Programme is vanguard for growth

Programme is the vanguard for growth

A new mentoring initiative is helping pastors break through barriers to grow their churches. Paul Hallam explains.

“Vanguard means leaders on the front line – the frontline of attack. And that’s where senior pastors are,” says Paul Hallam.

This is why, after nearly four decades in church leadership, Paul has launched a unique coaching and mentoring programme to equip pastors for the challenges their position attracts.

His Vanguard initiative launched in September and is already offering practical support via group and one-to-one sessions to leaders at various stages of ministry.

“I want to coach and mentor pastors who have a strong desire to go beyond their current barriers, difficulties and frustrations and help them tackle areas that are really important to advancement but that you don’t see covered much elsewhere.”

Paul, who leads The Lighthouse in Manchester, says he has seen very little specific support like this geared to senior leaders.

“There seem to be few experienced leaders who are willing to devote time to emerging and senior pastors looking to go deeper in their ministries and to do that in a mentoring and coaching capacity,” he says.

“I pastor many leaders in this country and overseas. It’s been quite a journey, and now it’s time to give something back.”

When Paul launched Vanguard, he was greeted with what he describes as “a cascade of people wanting to be a part of it”.

“That’s because Vanguard isn’t just a lecture-based, theoretical seminar, but a mentoring and coaching relationship that provides information, inspiration and one-to-one follow-up support,” he says.

So, what does this look like in practice? In the September and November sessions, Paul explains, he met with leaders at three different stages of ministry, targeting coaching to each. “There’s a preliminary level for people who are ‘just looking’, which I added because we’ve got a strong young adult group in our church where some are sensing a call to ministry.

“We also have people who feel called to full-time ministry but whose salaries come from secular jobs. Then we also have full-time senior pastors.”

Attendees – 30 in total – have come from Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, Lancashire and Merseyside so far, with groups of around 15 taking part in coaching and Q&A sessions.

The different levels have also combined for meals and further teaching.

Much of the coaching helps pastors break through glass ceilings, Paul explains. “One very practical problem could be that they’ve run out of space. Do you create a new service? Do you move to another building? What sort of building should you look for if you do? Hardly anyone teaches about those things.”

Another critical issue is creating and maintaining unity.

“It’s the forgotten key on the keyring, but if you haven’t got unity, you can forget it. You can’t embrace what God has called you to do without a united leadership team.

“Many people try to press forward without unity, but then several things happen: they meet with disagreement, they end up disillusioned or worse, they burn out or become incredibly frustrated because of lost opportunities.”

Teaching focuses on spiritual issues too.

“I speak about ‘freedom in a frame’, for example, looking at how even Jesus knew what his frame was and didn’t step out of it – ‘I only do the things my father chooses for me to do’.

“We can be supercilious with statements like ‘I can be anything I want to be’ but you can’t. Many things we’re simply not able to do because of limitations like age.

I’m 61, so playing football for my favourite team isn’t going to happen! So I’m trying to get people to understand the lack of credibility in society’s messaging as opposed to the Bible’s.”

Due to the relational nature of the programme, Paul has followed up these sessions with one-to-one meet-ups.

“I’ve met people to discuss ideas the sessions have provoked. I’ve had others emailing to say how challenging, thought-provoking, and practical they’d found them and asking if I’d share more with their leadership.

“I’ve experienced what it’s like to pastor a church through frustrations, barriers, challenges and difficult circumstances, including lack of resources etc, so I’m aware of the things they’re facing.”

Next, Paul is planning to focus on the topical issue of leading churches which are basically hybrid organisations.

“Today, churches are doing all kinds of stuff – food clubs, grocery stores, sports clubs, fitness classes, cafés, coffee bars and more – very few leaders can help you know how to manage that.

“At our church, we’ve got full-time staff, part-time staff and volunteers, but how do you manage conference, nursery and café staff, community hubs, events and revenue projects? It’s incredibly difficult to muddle through alone and get to a place where good systems are working well.

“We had a meeting recently for our café team, and that was an example of how step-by-step you need to layer in certain values and practices – in all honesty, it was harder to chair than a leadership meeting.