While the first goal in this project was to identify positive practices from successful pastoral successions, the second goal was to collect and assess the strengths and weakness of Pyeongtaek Daekwang Church English ministry prior to a pastoral transition.
Leaders of each generation serve for some period of time, long or short. But the term of leadership always expires. That is one of the most humbling truths about leadership. Every leader must understand that whatever a leader may contribute, build, and dream can be lost more quickly than imaginable.
Research suggests that often the starting point in effective leadership is less about having the right answers and more about asking the right questions. These
questions, which not only affect tomorrow but lead to consequences into the unforeseen future. With the desire to serve and beautify the bride of Christ, at Daekwang Church in
10 See appendix 3.
Pyeongtaek Korea, twenty-one questions were formulated within a SWOT analysis.
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats which are internal and external which affect the health of our church. The SWOT analysis was then performed with seven stakeholders who volunteered to participate. Afterwards, the SWOT analysis was collected, assessed, and followed up by three debriefings. The first debriefing was with the interim pastors, the second with the stakeholders, and the third with the pastoral leadership of the Korean and English ministries.
SWOT Protocol
Among the seven stakeholders selected for this analysis two included volunteer interim pastors. The interim pastors passed on and collected the SWOT analysis which was done anonymously. Each question was open-ended to allow answers to be as thorough and articulate as possible concerning participants’ experience, understanding, and interests in the church today.
Table 20. SWOT analysis research process
Phase Element Date
Phase 1: Define and Design
Requested and received approval from SBTS Research and Ethics committee to implement a SWOT analysis with stakeholders of Daekwang Church.
July 2020
Communicated with 2 interim pastors at Daekwang Church to select a minimum of 6 stakeholders in doing a SWOT. A request made by the interim pastors to extend the number of stakeholders. Approval was granted to extend the total number to 7 stakeholders.
October 2020
Defined and revised 21 questions to be used in
the SWOT analysis. October 2020
Table 20. continued
Phase 2: Collect, and Analyze Data
Interim pastors collected responses from all 7 stakeholders and shared with Mike Nicholes who combined and analyzed the data.
November 2020 – December 2020 Examined and analyzed the data provided from
responses inserted into tables from the SWOT analysis. These responses were then shared, followed by a debriefing with the interim pastors.
November 2020 – December 2020 A debriefing was held with the 7 stakeholders. December 2020
Phase 3: Discover and Communicate Findings
Stages were formulated and findings and stages were communicated with the interim pastors.
December 2020
SWOT analysis findings and stages were communicated with Korean church pastoral
leadership, followed by a debriefing. January 2021 Vision and mission of the church, along with
stages, communicated with the English church body.
January 2021
Summary of Findings
Serving as a ministry consultant to PDC, I immersed myself into the church culture, formulated and then executed a SWOT analysis—a meeting of minds of
volunteer stakeholders in the church. In addition to collecting and analyzing the SWOT analysis, three debriefings proved helpful informing and shaping future practices and procedures for the church. Selected responses given from open-ended questions employed are described below.
Strengths
In reference to strengths, things that by God’s grace the church is doing well, the participants commonly mentioned that the leaders are faithfully preaching and teaching the truth of God’s Word, the congregants are keeping their focus on the reason for meeting and worshiping together in unity and members see themselves as brothers
and sisters in Christ who belong to one family. When asked what drew the participants to join the church, one noted being drawn to the church because of fourcharacteristics: (1) Friendly caring congregants, (2) biblical exposition, (3) family atmosphere, (4)
welcoming and (5) spiritually healthy congregation. 11Another one noted that several members of PDC said that the Korean church was founded upon a discipleship model and that the English service also sought to grow discipleship relationships both among and outside of its members.12
Weaknesses
Leadership, evangelism, and community service were the three top areas of weakness, according to the SWOT analysis. Leadership was the primary area of weakness holding the church back from growing. “Directional leadership”,
“organizational leadership”, “vision”13, and “a formal body of leadership”14 were some of the descriptive words given as current needs. Followed by leadership, evangelism was the second area of weakness described. Outreach was listed as well, but this isn’t the same as evangelism or gospel conversations.15 Stakeholders also mentioned a need for “service to the community outside the church body,” “reaching out to those new in the area,” and
“making an effort to not only invite/welcome new members but reach beyond - outside the walls of the church” were recommendations.
When asked where the church might grow and mature in the future, one of the seven stakeholders suggested three specifics. (1) Establishing a formal body of leadership
11 See appendix, table A9.
12 See appendix, table A9.
13 See appendix, table A27.
14 See appendix, table A13.
15 See appendix, table A14. Evangelism and outreach may vary. For example, if a church body is helping feed the poor, or serving unwed mothers, or visiting orphanages void of sharing Christ in a gospel conversation, does not qualify as evangelism. While this might be an on-ramp to a gospel conversation these in themselves are merely social aid.
