healthy as they could be by constantly leading with one strong foot…to the neglect of the rest of the body.
So, I think it’s better to discuss the components of a healthy church. What else is the body (of the local church) doing in the community, state, nation and world.
I just left a church for this reason. Everything was based on the senior. He preached every week and if (big if) he was on vaction and he let somebody else on staff speak it was def going to be a low attended Sunday. The church took out an insurance policy out just in case something happened to the pastor. There were 3 other pastors on staff and nobody had a voice. Everything revoloved around the lead and not Christ. I do believe that the pastor needs personality which people connect to, but when that personality eclipses the Gospel there is a huge problem.
Just wondering when Christ and Paul took those unannouced vactions? When Christ tried to slip away they followed him…so is it wrong to have a great personality people want to learn from???
Double wow…my church too.
Establishing priorities as an individual will allows you to give attention to those things that are most important. I as a pastor’s kids (PK) I have to establish my personal priorities and by so doing i will be able to give time and attention to matters that will have the most significant long term impart on my life and also the lives of other pastor’s children in the society
Hey parents who are Pastors I wish to tell you that You should allow your children on the hands of the society to be giving all kinds of abuses. your ministry should start from the house before it goes out side. if you don’t do that, then you are giving the devil a chance to destroy your home.