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Encounter: Journal for Pentecostal Ministry, Summer 2009, Vol. 6 Effectively Inefficient Pentecostal Leadership By Stephanie Nance (M.Div., 2008) Administrative Coordinator for the Network for Women in Ministry This year marks my tenth year in ministry. Over the years, formal education, reading, attending seminars, mentorship, and real life experiences impacted my development as a church leader. I also had the privilege of applying learned leadership techniques with a top quality ministry team. Despite my training and a great support team, however, I constantly struggled to complete my leadership responsibilities efficiently and remain effective in ministry. I could not find a balance between the two. Eventually, I collapsed on the sidelines, discouraged and feeling completely ineffective as a leader. When a professor recently asked me what it means to lead “Pentecostal-ly,” I pondered how efficiency and effectiveness should look for a Pentecostal leader. I concluded that leading “Pentecostal-ly” requires inefficient leading. Sounds strange, but efficiency is not something for which Pentecostal leaders should strive. While this sounds obviously contrary to standard leadership teaching, both Christian and secular, the reality is that Pentecostal leaders are not called to lead in a standard way but by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not appear to be as concerned with efficiency as the Western World is, since He empowers people for effectiveness rather than efficiency. After pondering the difference between efficiency and effectiveness, I determined that efficiency focuses on producing quantity by striving to limit time and energy 1 expenditure; effectiveness, however, focuses on developing quality by requiring an investment of time and energy. My desire to become what I call “effectively inefficient” came about from a random yet God-ordained combination of events that began with a challenge to write my first doctoral level paper on leading “Pentecostally” and culminated with the longest lunch appointment of my life. Lunch with a guy named Chad provided the insights I needed to pull together my wandering thoughts on effectiveness and efficiency. It was six o’clock in the morning when I jumped out of bed ready to take on my efficiently scheduled day that I knew would end with a feeling of accomplishment and balance. What I did not foresee when I left the house that morning was the twist that would take place in this lunch appointment. My perfectly timed and efficient one-hour lunch with Chad turned into a four-hour conversation. The intention of the lunch was to discuss spiritual formation, but things quickly went off course when I asked Chad to share with me his spiritual journey. I assumed Chad would give me a ten-minute version. I did not expect to find myself engrossed in a two-hour story about his twenty-year run from God’s call while making a seven-figure income in the corporate world. His story amazed me, but what grabbed my attention that day were his thoughts on efficiency and effectiveness.
Chad told me of his days as a successful businessman who supervised hundreds of employees. All day he sat in his office where he met with a different employee every twenty minutes. Each would spend two minutes in the waiting area with the secretary, who would purposefully dialogue with the employee about spouse, children, and life. In the meantime, Chad sat in his office and quickly reviewed what he needed for the eighteen-minute meeting. After the two minutes, the employee would be escorted into Chad’s office where he or she had eighteen minutes to discuss the purpose of the meeting. During this time, the secretary would e-mail or text Chad specific information about the employee’s family, suggesting he ask the employee about his or her children or spouse. The employee, not aware of the information exchange, always responded enthusiastically to Chad’s interest in his or her life. As he told me this, Chad laughed with disgust and shook his head at the extreme superficial connection. Chad knew efficiency firsthand. He got work done and reaped the financial benefits of it. When asked how he had adjusted to ministry after years in the corporate world, he stated that the initial transition was not difficult because pastors and churches worry as much about efficiency as the corporate world. One day, however, Chad realized that Jesus could have used a chariot, yet He chose to walk everywhere. He never seemed to be in a hurry. Chad began to wonder why Jesus would not choose to be more efficient with His time. After all, a more efficient Jesus would be more effective, right? The truth is that efficiency does not equal effectiveness. Chad realized that Jesus walked so He would purposefully meet people along the way to whom He could minister. Jesus cared about the people on the journey and not just the people at the 2 destination. By today’s standards, Jesus was not very efficient. He became easily sidetracked with peoples’ problems. He spent time with the outcasts of society instead of time with the people who could help Him get His mission accomplished. And He had a tendency to show up late. Jesus clearly did not lead efficiently. After hearing Chad’s story, I began to think about Jesus and the apostles. I realized that Jesus’ disciples followed their Master’s inefficient leadership style. In Acts 6, the apostles found themselves distracted from the ministry because of the practicalities of operating a food program. Instead of planning their day efficiently and setting a schedule to manage both a food program and evangelistic ministry, they elected deacons to manage the food program. The apostles knew that their purpose was not to be efficient by balancing everything. They were called to be effective in their ministries of preaching, teaching, healing, and deliverance. My friend Joel, who pastors a growing church in New Jersey, exemplifies what it looks like to minister effectively inefficient in his ministry context. Joel spends his days at one of three “office” locations: Panera Bread, Starbucks Coffee, or Dunkin Donuts. Refusing to lock himself away in a church office, Joel finds that making connections and conducting the necessary business of ministry in the marketplace of his town is more effective for his community and church. Obviously, he would be more efficient in the quietness of a church office with fewer interruptions. Joel’s effectiveness on the journey to Sunday has become as important as his effectiveness behind the pulpit. Joel has discovered what it truly means to lead “Pentecostal-ly.”
