This is the second of five blog posts on Francis Asbury as a model for second pastors inspired by John Wigger’s biography, “American Saint: Francis Asbury and the Methodists.” Please also see the first, third, fourth, and fifth.
As I read Wigger’s biography, “American Saint,” I found that Asbury had two leadership rules that seem to have provided direction for all the rest of his decisions. In a letter to Thomas Morrell he writes, “I have one rule, not to do great things in haste; another, not to act at a distance, when I can come near.” These two rules led to the American Methodists giving to Asbury an unusual amount of authority for leadership.
I have tried to live out these two rules in my first year and a half as a second pastor in several different ways. First, my goal has been to understand the culture of the church in which I serve. I want to be able to articulate both its guiding vision and brief history as well as the charter members. I have had no ambition in the first year or so of hastily making any great changes in culture or direction of the church. I have first attempted to be a student of the context. This is not to say that I have not voiced disagreement with past direction and vision or current culture or made no changes at all. But in the short run I have chosen to not make great changes in haste while I continue to build trust. I have found that taking this approach has allowed me to make some great changes, but only after patiently building the trust of the people.
Second, I have attempted to build trust by being as near as possible to the people of the church’s present and its past. Asbury gives us a very helpful rule in the age of the electronic communication. While phones, email, texting, blogging, tweeting and the like give us a sense of nearness, they are no substitute for a leader getting face to face with the people. This is what has helped me to be able to understand and articulate the past vision of the church.
Getting near took place in several ways. First, I hosted deserts every Sunday night at the parsonage for the first six months. I asked two questions: what brought you to our church and what is your favorite part about the church right now. This allowed me to hear a diverse set of voices of over 150 people tell and retell the story of the church.
Second, I hosted a 40 days of prayer with the pastor. I’m thankful to Prince Raney Rivers for this idea. In these times of discussion and prayer, I had the opportunity to hear from many who are on the “edges” or “fringe” of the church.
Third, I had countless lunch, breakfasts, and coffees with all kinds of people in the church and even in the broader community.
Fourth, we hired John Savage—a church consultant, retired pastor, spiritual director, psychotherapist, and musician—to lead a congregation-wide consultation day exploring the concerns of the church. This brought about a growing consensus about what the issues were that were before the church.
Lastly, while the founding pastor does not currently attend our church, I cultivated friendship with her and the past leadership of the church. I think that many second pastors might be threatened by staying near to the founding pastor and past staff. I saw these relationships as essential to understanding the past and preparing for the future. I also felt it would be unwise to neglect the great wisdom inherent in the founding pastor of a successful church plant. Staying near to all these people has helped me immensely gain both perspective and insight into the vast set of circumstances in both the mountains and the valleys of this church’s short history.
In these ways, I have attempted to follow Asbury’s lead by not doing great things in haste and staying near to the congregation rather than acting from a distance, whether that be the distance of the pulpit or the distance of electronic communication. Following these two rules has led me to be able to make “great” changes over time, but only without haste.
Tom Arthur is pastor of Sycamore Creek United Methodist Church in Lansing, Michigan.
