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The Power of Loving Your Church: Leading Through Acceptance and Grace (Pastor's Soul)

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In his book, The Power of Loving Your Church, David Hansen shows his readers Christ's love in action in the church. One story especially touched me. While ministering in Rural Montana, David met a feisty 94-year old blind woman whose fierce independence buffeted his early attempts to minister to her. She chopped her own wood, cooked her own meals and wouldn't accept help from anyone, much less the preacher. She would, however, allow him to drop by to give her the Lord's Supper. For the longest time, he couldn't convince her that people loved her. "Love isn't in the Bible," she said, "The Bible calls it charity, not love." He continued to be faithful to minister to her on her terms. With time, she began to allow the church to bring meals by and even let the Pastor chop some wood for her. Her cold exterior began to thaw. The church started helping her with her bills and assisted her niece in cleaning up around the place. Pastor David began chopping wood for her on a regular basis-it was his way of showing Christ's love for one of His children. Before her hundredth birthday, she went into a local nursing home where she receives the care she needs. Though Pastor David didn't need to chop wood for her anymore, he continued to minister to her. In his book, he describes what happened after stopping by the nursing home to give her communion one day. "Upon rising to leave, I stoop over and give her a hug. She reaches up and returns my embrace." Before leaving, he tells her something powerful "`I have charity for you, Kathryn," And she responds, "Well, that's nice, a person needs a lot of that." (Hansen, 169-170) Christ's love, excuse me, charity can melt the hardest heart and heal the deepest hurts. Kathryn was right, a person needs a lot of it.

I picked up this book on a Saturday night when I had to face the congregation from the pulpit the next morning, and I didn't want to see some of them. I couldn't put it down until I finished it. Hansen's stories, told with humility and light handedness, helped me "get real" about what I expect from the congregation I serve. The church hasn't changed much, but I have. This book helped me see myself differently and helped me get into the pulpit the next morning with charity and hope. Great stories told well - in a style similar to Hansen's earlier THE ART OF PASTORING: MINISTRY WITHOUT ALL THE ANSWERS.

Leadership columnist and respected pastor Dr. David Hansen has written four books, and two books about pastoral ministry. This is his second book. This text begins by laying before the readers a dilema that Pastor Hansen was dealing with in his ministry. Particularly, he was strugging through the struggle of whether to allow teen boys to wear baseball caps in the worship service of the rural church he pastored. In the process of struggling through the "baseball cap crisis" Hansen comes to one very important conclusion. It is more important for a pastor to love his CHURCH that to meet the emotional needs of any particular individual. The rest of the book unpacks what it means not just for a pastor to love particular individuals, but to also love their CHURCH.

Throughout the book you learn about the different words for love in Scripture, and how each of these forms of love impact pastoral ministry. On the way we meet the sometimes ornery and always lovable folks that Hansen ministers with, and we are drawn into Montana ministering with him.

The concept of the book is simple, but really loving your church is hard. Hansen acknowleges this. And then, on a roundabout tour through his ministry, he gives us a few tools to make that a reality.