Palmer On Mission: Renewing Leadership in a Changing Church

On the morning of October 8th, 66 pastors from the Philadelphia area gathered at Palmer’s City Line location for one reason: to be celebrated, recognized, and encouraged. For three years, Palmer Theological Seminary has hosted the Clergy Appreciation Breakfast. Pastors and church leaders from throughout the area are cordially invited to come and be fed physically and spiritually. 

Our guest speaker this year was Dr. Sheldon Nix, an author, speaker, professor, and coach. Dr. Nix spoke about how pastors and leaders should preach and teach amid the decline in many churches, a decline that was exacerbated by the pandemic. His message was summed up like this: “Stop trying to pastor the church you lost. Start leading the church you have.” 

Moses was Dr. Nix’s key illustration of a leader who had to shift mindsets. Moses, he said, needed to shift from leading as a royal in Pharaoh's kingdom to one who focused on God’s purpose. And God’s purpose was hearing the suffering of God’s people and responding with deliverance. He encouraged us to speak to the felt needs of the churched and unchurched, and to preach in ways that meet them.

Dr. Nix, who also teaches in Eastern’s doctoral program in Marriage and Family Therapy, compared the reactions pastors and leaders have had to the decline in church attendance to three common reactions spouses have to an affair. Some sit in bitterness and distance, but insist on staying together; others want to “forgive” and just go back to the way things were. Still others choose to learn from it and build a new marriage. Referring to the last reaction, Dr. Nix said to us “I want that to be you. That is the category that leads us into the future.”

"God has a place for you to exercise your purpose. But it’s not the place you occupied before. It’s a new place, because it’s a new world, for as you know, 'I am the God making all things new.'”

Amen.