Pastors: Entrepreneurs or Managers? Or Both.

Subtitle: On the cost of being wired to build or wired to manage

There is a cost to being a pastor, and to following one as well. When I try to explain pastors (our job, our personality, whatever it might be), I try to think of ways that provide insight. Some people think that “you should only talk about pastors if you are one,” and well, “I are one.” One way that I commonly attempt to help explain this role is to put most pastors into one of two categories. They are either entrepreneurs or they are people managers. These words help others understand this position better than “proclaimer” or “truth teller.”

It is rare, very rare, for a pastor to have the ability or skill set to walk a group of people or an organization through every aspect of change and growth, and be “everything” a church needs from one person. Each category type comes with a price to pay, both for the pastor and the congregation. But I think these two categories can give us a good basis to open up some understanding.

Before we start, I need to say that being a pastor is a job with a burden (that is just a statement; it lets no one off the proverbial hook). Some can’t handle it. Others choose to stop trying, and a few burn out. Honestly, we all fail at some point. But I want this writing to lean toward grace, encourage those still trying, and give us a peek inside what makes this group of people tick, so we understand them a little better as we follow them. Because underneath the building, preaching, and decisions, there’s a weight to being a pastor. They’re not just accountable for what is done; they’re accountable before God for the people they’ve been given.

The Entrepreneurs

First, let’s talk about the entrepreneurs: the pastor who is driven by an idea or dream. This type of pastor is a builder, a creator, a doer. Asking things like, “What if we did this?” Sometimes, not always, they can also engineer solutions, asking questions and thinking through what it takes to build. But this group is characterized by not being scared to ask what it takes to take nothing and make it something.

However, the entrepreneur pastor often gives off the impression that they’re never satisfied. Every aspect of ministry becomes “we could do that better,” or “I think that cable’s out of place.” The engine of creativity or dreaming doesn’t stop, because there’s a part of them that knows they could go further, even if no one’s asked.

The cost for the pastor: This category of pastor will start to feel like they’re falling behind everyone else, not realizing they’re actually about to lap them (using a race analogy). They tend to get frustrated around people who seem content doing less than they are. An example of this would be when another pastor says they don’t know their church’s schedule for the next few weeks, and the entrepreneur pastor already has things on the church calendar two years out, knowing full well they don’t know who will even be there for it.

What is the cost of following the entrepreneur pastor? Transparently, it can be exhausting. Most groups have the ability to withstand a certain amount of dreaming, change, and growth. But the constant churn can cause people to become tired. They will sometimes give up or decide that the pace is not for them. There is a cost of unsettledness, and this congregation member has to be willing to pay it…often.

The People Managers

Next, we have the people managers, and they get put into this category because they are good at managing people. Their first thought is not, “How can I do this?” Their first thought is, “How do I get others involved in the process?”

They have such a great process for involving people in every aspect of a task. They are phenomenal at getting other people engaged. It could be something as simple as changing a lightbulb. The manager pastor is gifted at talking to a person in the church, handing off that responsibility, and watching that person shine (pun intended). The entrepreneurs, by contrast, would’ve just changed the lightbulb, or wondered if a better fixture belonged in that spot.

The cost for the pastor: somewhere underneath this gift is a fear. Not fear of people, but of losing them…any of them. Someone brings a new idea, and this pastor will help them as individuals feel valued and heard, but the manager isn’t going to do much to rock the boat, because they think of everyone else. There’s an exasperation you can hear in the manager’s voice when a new problem or opportunity lands on the desk, because somewhere in the back of their head, they’re already doing the math: “This is going to cost me twenty-two conversations to pull off, and I honestly don’t know if it’s worth it.”

What is the cost of following the people manager pastor? What the manager doesn’t always see is that nothing changing can become its own kind of weakness. People will feel valued. However, a new family walks in and needs to like what’s already happening, or they won’t stay.”Nothing’s changing” sounds like a stable promise for a church member. It’s a risk so quiet it doesn’t feel like one because the people already there really like it. It doesn’t feel like a problem until the church that never upset anyone is also the church that never changed, adjusted, or tried something new.

The Spectrum (in the middle of entrepreneurs and managers)

Now, this entire writing might be an oversimplification, and there’s probably some form of a spectrum between the two main categories. We could talk about whether it’s a sliding scale, or the Venn diagram, or whatever.

In this, a third group is pastors who are adequate at both, not necessarily strong at one or the other. If you’re reading this and your pastor doesn’t quite land in either category, that’s not a knock on them. It might just mean they’re in the middle, doing enough of both to keep things moving, without the obvious gift that makes one side of this look effortless.

The cost for the pastor: the decision burden can be paralyzing. Underneath every decision are two real questions pulling in opposite directions: should we try something new here, or will this cost more relationship equity than it’s worth? Not knowing which one to trust, they sometimes take too long to decide. To fail at anything, even something small, is a deep fear. So the decision ends up stuck in committee, not because a pastor lacks conviction, but because both instincts are talking at once, and neither one is wrong.

At this point, I think that it’s important for us to pause and think through what we’re actually asking a pastor on this spectrum to do. Are we asking them to build? Or are we asking them to maintain? Are we asking them to manage people, or create something from scratch? Those are really big, very different asks, and this type of pastor is often trying to do all of it.

What is the cost of following a pastor who is in the middle? People can get into a horrible pattern in which they talk, and talk, and talk. And by the time they finally decide to try the new thing, or finally update what needed updating, the season it was meant for has already come and gone.

The Church Fit

Now that you can see the differences, I believe that it is important to talk about why church fit matters more than we as a congregation or staff usually admit. A church might say it wants to grow when in reality they need a manager. So, they get an entrepreneur who starts changing things, making things new, questioning why it’s always been done this way, which can be more than they can handle or are ready for. In this instance, a church can give up or fight with each other because it’s always changing.

On the other side, a church craving innovation can grow impatient waiting on a people manager who’s still counting the cost of every new idea based on the cost of people. Rarer still is the pastor who can flex to become what a church actually needs during a different season, not just what they are naturally wired to be.

That’s why it matters so much for a church to know, honestly, what they’re asking for before they call someone to lead them there.

Conclusion

If you’re wondering where I land in all this: I’m closer to the entrepreneurs than the managers. So take my description of the other side for what it is: admiration from a distance, not experience.

I would like to leave you with my prayer for each category.

For the entrepreneur: I pray that God would grow in you a heart for people, the patience to hand something off, the joy of watching someone else shine, and the humility to let others improve or change what you built.

For the people manager: I pray that God would grow in you the courage to dream a little, to ask what it takes to build something out of nothing, and the nerve to try. I pray that you would continue encouraging people and get them involved in ways that even they could never have imagined.

And for those in the middle, holding a little of both: I pray that you would keep learning from both sides. Don’t view it as an excuse; I pray you view it as an opportunity to grow.

To everyone: It’s a blessing to be part of a church that’s growing, but this writing isn’t really about growth. Whatever category you find yourself in, whether you’re the pastor or the one following one, there’s a burden here I understand.

So, pastor, wherever you land (entrepreneur, manager, or somewhere in the middle), go do your best. Create. Manage people well. Bring glory to God in all of it. Keep caring for souls by helping people, helping them grow, and helping them worship God.