– such as deacons and elders,16 (2) making specific efforts to reach out to others who are new to the area, (3) having an outward focus – making an effort to not only invite and welcome new members, but to also bring the gospel outside the walls of the church.17
The cause given for a number of weaknesses according to church stakeholders was largely due to two things: (1) lack of communication between the English and Korean congregations18 and (2) not having a dedicated full-time pastor.19 It was
disheartening yet also encouraging to hear stakeholders pour out personal frustrations. As I poured over the responses, I was reminded of Jesus’ response to people he walked and talked with who also were shepherd-less. It is written, “seeing the crowds he (Jesus) had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd (Mk 6:35).”
Opportunities
Considering opportunities and who the church is targeting, based on the participants answers to Question 2, one thing is clear and that is that it is unclear who the church is intentionally trying to reach.20 Some suggested revisiting the mission statement while others suggested more communication with the Korean congregation and with each other as viable solutions.
From conception, PDC has been about unity in the midst of diversity and being a multiethnic congregation, therefore, it was not surprising to note that, in accordance with the multiethnic makeup of the church, and the opportunities the stakeholders perceived, the people targeted generally reflected the ethnic makeup of the city.
16 The Greek word poimen, translated as “pastor” means “shepherd”. Salaried or unsalaried, the New Testament makes no distinction. These men are best suited to care for the flock including holding church members accountable as described in Matt 18.
17 See appendix, table A14.
18 See appendix, table A22.
19 See appendix, table A14.
20 See appendix, table A18.
Threats
One of the stakeholders expressed how “complacency and continued floating along”21 is a risk to the vision of the church. Another one described the church as
“drifting”22 without clear vision. Notably, social distancing restrictions due to Covid 19 caused the time of the service to be changed from Sunday at 9am to Sunday at 2 pm.
Families with young children attending the service in the afternoon mentioned this as a difficult adjustment.23 However, the worship service also moved from a smaller space to a larger space and this larger place was preferable and had been a place the English ministry had hoped to move into soon anyway. Surprisingly, members attending the church quickly adjusted and became comfortable with the time change. Thankfully, during one of the debriefings the participants discovered that the larger space was also available for meeting in the morning, yet, church members were reluctant to return to a Sunday morning service, even though, according to the stakeholders, newcomers found it more appealing to attend a morning service. This appeared to be a warning sign that the church had drifted from being outward focused to being more inward focused. From the SWOT analysis 60 percent of the stakeholders indicated that the service time had a significant negative impact on guests returning to the church.
The final question asked for the participants to present a vision for the church to aspire to in two to five years. The suggestions given revolved around purpose, mission, and vison.24 The steps suggested to get there involved creating a mission statement for the English service, writing down the vision and goals, and helping regular members to see their role in reaching the vision.25
21 See appendix, table A21.
22 See appendix, table A21.
23 See appendix, table A22.
24 See appendix, table A27.
25 See appendix, table A27.
Refine and Prioritize the SWOT Analysis
Upon collecting and analyzing the SWOT analysis the next step was to review the findings from the seven stakeholders to refine, summarize, and prioritize the SWOT analysis. Over a virtual meeting with all seven stakeholders, an evaluation was held where questions were asked to help determine best action steps for the church leaders to employ in the months ahead. It was determined something needed to be done soon since the church already was experiencing unhealthy symptoms found in the common lifecycle of churches.
The Common Lifecycles of Churches:
Birth – getting started and learning to survive.
Growth – figuring out how to handle new people and the challenges of growth.
Maturity – slowing down – discovering how to get unstuck.
Decline – becoming inward focused, having more questions than answers on determining what to do next to serve the community and renew a new and healthy cycle.
If the church waits until it begins to decline momentum will not be in its favor and revitalization becomes necessary.
Howard Hendricks observes, “The greatest crisis in the world today is a crisis of leadership, and the greatest crisis of leadership is the crisis of character.”26
Unfortunately, when pastors become disqualified in ministry, it hurts his family, his future, and the church. Besides the leaders being blameless, for a church to maintain relevance within its community, it must understand who makes up the community and who the church is called to reach within the community. In addition, it also must be alert to who makes up the people in the church and how these people compare to its target.
This is the context in which the church is operating today.
26 Aubrey Malphurs, Being Leaders: The Nature of Authentic Christian Leadership (Grand
Rapids: Baker, 2003), 76.
Being informed by the literature, findings in the SWOT analysis, and common lifecycle of churches, objectives and action steps referred to as stages were formulated for moving the church forward.
Goal 3: Stages Leading Towards a Healthy