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2 changed the very fabric o
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people in the world) could
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loans to poor individuals c
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poor, to proclaim release t
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10 pastoral ministry could ad
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Huntington, S. P. The Clash o
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8 “Pentecostalism’s Rise,”
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The Apostolic Mandate 2 Gospel Chu
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Everyone has warned me not to tell
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Apostolic Praxis: Driven by the Win
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ministry, and provide for their own
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a connection to the broader body of
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SOURCES CITED Anderson, Ray S., ed.
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In the years to follow, Alta began
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First and foremost, Washburn was wi
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Historically, Native Americans have
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missionaries from Arizona, Washingt
Page 45 and 46: 35 Having myself served for fourtee
Page 47 and 48: them 8 because women were not educa
Page 49 and 50: correspondence provides noteworthy
Page 51 and 52: methods Christ exemplified remain c
Page 53 and 54: 1 Susan C. Hyatt, In the Spirit We
Page 55 and 56: 40 Ibid. 41 Hyatt, 30. 42 Brown, 15
Page 57 and 58: Encounter: Journal for Pentecostal
Page 59 and 60: motivated to work even more so they
Page 61 and 62: earth, the sea, and all that is in
Page 63 and 64: order to counter the cultural tempt
Page 65 and 66: 2000), 25. 264. 6 Schor, 11. 7 Ibid
Page 67 and 68: God is indeed “already, but not y
Page 69 and 70: necessary, and limited agent to pro
Page 71 and 72: Bibliography Amjad-Ali, Charles W.,
Page 73 and 74: Wolterstorff , Nicholas. “Forewor
Page 75 and 76: 16 Ibid., 238. 17 The task is unden
Page 77 and 78: 39 Ibid., 152. 40 This section admi
Page 79 and 80: Peter Bolt notes the allusion to Ps
Page 81 and 82: ole in the action of bringing all G
Page 83 and 84: 23 Moltmann, The Trinity and the Ki
Page 85 and 86: Prayerful Pilgrims Although convers
Page 89 and 90: The only promise of God not conting
Page 91 and 92: Abraham‟s heart. God had to dethr
Page 95: ecause only with trust in Him can w
Page 101 and 102: 3 Epistles, Paul evidences al
Page 105 and 106: In his article, “Why Has the Chur
Page 107 and 108: segments of the population lived in
Page 109 and 110: lessing in her lowly state (v. 48),
Page 111 and 112: poor results in the eschatological
Page 113 and 114: encouraging the rich to give alms t
Page 115 and 116: the community, “this actually hap
Page 117 and 118: 5. Human rights are the minimum con
Page 119 and 120: challenged with the need to struggl
Page 121 and 122: expression of our love for God is i
Page 123 and 124: Pilgrim, Walter E. Good News to the
Page 125 and 126: 24 C. McCown, “Palestine, Geograp
Page 127 and 128: 73 I. Howard Marshall and David Pet
Page 129 and 130: 122 Pilgrim, 124. 123 Ibid. 122. 12
Page 131 and 132: In his final chapter, Alexander tur
Page 133 and 134: credence to internal evidence. Less
Page 135 and 136: On a practical side, the book inclu
Page 143 and 144: thought. Surely Jesus will physical
Page 145 and 146: promises. I agree with her about an
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The understanding of the cross, the
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