I often work with ministries that have limited resources or that find themselves in place where historical resources are no longer available. The immediate thought is that we must prepare for the "worst possible situation." It is a message of bad news and frequently discouragement.
I disagree!
Let's start from a theological perspective. Ministry belongs to God so my assumption is that He provides what we need while not always what we think we need or what we want. There is a difference. Certainly we need to do our part but in the end what we have came from Him and I have to believe is what He wants us to have at the moment. There are also times when our constituents see flaws in our ministry and choose to give less or not at all which should cause us to look closely at our ministry.
Further, hard times bring out one of two responses in leaders. They get discouraged, beat up their congregation (you did not give enough) or themselves and panic. The other response is to actually bring out the very best leadership because the financial situation requires it.
Winston Churchill was at his absolute best in the crisis of the Second World War not before or after. Challenging times should focus leaders like never before to get to the core of their mission and ask the question, what would it look like if we did things differently with the dollars we have. In many if not most cases they realize in that process that they were not operating with all the right people and with the greatest inefficiencies possible. When money is good, we get comfortable, when it it scarce we must rethink what is truly necessary. It is in the lean times that we find the most leveraged ways to do ministry frequently pushing us toward effecient multiplication.
In working with one ministry short of funds I asked them to consider several questions:
One: What do we think God is saying to us?
Two: If we were to build our ministry today from the ground up what would it look like?
Three: Does our current structure lend itself to what is mission critical or doe it more reflect who we were in the past?
This caused robust dialogue and we started to see the organization in light of new paradigms. I don't see scarce resources as a negative but as a net positive. It is not the worst case scenario but a significant opportunity to do more with less and within what God provides. In lean times we are forced to be the best stewards and the best leaders.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
A prescient analysis of what the church is all about from Francis Chan
What really is the church? Check out this video from Francis Chan!
http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/videos-for-pastors/171126-francis-chan-rethinks-church.html
http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/videos-for-pastors/171126-francis-chan-rethinks-church.html
Friday, November 8, 2013
Would you take a demotion to get into your sweet spot?
It is an interesting question. There are times when people are advanced into a position that is not truly the lane they were made for. They have the position, salary and title but they are not happy, not fulfilled and not where God made them to be.
Would you have the courage to take a demotion to get into your sweet spot if that were you? This pastor did! Take a read.
Would you have the courage to take a demotion to get into your sweet spot if that were you? This pastor did! Take a read.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Relational Equity
In many ways, the quality of our relationships is the acid test of God’s transformative work in our lives. As the Apostle John wrote, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16). The same Apostle in His Gospel records Jesus as saying, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me” (John 17:22-23). In other words, people will know we are Christians by our extraordinary and unselfish love for one another.
Transformation of our hearts is directly connected to the transformation of our relationships. It is a full understanding of God’s grace in our lives which becomes the ground for us to extend that grace to others on a regular basis and it is grace that allows us to love and it is love that transforms relationships. When I fully grasp how Christ loved me when I was unlovable, forgave me when I did not deserve forgiveness, is patient with me when I don’t deserve his patience, continues to forgive me when I blow it – when I fully grasp the unconditional love of Christ to me – it is then that I can extend that same love to others. My ability to extend grace to others is directly connected to my understanding of the grace God has extended to me.
Transformed relationships are about treating people as God treats us, seeing them as God sees us – as individuals made in His image and of infinite worth, wanting for them what God would want for them – to reach their full potential - and extending the same value and honor to others that God does to us. While the culture of the world is to use others for our benefit, Christ followers see relationships as an extension of our relationship with Him which always wants the best for others.
This is an especially critical issue for leaders who have authority over others and whose words, actions and decisions impact others. Because leaders have an agenda – and all leaders do and must, and because leaders are result oriented – and good leaders are, there is always the temptation to use people to achieve that agenda rather than to develop a common mission and together get there through serving people and helping them flourish in the role they play.
This is always a balancing act because leadership means that we must achieve results, resources are always in short supply and getting the right people in the right seat on the bus is part of leadership. Relational stewardship in leadership is all about finding the right gifting for positions, building healthy teams and then developing people into the best they can be. Rather than using people, this is all about developing people and helping them become the person God designed them to be.
Leadership is all about relational equity. We regularly make deposits and withdrawals to that equity: Withdrawals when we disempower or in some way break trust and deposits when we treat people well and empower them. Thus transformation of our relationships is a key component not only to the love we are called to live out but to our leadership and the influence we have with others. Without healthy relationships, influence is deeply compromised.
Transformation of our hearts is directly connected to the transformation of our relationships. It is a full understanding of God’s grace in our lives which becomes the ground for us to extend that grace to others on a regular basis and it is grace that allows us to love and it is love that transforms relationships. When I fully grasp how Christ loved me when I was unlovable, forgave me when I did not deserve forgiveness, is patient with me when I don’t deserve his patience, continues to forgive me when I blow it – when I fully grasp the unconditional love of Christ to me – it is then that I can extend that same love to others. My ability to extend grace to others is directly connected to my understanding of the grace God has extended to me.
