By Lamont H. Fuchs, Ed.D
Scripture References: 1 Timothy 2:3-4, Matthew 28:19, Mark 12:30-31, James 2: 1-9, and John 13:35
I hope to encourage church fellowship to follow God’s commission and commandments to make disciples who love one another.
My young family and I joined a church that created its deaconship by filling it with influential men of the county, rich men, and long-time church owners/operators. These men steered, and the congregation followed, as did the hireling under-shepherd. During a concerted effort to reach out to the surrounding community, the pastor, in a brave moment, assigned pairs of church members to visit local trailer parks and low-income housing areas. I was paired with an influential local school board member. After visiting several people and one single-wide park trailer containing a beautiful young family, my partner decided he had had enough cold calling. He said there was no future in getting these people to join our church. He reasoned that they don’t have any money to give, and most are no-talent losers with needy little kids. He said these words I’ll never forget, “These are not the people we want in our church. They are a drain on us.” I left that church within weeks of that discussion. That church has never grown and suffered pastor after pastor. That church’s members couldn’t understand why they lost so many pastors. They were sure they would increase if they only had a good preacher.
There are a plethora of studies on the improvement of education. For over a hundred years, master thesis studies and doctoral dissertations about school improvement have abounded. Conclusion after conclusion, statistics upon statistics prove the same thing. Many doctoral evaluators or dissertation committees will not allow another study on that topic unless it is unique. The conclusion from nearly every study comes down to one primary driving factor. If you want to improve teaching in the classroom, improve the teachers who do the teaching. More money isn’t the answer, and neither is gee-whiz technology. You don’t need more teacher assistants or better principals, either. Though they might all help, the most significant impact comes from having a better teacher. Studies about years of experience, new teachers versus veterans, expensive school graduates, money increases per child in the classroom, etc., no factor comes close to the conclusion that better teachers improve schools. So, the question is, what makes a good teacher? The common findings are that a good teacher loves to teach and wants to impact their students positively. More importantly, each student feels accepted and encouraged to learn.
You cannot teach how to love students or create that desire for any teacher who doesn’t have it. Individually, teachers who have it can lose it, and others can start without it and gain it over time. Unfortunately, school systems and Boards of Education think that all it takes is to throw more money at the teacher problem if their school needs improvement, but they are reluctant to throw more money at the teacher. Sound familiar? Administrators continually make the mistake of thinking that staff development, the flavor of the month programs, in-classroom techniques, and even better students are the key to school improvement. None of it comes close in comparison to better teachers. Does more money make a better teacher? Not often, but it might.
The parts of this discussion about teachers also translate to preachers and pastors. Take that any way you want to. Teachers don’t like to hear it either.
So, you ask, what makes a good preacher or pastor? Well, you can separate them if you want, but I’ll contend that what makes them both better is the same thing: adding a good infusion of the Spirit of God to the mix. There is no greater love for one another or a congregation than the love infused with God’s Spirit.
Let me start over. People will not care for what you have to say until they know how much you care. The best churches I’ve ever been part of are those where most of the congregation show one another genuine love. That love begins with God and is poured upon the congregation by example. The congregation’s best example of love is Christ. He is the example for the pastor, leaders in their church, and each other. It’s all biblical, and you all know it.
If that kind of love is lacking in your church, revival needs to begin from the pulpit. Sometimes a member or a visiting pastor can bring revival or start an outpouring of the Spirit that brings revival, but it should be in the pastor’s job description, and if it is not, I pray it already dwells in you. Your church can have a good music program, lights, talented musicians and singers, a beautiful building, and if you don’t have love, all you might have is Show-Time on Primetime Sunday morning. God is love, and worshipping and glorifying Him should be Primetime all the time.
