Every church has two kinds of people – there’s other ways to classify people – but this is one that every pastor needs to know. You have the plugged in people and the hanging around people. You know – and it is only the people who are plugged in should get power!
What do I mean? If they don’t do it your way, don’t empower them, pastor! People who are not prepared to do things the way of the local church are passing through. They are goats mainly and will not stay long.
Think about it – you have a conference for leadership training in February (just a random example!) – and someone misses that to go to another leadership conference. That person is not plugged in to your church. They are not in a small group, but they lead their own little get together? Not plugged in.
Now a strange thing about sheep, I am talking about actual sheep here, is that they actually enjoy being sheared. They enjoy getting a severe haircut. I do not enjoy getting my hair cut, so I don’t understand that, but apparently that is the case. The reason being is that they cannot produce new wool until you shear the current wool off. Another thing about sheep is this – sheep are the only creature in the universe that can have baby sheep. A shepherd cannot have baby sheep but sheep can.
Sheep multiply sheep! When you have true sheep in your churches, true plugged in people, then other people will start getting plugged in, and new people will come and get plugged in. But the people who sit at the back on a Sunday morning, never turn up when there is work to be done, and never go to a conference or special meeting – they are not plugged in, they are not sheep. They will often be short lived in your church. I have no doubt they were called to your church, but that independent attitude they have means they will not respond to the call.
A person with a goat, independent attitude, will not normally tell you they are leaving the church – they will just be gone.
When I first started the Tree of Life, every time someone left I felt like the worst pastor in the world, a total failure, it used to hit me very hard. If I was a better pastor, better able to meet their needs they would have stayed, therefore I must be a bad pastor. I had to realize very early on that it was rarely my fault – people just have an attitude. Do you know I bet there are people in your church who are born again, tongue talking, but they have never done anything of worth for the kingdom. They are still loved by God – but they do not produce. When they leave your church, it is like God is cleaning your church up a little bit. It’s generally a good thing. It’s sad, but it opens the door for more fruitfulness.
Not everyone wants to live for God, not everyone wants to bear fruit. We live in a very strange culture where people just want to do what suits them. They have this independent spirit. So shear the lot of them, and the ones that appreciate it are the true sheep. Step on their toes, stand up for the truth, shine for Jesus, let them know you stand for the kingdom, and you need to know that you will stand before God one day and give account of what you have done as a pastor. That is not a light thing.
At the same time, do not get angry with the sheep. Love them, even when you shear them, even when you stand on the truth and stand on the Word, love the people! The goats will leave anyway – they don’t want their hair cut, they don’t want their toes stood on, they just want yet another sermon on how righteous and glorious they are and how God loves them no matter what they do – that’s true, but it’s not the only ingredient of a healthy diet!
Selah.
Inspiring and Challenging Dreamers 