08 Apr Creating a Healthy Culture and Future Leaders by Michael Graff
The only thing constant in life is change. If you’re not prepared for change, not only can you set yourself back for the next season but you can also squander time. I’ve had many pastors tell me how they thought about doing something but didn’t do it, and years later they looked back and wished they had. This is why I believe it’s critical to prepare now for the future, specifically by creating a church culture that develops future leaders.
Every week we, as pastors, have with the people God has entrusted to us is a blessing. We have been given an opportunity to help build people’s lives and families. We must cherish it but also invest in the future because it matters. This opportunity we have now won’t last forever.
Starting out as ministry staff at 19 years old, I had a lot to learn: to plan, to communicate with clarity, to set others up to succeed, to equip the saints for ministry. I faced a lot of challenges I had to learn to navigate. Some of those challenges arose simply from working with people. It was bound to happen. I’m not a big tennis guy, but I know in tennis you have forced errors and unforced errors. In life and relationships, sometimes we have forced errors. We could have probably done something better. And we also have unforced errors, as in life just happens and we’ve got to figure out how to navigate it. Some of the unforced errors are issues unique to segments of your congregation. The issues you face leading high school groups versus young adults groups are different, and they’re only a couple years apart in age! Issues that arise must be solved together.
As I’ve grown in pastoring, I’ve noticed two main categories of challenges in leading. One is life issues. People need help navigating what life throws at them. They need help learning how to prioritize so that they don’t get overwhelmed. They’re too busy. There’s something they need to learn to manage life. When people feel like we’re in the storm with them, when we’re meeting them where they are, when we care about their lives and who they are as individuals, then we can speak into them and help them mature and navigate the challenges they’re facing. We can help them experience all that God has for them.
The second category is growth. We all have room for growth. We’re all a work in progress. When we’re building teams, people’s immaturities will come out. Sometimes our immaturities will come out! This is where having a solid vision and clarity as a leader is important. Are you raising the kind of people who will grab ahold of your church’s vision? That’s really what culture building is all about. It’s having clear, consistent visionary goals that we’re working toward together. In terms of people, I can’t stress enough how important it is to be present with them and to help them navigate their lives. This is how you prepare future leaders because while you’re helping them grow, you’re also reaffirming your culture and goals and what you stand for in Christ.
Now, something critical that’s lacking in my generation is family and community. Millennials and Gen Z are individualist generations. We’ve experienced more broken homes. We’ve seen more isolation. We’ve been more indoctrinated to “be you,” whoever that is. But we’re now finding out that true identity is in relation to community. So what good is my uniqueness if there’s no one to serve alongside, if there’s nothing to be a part of? I think we’re poised to see a lot of 20s, 30s and even 40-somes looking for healthy communities to belong to in the coming years. That’s where the church comes in!
My hope is that the church develops a reputation for being the model of a healthy community, a healthy family, so that people will fall so in love with the church and find their place in it. Church should be where healthy relationships flourish, where you feel you belong, where you experience the love of a devoted family, and more. The world’s version of family hasn’t work, and people are seeing that. What an opportunity the church has before it to be known as a safe and healthy place! The church is poised, and all we need to do is develop a healthy community, a godly family that we can introduce new people to.
How can we take a big step in this direction? I think the first thing to do is to help our members see the church body as family. Church is not a show; it’s not a job. It’s a place to be loved, to belong, to grow, and to serve. Leading with that perspective from the start is huge, and it meets a critical need in the world right now.
Church is great because unity in Jesus is our bond. We belong simply because we’re a brother or sister in Christ. Where else can you find that? It’s a bond that sticks through the tough times and the times of growth and success. It’s a bond that allows you the space to grow into all God has called you to be. That’s the story of my life. People in my church have stuck with me and poured into me and loved me all through the years. And that’s a big reason I see the church family as crucial in my ability to grow. We get to steward this bond as pastors. We get to stand with our members through their growing seasons, invest in them and give them opportunities to minister, and develop them into future leaders who will take the reins and duplicate our love, God’s love, in others.
Pastor, lead with your future leaders in mind. Cultivate now the kind of community that is healthy because it will attract people, and good things happen in healthy places. Your people will pour into the next generation. They will serve in ministry. They will understand what a healthy family is, what “iron sharpens iron” means. They will know church is about growing together, about everyone stepping into their God-given purposes. It’s not just about attending service or digesting a message. It’s not just about receiving; it’s about being part of the game. When your people see each other as family, they will have each other’s backs, support each other when needed, and inspire each other to go forward in the things of God. It’s going to be beautiful to see what God does in your church as you develop the kind of culture that cultivates future leaders!
You know, as an athlete, I enjoyed practices. I enjoyed film studies. But I enjoyed playing the game most of all. In our churches, we need to communicate clearly that none of us are spectators. God wants each and every one of us to participate! We must be intentional about breaking the mindset that people come to church, get ministered to and leave. We have to model the change by talking about it, presenting opportunities, and encouraging participation. At Faith Family, our core values are that we want to know God, we want to find life, we want to build friendships, and we want to make a difference. If you’re not living out of that last one, if you’re not making a difference, life can be okay, but you’re not going to be fulfilled. It’s like going to practice but never getting to play in the game. When you play in the game, you’re extra hungry to grow in practice, you’re extra excited because you’re not just absorbing information; you’re working towards a purpose. That’s the kind of passion we need burning in our members’ hearts. They need to know what it’s like to be part of advancing the kingdom of God here on earth.
Let’s train our church to be the body of Christ. The result as leaders will be that we get to pastor differently because we’ve done so well at preparing, communicating, and launching future leaders who understand we can’t do it all. We’re supposed to do this together. We’re not supposed to score all the points just because we’re the pastor. It’s a team sport! Having participators and not just spectators revolutionizes the energy and passion within the church. It makes me excited just to think about it! This is how we’ll impact our communities and the world in a powerful way!
Pastor, God is using you to build something really important, really dear to His heart, and that’s a family—a family where people can belong and be loved, where they can be wrong and grow and learn how to make a difference. So let’s embrace the change. Let’s embrace the evolving that comes with creating a healthy church culture. Let’s remember that today won’t last forever and we need to make change a way of life, to be present every day, to invest in people and future projects. I really do believe that as we do, people are going to run to our churches because they’re looking for healthy families and community, and we will get to be that to them.
This blog was created using content from the webinar Preparing for the Future and Preparing Future Leaders.