This is the pastoral posture we are exhorted to in 1 Peter 5:3: “not domineering.” There are lots of ways pastors become domineering over those in their charge, but the first step is usually to remove oneself more and more from them. When the local church body stops being “the flock of God that is among you,” it becomes much easier to treat them as

Will we take risks, spend money, change names, reconstitute, relaunch, help the new church plant down the street, and venture into new mission fields by faith rather than remaining safe and comfortable? Not all of these apply to everyone, of course, but will we take the necessary risks?

would you really be content if we filled up the amphitheater a couple of times a weekend and had ten thousand people at the church? Would you be happy with that at the end of your life? Knowing you, I don’t think you’d be content. Wouldn’t it be better if you could help create a more reproducible model of church that wasn’t so dependent on your