Serving as a pastor is an incredible privilege and a sacred responsibility. Whenever a new pastor begins his ministry in a local church, those early days set the tone for everything that follows. That’s why it’s so important to start well.
While many new pastors focus their early days on casting vision, developing strategy, or implementing change, there’s one thing that must come first if you want to start well:
Trust.
Without trust, even the most gifted pastor will struggle to lead effectively. But with it, the door opens for deep relationships, a long and fruitful ministry, and significant kingdom impact in the church and the community.
If you are a pastor beginning your ministry in a new church and you want to start well, you must establish trust before you do anything else.
Some of the previous posts on this site have explained how you can build that trust by loving well, learning well, listening well, and leading well. But in this post, let’s talk about why you need to establish trust before you attempt to cast vision, develop ministry strategies, or implement change.
Here are three reasons why trust is absolutely essential if you are going to start well:
1. Trust Grants Leadership Permission
Leadership expert John C. Maxwell teaches that “Trust is the foundation of leadership.” And he’s exactly right. On day one of your ministry at a new church, you may have the title of “Pastor” and a position of leadership, but your church won’t follow you very far, because there’s no trust yet. They will only follow you as they begin to trust you.
A good illustration of this principle is in John 10:3-5 when Jesus teaches, “The sheep hear (the shepherd’s) voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
So, if you want to lead effectively, you must first build trust with the congregation so they will follow you. If you want them to embrace your vision for the church, they will do so only if they trust you. If you want them to follow your new strategy for a particular ministry, they will be much more likely to do so if they trust you.
Your title will grant you a certain level of authority to lead, but trust will grant you permission to lead. With it, the church is more likely to respond to vision, accept direction, and engage in forward movement together. Without it, the church will be resistant, you will be frustrated, momentum will be stalled, and tensions will be high.
2. Trust Allows You to Make Mistakes
Nobody’s perfect (except for Jesus). Therefore, as a pastor, you will make mistakes. It’s not a question of if, but only of when. Some of your ideas will fail miserably. Some of your plans will have a different outcome than you had hoped or predicted. Sometimes, you will say things that could easily be misinterpreted. Sometimes, you’ll forget about a church member’s early morning surgery.
It’s ok; you’re not perfect! Mistakes happen. If you have established trust with the congregation, they might be disappointed, but they will understand and they will forgive you.
However, if you haven’t earned their trust, that’s a different story. Every little mistake, every slip of the tongue, and every failed idea will be magnified exponentially. Even a simple oversight could be blown out of proportion.
Trust allows you to make mistakes, and that’s good news for imperfect people like us!
3. Trust Minimizes Unnecessary Conflict
In a fallen world, conflict is inevitable. But not all of it is necessary. (Stay tuned in future posts for a discussion of some of the causes of necessary and unnecessary church conflict.) As we’ve already explained, you will be given permission to lead and to make mistakes whenever trust is firmly established. This will inevitably provide an environment where your church members are more likely to overlook an offense and avoid conflict.
However, if you attempt to lead without trust, your church will resist your leadership. If you attempt to introduce significant changes without trust, conflict is all but a certainty.
Mark Hallock explains the common outcome of this scenario in his great book, Leading Church Revitalization. He writes, “It is very common for a new revitalization pastor to come into a declining church with a big, exciting vision, but then move far too quickly in seeking to carry out that vision. As a result, people fail to get on board with the new pastor and what he wants to do. Trust is lost, people are hurt, and momentum is thwarted. All too often, these kinds of rough-shot decisions and actions end up either leading to that pastor’s being fired or serving as the catalyst for a heart-breaking church split.”
While establishing trust does not guarantee the absence of all conflict, it will certainly minimize it. But leading major change without trust is a recipe for disaster.
Trust is Essential for Starting Well
If you’re a new pastor—or preparing to become one, don’t rush to share a lofty vision, develop a detailed ministry strategy, or implement significant changes that may be needed, but are not urgent. All those things are helpful and necessary…in time.
However, if you want to start well, you must take time to establish trust before you begin working on some of those other tasks. Mark Clifton explains how to do so. He often says that pastors need to “preach, pray, love, and stay.” Or, to use the Starting Well priorities, pastors need to live well, love well, learn well, listen well, and lead well if they want to start well.
In pastoral ministry, trust isn’t a bonus; it’s the foundation. And when that foundation is firm, everything else can grow strong.
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk: Pexels
