I cannot count the number of times that a church search committee has focused more on my years of service at a particular church than what I did or did not do in serving that church. It is as if time is more important than effectiveness.
The idolatry of longevity has blocked new people from becoming a part of the church, forcing them to either sit on the sidelines or move on to a new church. The idolatry of longevity is slowly killing churches because they fail to recognize the importance of ability and time in the role, not just time alone.
Time Does Not Equal Effectiveness.
For far too long, the church has held up years of service as a marker of a successful pastor instead of the overall effectiveness of servant leadership. Pastors and lay leaders must demand more from each other than the time of service, and acknowledge that God wants to do more with their leadership than pass the time together. Transformation does not come by having a pastoral leader stay in a pulpit season after season, but when the leader supports the local church moving forward into the community to live out its mission to make Christlike disciples.
One way to measure church health is how many people have given their hearts to God or have been baptized in the past year or under the current pastoral tenure.
Time Does Not Equal Having a Central Role.
Members who have attended a local church for any length of time begin to see the church no longer through the eyes of Christ but through their own eyes. They may speak of wanting change, but when change comes to their department, program or seat, there is pushback. I was recently reminded by a member that they had been a part of the church from before I was even born and thus should show more respect to them because of their longevity. The issue is not longevity but effectiveness.
If a person is no longer effective in their role and is unwilling to support the new season the church is in, they cannot stay in the central role they have carved out for themselves. Many churches have gatekeepers who keep new ideas, new people and new passions out of the church under the guise they must have a central role due to their time put into the local church over the years. While I value their service, I cannot respect their blocking those who want to serve today under the guise they have always done it this way.
Nowhere in the Bible does God count time as effectiveness, but time and time again, the reader can see that God demands from his follower’s effectiveness and obedience.
Time Does Not Equal Having Control.
In speaking with church pastors across all denominational lines, the same thing rings true: The smaller the church, the more control members have in holding on to the vestiture of power. Those who hold tightly to control see their time serving the local church as a right instead of an opportunity to follow God’s will. I have met good, godly men and women who have adapted with time and mentored teams of leaders, but for many churches, the opposite has happened. A member or even the pastor does not own the local church; it is God’s church.
What would happen if people came to serve instead of to hold on and control? Community transformation would take place inside and outside the local church. God wants his church to surrender fully to his will and design. But that takes releasing control of self for Christ so that the church can do its best now and into the future.
When I think about the local church’s health, steadfastness in serving with a servant’s heart should be a desire for those who serve. God is calling his church to obey him, to focus on the future rather than the past, and to have the desire to seek the lost instead of consistently finding the found. If longevity comes with fully surrendering, mentoring others, relinquishing roles, and obeying God, then longevity should count.