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THE CANARIES IN THE CHURCH MINE

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The idiom “canary in a coal mine” refers to something Being an early warning sign of danger.

In the late 1800s, coal miners began taking canaries in cages into the mines. Canaries are more sensitive to dangerous levels of carbon dioxide than humans. If the canary in the cage died, the miners knew they needed to flee for the fresh-air safety of the surface.

Wouldn’t it be great if pastors had a similar early-warning system for when a church has drifted from her Great Commission-Calling?

I may have discovered one...

(Sure, it’s not foolproof, but it sure seems true more often than not.)

The Lord has allowed me to serve Him in local church ministry for over twenty years.

In every church, there have been many kind, gracious, supportive people. Each church has also had a few folks in whom the fruit of the Spirit was less often seen.

Even though pastors know the aim should be to please God (not man), we still prefer it when people like us.

Sometimes, the line between “good pastoring” and “people-pleasing” is thin. Pastoring is leading and loving people. When God blesses that partnership, people love the pastor back and it’s a beautiful thing.

As a pastor, it’s my preference for everyone to be blissfully happy all the time, but it’s just not reality.

This seems especially true for pastors who are genuinely trying to lead a church to fully embrace the Great Commission call of making disciples of all peoples (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). It’s so easy for a local church to drift from that primary “disciple-making” purpose God has given us.

If “mission drift” has happened in a church, part of a pastor’s role is to be a catalyst in helping the congregation recover it.

At some point, the pursuit of greater ministry effectiveness is bound to ruffle some feathers.

Some church members love the adventure of change. Others do not. With the Lord’s help, pastors should do their best to lead with wisdom, transparency, patience, and grace—but change is still change.

The struggle for me has been how to respond to resistance to change when I deeply believed the needed change was Great Commission-critical.

Maybe you’ve been there, too.

What do you do when the best you’ve done wasn’t enough to keep everyone on the same page in re-focusing a church on the essentials of the Great Commission?

Each situation is obviously unique, but here’s something that has helped me stay the course time and time again. (I’m not sure if this is true in all churches, but by God’s grace, it’s been confirmed in the places I’ve served.)

I’ve found that retired vocational missionaries in the church are often the canaries in the coal mine.

The international missionaries I know are heroes of mine for the sacrifices they’ve gladly made to advance the gospel around the world.

After spending years on the international mission field, they returned home, but they still see the world as people “on mission” for the Lord.

The mission field calling comes with a mission-centric focus. Though their assigned contexts may have been immensely complex, there remains in them a simplicity regarding Great Commission-focus.

This gives retired missionaries a unique perspective for understanding what a Great Commission-focused pastor is trying to help a church accomplish. Change doesn’t seem to stress out vocational missionaries as much as it might others—especially if those changes are well-communicated and clearly mission-focused.

When Great Commission-focused change is led well for the right reasons, keep an eye on any retired missionaries in your church. If they “get it” and are suppoRtive, pull down your hard hat, dust off your headlamp, and keep digging, loving, and leading.

1 Corinthians 15:58: Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. ESV