My writing coach, Jill Kelly, sent out this link to a post called “Kurt Vonnegut Explains Drama,” by musician Derek Sivers. He quotes a talk he heard by Kurt Vonnegut some time ago, about contrast we hear between the stories we are told, and the way life really is. Sivers says, “Our lives drifts along with normal things happening. Some ups, some downs, but nothing to go down in history about. Nothing so fantastic or terrible that it’ll be told for a thousand years.” He quotes Vonnegut: “But because we grew up surrounded by big dramatic story arcs in books and movies, we think our lives are supposed to be filled with huge ups and downs! So people pretend there is drama where there is none.”

It’s easy to get bored in life, and in ministry. Much of what we do is routine. Some people respond by sinking into depression, others by creating drama for themselves in their personal life or in the church. I wonder if another approach might be to pay closer attention to ourselves and to others, with genuine interest, to see what new things we might learn even from what we think we know so well.

James Lamkin, pastor of Northside Drive Baptist Church in Atlanta, made many thoughtful comments on yesterday’s teleconference. He said that church leaders need to consider 1) the big picture (the global view), 2) the local – the congregation, and 3) the functioning of the self in the life of the congregation.

He suggested that church finance is one large thread in a covenant community’s tapestry — our communities are held together by other things. Every congregation has its own history of the role finances play. He says he tries to be a student of his own church’s history. In the current economic climate, he has looked back to other challenging times, like the 1970s, and has looked for ways the church has dealt with a recession, and the ways they met the challenge. He has even copied letters that were written by leaders from those times and shared them with current leaders.

In terms of his own functioning, he tries to think through what his role is: “I’m not the chair of finance.” So he tries to stay in his role as pastor, and coach the other leaders to fulfill their roles. He says, “I try to be responsible to them and with them, and not for them.”

The recording of the teleconference is available. E-mail me at Margaret@margaretmarcuson.com, and I’ll send you the link.

Join me this Thursday, January 21, at 9 Pacific/10 Mountain/11 Central/noon Eastern Time for a one hour conference call conversation with Rev. James Lamkin on the topic, “Is Your Church Struggling Financially?”

Rev. James Lamkin is Senior Pastor of Northside Drive Baptist Church in Atlanta (since 1997). James has been active in ecumenical and inter-faith activities throughout his ministry. A long-time student of family systems theory, he teaches in the Leadership in Ministry workshop. E-mail me at Margaret@margaretmarcuson.com with your interest, and I’ll send you call-in information. If you can’t make the call, a recording will be available.

This is the next of a series of conversations with leaders on money and ministry, the topic of my forthcoming book. If you can’t make the call, a recording will be available. There is no charge for the teleconference or the recording.

As I talk to people around the U.S., I hear stories of flat and reduced salaries and staff and program cuts. More than a year of recession and slow recovery has taken its toll. And many churches depend on the generous giving of older members who are gradually dying off, while the generations behind have fewer resources and a different approach to giving. This trend is likely to continue.

What’s a leader to do? For one thing, it’s vital to distinguish the matters we can control and those we can’t. There are wide forces at work in our society that impact all of us: challenging economic times, regional differences (churches in Michigan, for example, face special challenges), the rural/urban divide. These are simply facts.

And yet, each of us does have control over certain matters in our own setting. Even if you can’t conjure money out of the air, you can keep yourself on track with your own ministry, and help others do the same. Leadership does make a difference, even – or perhaps especially – when times are difficult. Here are three items to consider as you lead in this important area of church life:

1. Keep your focus on vision. When money is tight, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. Keep working on your own clarity. Do a little bit of thinking about this every day. Even two minutes, daily, can be enough. Ask yourself, why am I here? What am I called to do? What might we be called to do together? This does not mean ignoring fiscal realities. The question at times may be, given our resources, what might we do? Ministry needs resources, but even unlimited resources are useless without vision.

If you are a staff person or lay leader, focus on doing your job well and thoughtfully leading in your area of responsibility. Get feedback from the leader about what he or she is after. And ask yourself the same questions: why am I here? What am I called to do? What might we be called to do together?

2. Clarify who is responsible for what. Leadership comes with responsibility, and the financial support of the ministry is a big part of this. At the same time, in a church, decision-making needs to be shared appropriately. Don’t carry the group on your back. Insist that the leadership share information with the people as a whole.

If your salary is reduced, as has happened in a number of churches, be sure you reduce your hours. “Easier said than done,” you may say. But when churches make difficult decisions like reducing staff, the effect needs to be borne by the church, not by the staff. Don’t break your back to carry the church. This is classic overfunctioning.

3. Pay attention to your own anxiety. Anxious leaders can’t see options. If you can manage your anxiety, you leave room for creativity (your own and others’) to emerge. Jeffrey Miller, author of The Anxious Organization: Why Smart Companies Do Dumb Things, puts it this way: “If fear is contagious, then so is courage. In an anxious organization, a single individual can have a powerful and wide-ranging effect just by mastering his or her own anxiety” (p. 85).

How do you do that? Focusing on the vision, item #1 above, will help. Maintain your spiritual life. Remember that it is ultimately not all up to you. Finally, keep your sense of humor.

You can’t fix the recession. You probably can’t fix your church’s budget. But you can occupy the position that you hold (top leader, staff, volunteer) with as much hope, honesty and grace as possible. That is enough.

George Barna came out last month with a report looking at the state of mainline Protestant churches.

For church leaders, interesting elements of the report include:
The median age of mainline senior pastors has increased from 48 to 55 in the last decade.
The percentage of mainline senior pastors who are female has risen from 15% to 21% in the last decade.
Compensation levels have risen by 40% in the last decade.
On average, pastors last four years before moving to another congregation, about half the average among non-mainline Protestants.

According to the report summary, Barna identified “the quality of leadership provided, especially regarding vision, creativity, strategic thinking and the courage to take risks — as being the most critical element in determining the future health and growth of mainline congregations.”

Read the full report summary here.

As we all get busy gearing up for the new year, here are some Christmas words that are worth remembering all year long, especially for leaders. They are from a Christmas sermon given in 1904 by Charles Henry Brent at St. Stephen’s Church, Boston:

“The shepherds did not hesitate to leave their sheep. Too exclusive attention to our task keeps God from having a share in it. We need the relief that comes from godly carelessness (emph. mine); or, to put it in less paradoxical language, we are suffering from the strain of constant calculation and anxiety. Those who learn to take rest in God, after a while become able to do their work in God, and spend their odd moments painting pictures of heaven on the walls of their workshop.” (Love Came Down, p. 77.)

My hope for you in 2010 is that you can find some moments of “godly carelessness.”