As church leaders, how do we build healthy culture within our communities and, even more importantly, within our leadership teams? In this episode, Natalie Runion returns to discuss with John Bailey how we build strong churches of people who stay. Hurt people are going to come to church, arguably the best place for them, so how to leaders build a healthy culture that helps these types of people heal so that they can turn around and become a healing force within the church community?
Key Points from the Podcast
• The Bible gives us a picture of a healthy church; it's loving God and people with all our hearts and minds. Jesus, then later the disciples, modeled healthy church leadership, and when we try to recreate it as something else, we run into problems.
• Getting back on mission with Jesus will help our churches heal. The church in Acts was unified by the Holy Spirit but also by being on mission together.
• Good doctrine and passionate preaching are great, but the first call of the pastor is to shepherd and care for the people.
• Prayer is the foundation to any healthy culture and church community, so leadership teams praying together and individual is huge for the health of a church. Meals and spending time together is another key; as church leaders, we can’t allow ourselves to become isolated from our own leadership teams.
• We will not get revival without repentance. Leaders apologizing to one another and people in the church is so important for modeling what reconciliation looks like in healthy community.
• Hurt people hurt people, but healed people help heal others. As leaders, we want hurt people in church, but we also must realize that all healing isn’t linear or the look the same for everyone, and guiding healing people into leadership roles has to be done carefully and wisely.
• Investing in relationships will be what helps keep accountability or discipline actions from being wounding rather than healing.
Bible Verses Referenced in the Podcast
Acts 2:5-21
Resources Mentioned in the Podcast
• Raised to Stay: Persevering in Ministry When You Have a Million Reasons to Walk Away
About Natalie Runion
Pastor’s kid turned pastor, Natalie, her husband Tony and their two daughters live in Colorado Springs, CO where she serves as pastor of women and a worship pastor. In her twenty years of ministry as a worship leader, songwriter and pastor, Natalie has served various organizations and ministries across the country. In 2019 after watching many of her peers walk away from the church and their faith, Natalie began Raised to Stay, a ministry for those who have wandered, wondered and wrestled with the Church and the challenges of full-time ministry. She is a sought-after speaker and writer in the local and global church, writing for She Reads Truth and other Christian publications. You can learn more about her Raised to Stay book on Instagram at @raisedtostay and order her book on Amazon and other major retailers.
About John Bailey
Pastor John Bailey is the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at World Challenge. After giving his life to Christ in the Tampa City jail, John felt that the Lord placed in him a great hunger to know Christ and study God’s Word. John spent 12 years discipling young leaders and was then called to pastor and evangelize in Western Europe for 10 years.
In 2011, John, his wife, Crista, and two children returned to Jacksonville, Florida to plant The Springs Church. After over a decade of ministry in Jacksonville, John was invited by Gary Wilkerson to come and serve at World Challenge. Today, John gives vision and direction to World Challenge as well as serving as a keynote speaker, author and conference speaker. His life’s purpose is to seek a genuine awakening of God’s Spirit in America and around the world.