Before it’s too late: new book by GU alum Joe Culumber helps pastors renew their calling and revive their work
Published: June 09, 2022
The scenario plays out in churches of all sizes—pastors and their people working a problem that begins with the question, “How can we bring others into our church?”
Ideas flow:
- Live bands and state-of-the-art sound systems?
- Padded seats, artful lighting, and creative staging?
- A coffeeshop? A preschool? A gym?
Still, a recent Gallup Poll tells us that church membership continues to decline. Observers call the drop severe, using words like freefall, seismic shift, and churches hemorrhaging attendees.
Longtime pastor and former Greenville University professor Joe Culumber ’67 believes such times call for a changed perspective. In his new book, The Missional Pastor: Leading a Christ-Compelled Movement (Light & Life Publishing, 2021), he urges readers to lift their heads and set their sights beyond church walls. He compels them to look outward to a known God-ordained mission—seeking and saving the lost “by all means.”
Culumber draws from his rich experiences as a pastor, church planter, educator, and mentor to help pastors and their congregations change course to a more productive and satisfying direction. We’re pleased to share his insights.
What compelled you to write this book in the first place?
Several reasons—for one, the thousands of evangelical churches that are stalled or declining today. The decline knows no particular denominational or geographic boundaries. From major urban areas to smaller towns and rural communities, evangelical churches struggle to be healthy and effective. Stagnation is inevitable when the church’s sense of mission has been blurred or lost. Once a church has lost a clear sense of mission, its drift into a fortress mentality and a “circling of the wagons” soon follows. Maintaining the status quo and self-preservation become the church’s priority.
Self-preservation . . . not exactly God’s calling, is it?
No. For the church to recover our God-given calling, we must remember Jesus’ words: “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). In The Missional Pastor I have defined missional in two words: outward bound!
You said “several reasons” compelled you to write this. What’s another?
My own formal biblical and theological training played a part. That training, which began at Greenville University, coupled with over 50 years of ministry in several different capacities has convinced me that the Bible is a missional document . The grand story of the Bible is that God and his people, the church, are on mission to seek and save the lost.
Looking at the Bible through a “missional-lens” has captured the imaginations of others, too, hasn’t it?
A growing body of scholarly work in recent years has focused on mission . Several evangelical theologians have unearthed a goldmine of evidence for reading the Bible missionally. Michael W. Goheen has edited a landmark book, Reading the Bible Missionally (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016), with contributions by several well-known evangelical scholars. Their writings bolster the convictions I’ve drawn from decades of Bible study.
What’s the pastor’s role in all of this?
Pastors play a crucial and pivotal role in God’s mission. While the body of research on mission focuses on the missional church , very little has been written about the missional pastor . It goes without saying that without pastoral leaders who are missional, there will be no missional church. I appeal to pastors to step into their God-ordained role as missional leaders.
I want to instruct and inspire pastors to move in that direction. This means expanding the traditional definition of pastoral identity and broadening the interpretations of pastoral calling that have prevailed since the Reformation. I am concerned that pastors have been lulled into a caretaker and chaplaincy mentality that is lethal to mission. I want to challenge them at any stage in their ministry to affirm and embrace their calling as missional pastors.
And, what of today’s congregations?
I believe hundreds of static congregations are hungry for a missional vision and missional leadership. They sense that the great needs present in our society today mean great opportunities for the church to be the church in a dying world. These congregations have the right to demand that their denominations, colleges, universities, and seminaries send them missional pastoral leaders. While I directed this book toward pastors, it’s not just for pastors.
You say, “The Bible’s clear missional thrust is often hidden in plain sight, and we miss it when we rely too much on our traditional way of reading it.” Share an example of “traditional way” vs. “missional way” of reading the Bible.
The Western mindset reads the Bible from an intensely individualistic and private perspective.
Let us consider a couple of texts about the ministry of a shepherd. We are quite familiar with the personal benefits of a shepherd like Jesus: we listen to his voice. He calls us by name. He leads us and goes ahead of us; we follow him. This shepherd lays down his life for us (John 10:1-16).
The intensely personal nature of the familiar twenty-third Psalm reinforces this understanding of the pastoral gift: I have no wants. He leads me to green pastures and still waters. He restores and guides me; his presence comforts me. He feeds me at his table and anoints me, my cup overflows. His goodness and love follow me and I will live in his house forever.
But let us return to John 10 and verse 16, which we so often gloss over—really the climax to which the entire passage builds: “I have other sheep . . . I must bring them also.” The passage is missional by nature. It points to Jesus’ own mission to the Gentile world. If Jesus truly is the pastoral model, then pastors today must have the same passion for reaching out past those already in the fold (church). Jesus said the true shepherd will leave the ninety-nine in open country to search for the one lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7).
What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
I pray that pastors in static or declining churches who are ready to give up will be inspired to make a radical pivot and truly become missional leaders. The book offers practical ways in which pastors who feel “stuck” can break out into a missional trajectory that will renew their calling and revive the ministries of the churches they serve.
Secondly, I also hope and pray that local churches (i.e., their leaders and boards) will have the vision and courage to discard old wineskins and ineffective structures in favor of bold new ventures. I hope they will join God to “heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3) in ministry to the poor, widows, orphans, homeless, and strangers outside the church walls.
What about up-and-coming clergy, ministry students?
I am greatly encouraged to see numbers of younger men and women preparing for pastoral ministry who have caught the vision for becoming missional pastors. Armed with such a vision, they are already showing the way in new missional ministries and initiatives that meet significant needs in their communities while also renewing the congregations they serve. Pastors like DJ Vincent in Salem, Oregon, a GU graduate with a heart for the homeless, gives hope and assurance that such a vision is catching on and bearing fruit.
Learn more
The Missional Pastor: Leading a Christ-Compelled Movement is available from Light + Life Publishing in both paperback and as an e-book. To learn more about renewing your missional view or joining a mentoring group, contact Joe at joeculumber@gmail.com .
About Joe
Joe Culumber previously directed Greenville University’s leadership and ministry graduate program and served as president of Light & Life Graduate School of Theology in the Philippines. He also has held key leadership positions in the Free Methodist Church-USA, including executive director of its international men’s ministry and vice president of its urban fellowship. He earned a doctor of ministry in church growth from Fuller Theological Seminary, a master of divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary, and a bachelor of arts in philosophy and religion from Greenville University. He and his wife, Caryl, are the recipients of the B.T. Roberts Earnest Christian Award.
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Photo credits:
Top photo by Ben White on Unsplash.
"Street Pastors" by Tim Abbott is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The Missional Pastor book cover - Courtesy of Light & Life Publishing
