Should Pastors be Strategic?
At the end of his letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul issues this command, “Be steadfast, immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Cor 15:58). We are saved by grace, but we do have work to do. We are laboring to build God’s church throughout the world, but how are we to abound in this work? There certainly is a simplicity to it. We obey. We preach. We pray. We gather for worship and the sacraments. We evangelize. We disciple. But, do we strategize? Are we meant to use our mental faculties and strategic thinking to set out on kingdom expanding initiatives? Are we meant to dream big dreams, steward resources, and coordinate collaborative missionary work? I am no pragmatist. I will never intentionally avoid or contradict Scripture for a ministry practice that “works.” But strategic ambition that is God-honoring and pragmatism are not the same thing. Let’s consider Paul’s example.
STRATEGIC AMBITION
Something happened in the church at Jerusalem. They were in need. We are not sure whether it was famine, general poverty, or persecution. What we do know is they needed help. In response, Paul launched a collaborative ministry project to get funds from Gentile churches in Galatia and Corinth to the struggling saints in Jerusalem. This would not only strengthen the Jerusalem church, but it would also strengthen gospel witness and missional partnership between Jews and Gentiles. In 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, Paul invites the Corinthian church to contribute to and participate in this greater work of getting funds to Jerusalem. He charges them to put a little aside each week. He calls them to come to a consensus on who would be trustworthy to make the 1,200-mile journey. Additionally, he wants them to collaborate as to whether it would be advisable for Paul to accompany them.
Paul was strategic. He saw opportunities and he strategized to capitalize. We see the workings of his strategic brain especially when he outlines his travel plans. Consider his plans in 1 Corinthians 16:5-8:
5 I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, 6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
Paul was not only strategic, but he was also ambitious. He intended to pass through Macedonia on his way to collect the gift for Jerusalem from Corinth. By passing through Macedonia he could check in on both the churches at Philippi and Thessalonica. He hoped to stay with the Corinthians through the winter.
If you're familiar with 1 Corinthians, you know there was discipleship still to be done. Even so, Paul planned to stay in Ephesus a little longer because there was effective work taking place there. Paul’s decision to stay in Ephesus until Pentecost was to some degree a pragmatic one—in an appropriate way. He was choosing to stay in one place for a time because it was proving effective. It was strategic. In fact, each of these locations were particularly strategic in the Roman Empire for spreading the gospel far and wide.
HUMBLE SUBMISSION
Paul modeled for us a kind of strategic ambition that I think each of us would do well to embrace as God’s people, and especially as pastors. But this is not a man-centered pragmatism that trusts human wisdom more than God’s. Strategic ambition is Christ-honoring so long as it first and foremost humble, and continuously submits to the will of the Lord. We are ambitious to accomplish the great commission only in our obedience to God’s Word and in submission to God’s sovereignty.
If you only see Paul’s strategy in this text, you miss the tension of Christian life and ministry. Notice the way Paul plans, while at the same time he submits under the Lord’s sovereign authority. He intends to pass through Macedonia. Perhaps he will stay with the Corinthians. He hopes to spend time with them if the Lord permits. Furthermore, it is the Lord who opens the wide door for effective work in Ephesus. Paul labors. He takes risks. He dreams big AND he trusts the King over the whole operation. He plants and waters, but he knows God gives growth (1 Cor 3:7).
We pastors need to live in this tension. We need to make plans but hold them loosely. We need to be proactive, but submissive. If our plans and ambitions are for the glory of Christ, it should be no discouragement to us if Christ himself closes the door on those plans. Paul seems totally comfortable with being redirected, detoured, or detained. When he was imprisoned, the plans changed, but the priorities didn’t. When given imprisonment, Paul discipled prisoners. The place of humble submission is a happy place. It's a place where our plans and our ambitions do not define us, nor do they identify us. They are simply our feeble and finite attempt to glorify a sovereign God who alone receives the glory through both our successes and failures. He gets the glory; we get the grace. It’s humbling and motivating. Thus, the tension—pastoral ministry should be an ongoing strategic ambition in the ever present context of humble submission.
THREE STRATEGIES FOR BEING STRATEGIC:
Plan to Plan
We can find ourselves in pastoral ministry always in bondage to the immediate—what some have called, “the tyranny of the urgent.” We always have next Sunday’s sermon to prepare. We always have more pastoral situations than we can address. If we are ever to think strategically, plan for the future, and pray for the guidance of the Spirit, we will have to plan for it. Seasons of fasting and prayer don’t happen accidentally. They are scheduled. Likewise, planning doesn’t happen accidentally in our fast paced and distracted world. What would it look like for you to schedule an annual prayer and planning retreat? Or perhaps you could protect at least one morning each week for the purpose of concentrated prayer and strategizing for the future.
Plan to Fail
Leadership is hard. To lead is to be vulnerable to critique, attack, and opposition. This never changes. But it’s especially true when the plan fails. Fear of failure is crippling. Paul’s plans were often redirected. Pray for an identity so tightly bound with Christ that your failed endeavors don’t define you. Own your mistakes and your failures. The gospel frees you to do that because the gospel describes you as a wretched sinner in need of a Lord and Savior. Your failures remind you and everyone else that you are not the savior, but that there is one worthy of all our trust and devotion.
Plan with Friends
Strategy, intentionality, and planning in ministry is best done in community. Planning with co-laborers is special. It helps you see your blind spots. It opens new possibilities you never would have considered, and it helps protect you from insular self-serving thinking. Strategy for kingdom expansion should always be peer reviewed. That happens within elder plurality, pastor fellowships and networks, as well as within the congregation at large. The elders can think that an idea will usher in the next great awakening, but if the congregation shuts it down, then the elders need to go back to the drawing board. Plan and pray and, if the Lord permits it, a wide door for effective ministry will be opened.
Should pastors be strategic? We have a good example in the Apostle Paul, whose strategic life for the glory of God, submission to God’s providence, and furtherance of the gospel, helps us to see where planning and strategizing can strengthen ministry effectiveness.