In today’s technologically-advanced, fast-paced and secularised society, there is a challenge for Christian leaders in ministry to stay relevant, yet remain faithful to biblical foundations. We caught up with Kara Martin (Associate Dean – Marketplace Institute, Ridley College) to find out the top four challenges facing Christian leaders today…
What do you think are the biggest challenges for leaders in Christian ministry?
While there are day-to-day challenges that people face in any position of leadership, there are some challenges that I believe are critical for Christian ministry.
1. Being able to maintain personal Christian devotion and high standards of moral behaviour in the face of a challenging environment and the high expectations of congregations/supporters.
2. Adapting to secularisation where ministry moves from the centre, to ministry at the margins. We will need to find new ways of connecting within our communities, and contextualising our message without compromising biblical truth.
3. Linked to the marginal focus is the need to move from an ‘attractional’ model to a ‘missional’ model. It will be harder to draw people in, and more important to focus on empowering our congregations to take the message out. Christian organisations cannot afford to be complacent and expect people to flock to support; we need to win their loyalty, and make them our story-tellers.
4. Managing a changing shape of staff/volunteers. People management skills will become more critical with reducing availability of volunteers, and the tendency towards part-time staff with higher turnover.
How can leaders better prepare to face these challenges?
If you’re a Christian in some leadership capacity (senior pastor, women’s ministry pastor, youth leader in a church; CEO or manager of a charity organisation; or managing a team of missionaries) at some point in time you’ll be faced with one or more of these challenges. However, you can be better positioned to face these challenges with the right preparation.
There are practical steps you can take.
- Develop a solid core of discipline to biblical practices that cultivate wisdom, faith and virtue.
- Invest in personal development with in-depth education that aims to build up biblically-deep and practical skills – rather than just attending the myriad of conferences on offer.
- Build a support network of people with whom you can test ideas, pray with and gain support for courageous activities.
You’ll be teaching the Leadership & Management in Christian Ministry MA intensive in 2016, what can students expect to come away with after completing the unit?
My hope for students is that they will come away with practical skills that will not only benefit them in their roles as leaders but also their organisation/church.
Some of the key aspects I will be encouraging the students to develop and build on include:
- A new vision for their organisation
- A personal plan for deeper spiritual engagement as a leader
- Practical skills in the areas of conflict resolution, personal time management, change management and people management.
If you already have a theological degree and would like to delve deeper and grow your expertise and skills, consider the Master of Arts in Theology or Ministry. It can be completed full or part-time. BST is offering the Leadership & Management in Christian Ministry as part of the MA course. However if you are not yet ready to do the MA but have a keen interest in coming along to lectures, you can audit the unit at a cost of $260.
Kara Martin is the Associate Dean of the Marketplace Institute at Ridley College. Before that she was Senior Policy Advisor with the Council of Private Higher Education and on the Board of the Australian College of Theology. She has more than 25 years of experience in various industries, often in positions of leadership and influence. Kara holds an MA in Christian Studies through Morling College, as well as a Masters of Commerce and BA in Communications. She currently teaches Principles of Leadership & Management at Ridley College, as well as units up to MA level in Marketplace Ministry, and is an MA guest lecturer at BST.
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“Leadership is a relationship — a relationship in which one person seeks to influence the thoughts, behaviours, beliefs, or values of another person.” Walter C Wright
“1 Timothy 3:1 says simply, ‘To aspire to leadership is an honourable ambition.’ It is honourable because it is about the desire to serve others, and to help others and their groups become more than they would otherwise be.” Brian Harris
“The crisis for Australian charities is one of identity. They are in crisis because so many of them do not know who they are and they do not know why they are doing what they are doing.” Stephen Judd and Anne Robinson
“As I read, reflected and taught, I came to the conclusion that a more biblical theme for ministerial evaluation than either success or faithfulness is fruitfulness.” Timothy Keller
