Increasingly, a new form of aid to churches in trouble has appeared—professional church consultations. These are often considered, even by other respected church leaders, as a last resort—sometimes the last ditch effort to turn a church back around, before it’s too late. The primary reason these consultations have come into being is that many congregations get mired in a rut, leading to the inability of current leadership to move the church forward in a positive way.

The usual approach involves a combination of fresh eyes, an evaluation of the inner workings, and an expert plan to address the prevailing ills. But the reality is that, in many cases, such efforts ultimately fail. Even the most experienced outside team may have difficulty resolving the challenges within a particular body of believers.

In light of my own experience and observation, I would argue that one major obstacle to successful church consultations is the absence of personal humility. By this, I do not primarily refer to the consultants but rather to the local pastors, elders, and key members of the church in question. For this reason, in the course of what follows, I will focus principally on these individuals.

What Is Humility?

Humility, in Christian terms, is “an inner attitude of believing the truth about one’s self before God” (Timothy Keller). It’s the opposite of self-exaltation and self-righteousness. A man or woman of humility is the one who recognizes, in the deepest recesses of his soul, how he is deserving of wrath and judgment but receives God’s mercy in Christ, rather than the reward for his own deeds. A humble believer acknowledges the relative insignificance of personal accomplishments and the full dependence on the Lord in all areas of life, not least for their preaching and ministry. As Ephesians 2:8–9 teaches: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

In corporate terms, humility involves the reality that no one person or group has a monopoly on wisdom, insight, or the right solutions to organizational challenges. It is, at heart, the ability to say, “I don’t have all the answers—and I am willing to learn, to change, and to defer to others when prudent.”

Humility in Church Consultations

In the context of church consultations, the willingness to embrace this type of humility is a pivotal prerequisite for a successful intervention. By this, I don’t mean the pastor, elders, or key members will necessarily have the feeling that they have little to contribute. What I do mean is that they have the capacity to demonstrate respect to other opinions and the willingness to amend the status quo to accommodate suggestions that may appear, at first blush, to be uncomfortable or threatening to their preconceived views.

In such a context, a failure to embrace this humility is commonly marked by three intertwined symptoms:

  1. Unwillingness to genuinely hear the message. In such cases, a large segment of the local leadership would be inclined to discredit the consulting team—perhaps even before they arrive—on the grounds that these outsiders lack the real understanding of the congregational context. As such, the church insiders won’t make a genuine attempt to explore the merits of the evaluation that is brought in by the team. They will miss the opportunity to say, “You may have important insights that I’ve missed. Show me what I’m blind to.”
  2. Lack of openness to potential change. All change is difficult for human beings, irrespective of context. But in the case of the church that refuses to be humble, local leadership will not be open to the concrete and practical steps suggested by the outside consultants as necessary for the life of the church to improve. They will ask questions like: “What you say may be true, but do you really appreciate the unique context of our church and community?” This mindset will inherently question any true course correction called for in the process.
  3. Resistance to submitting to collective decisions. Even if some of the local leaders acknowledge their own limitations and those of their previous approaches, they may still resist implementing the agreed plan. It is not a matter of insubordination but is more the inability to relinquish authority. When the ultimate decision making resides with one or a few key individuals, the entire process can bog down due to this mentality.

Thus, I am arguing that one key reason church consultations can fail is the inability of the local leaders to embrace the idea that they themselves don’t have it all figured out. In and of itself, this doesn’t make those leaders bad people or inept shepherds. It simply illustrates an unfortunate reality—that we are all prone to a certain degree of self-infatuation, and the spiritual discipline of selfless humility needs to be practiced daily.

The wise consultant, knowing this tendency, will patiently and lovingly work to bring humble discernment to the process at every step. After all, real change in a church doesn’t take place by manipulating a few numbers on a spreadsheet or redesigning a worship space. It happens only by God’s grace, applied through the willingness of his people to see and embrace the truth about the state of the flock He has given them to lead.

(From Desiring God)

2020-03-14T09:35:51+00:00August 26, 2020

Source: Document - One Key Reason Why Church Consultations Fail - by Tomas Brettelle

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