Transformed relationships are about treating people as God treats us, seeing them as God sees us – as individuals made in His image and of infinite worth, wanting for them what God would want for them – to reach their full potential - and extending the same value and honor to others that God does to us. While the culture of the world is to use others for our benefit, Christ followers see relationships as an extension of our relationship with Him which always wants the best for others.
This is an especially critical issue for leaders who have authority over others and whose words, actions and decisions impact others. Because leaders have an agenda – and all leaders do and must, and because leaders are result oriented – and good leaders are, there is always the temptation to use people to achieve that agenda rather than to develop a common mission and together get there through serving people and helping them flourish in the role they play.
This is always a balancing act because leadership means that we must achieve results, resources are always in short supply and getting the right people in the right seat on the bus is part of leadership. Relational stewardship in leadership is all about finding the right gifting for positions, building healthy teams and then developing people into the best they can be. Rather than using people, this is all about developing people and helping them become the person God designed them to be.
Leadership is all about relational equity. We regularly make deposits and withdrawals to that equity: Withdrawals when we disempower or in some way break trust and deposits when we treat people well and empower them. Thus transformation of our relationships is a key component not only to the love we are called to live out but to our leadership and the influence we have with others. Without healthy relationships, influence is deeply compromised.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
"I am not looking for a job. I am looking for a vision."
Profound comments from a 50 something Christian leader who is searching for what God has for him next. He is not in a hurry. He will not settle. He knows who He is and who he is not and he wants to be in a place of maximum influence, in his lane, for the next run.
Too many people are looking for a job rather than for a vision to give their lives to. Too many ministries lack a God sized vision that people want to give their lives to. Vision attracts the very best. Jobs attract those who have settled!
To be clear, most of us start with jobs in ministry. But as we mature, as we understand ourselves better, as we become aware of how God has wired and gifted us we start to yearn for convergence where we can be all that God made us to be so that we are spent and used up for Him in a good way. If it is a good job we look for in the first half it is vision that attracts us in the second half.
Do you have a job today or are you chasing a God sized vision? If it is just a job, think about chasing a vision.
Too many people are looking for a job rather than for a vision to give their lives to. Too many ministries lack a God sized vision that people want to give their lives to. Vision attracts the very best. Jobs attract those who have settled!
To be clear, most of us start with jobs in ministry. But as we mature, as we understand ourselves better, as we become aware of how God has wired and gifted us we start to yearn for convergence where we can be all that God made us to be so that we are spent and used up for Him in a good way. If it is a good job we look for in the first half it is vision that attracts us in the second half.
Do you have a job today or are you chasing a God sized vision? If it is just a job, think about chasing a vision.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
When leaders are in a hurry to change things
I often tell leaders who are in a hurry to bring change to their team and organization, "Hurry up and slow down already!" This is especially true for leaders who are new to an organization and see all of the things that could be different, the issues that might have been ignored by a previous leader and the potential for better ways of doing things as seen through new eyes.
Why hurry up and slow down? Because major change (even if the correct change) brought too quickly can create a great deal of chaos from the speed of change, the lack of processing people through the change and the inability of staff or constituents to keep up with the change.
Change agents don't realize that most people have a built in resistance to change. People seek stability, not instability. Because change agents don't have that issue they often don't get it that others do. Fast changes are like a major earthquake: the ground is shifting, it feels dangerous and they don't know where to turn.
Given that fact, the greater the change the more processing of people is necessary. They need to know what change is being proposed and why, they need to know what change is happening and when and they need to know what change has happened and what the implications are. It is all about process, process, process and that requires a lot of communication, dialogue and all of that takes time which is why fast change is often counterproductive.
Our hurry to bring change is rarely helpful. Our resolve to see change is! Resolve is about knowing where we need to go and being committed to going there. The pace is determined by how fast our folks can adapt and respond to the suggested changes.
Remember that change is a process, not an event and that those who bring it must bring the requisite skill in helping their people navigate the whitewaters of change. Knowing what one needs to do is the easy part. Working the process is the hard part. So my advice: hurry up and slow down already!
Why hurry up and slow down? Because major change (even if the correct change) brought too quickly can create a great deal of chaos from the speed of change, the lack of processing people through the change and the inability of staff or constituents to keep up with the change.
Change agents don't realize that most people have a built in resistance to change. People seek stability, not instability. Because change agents don't have that issue they often don't get it that others do. Fast changes are like a major earthquake: the ground is shifting, it feels dangerous and they don't know where to turn.
Given that fact, the greater the change the more processing of people is necessary. They need to know what change is being proposed and why, they need to know what change is happening and when and they need to know what change has happened and what the implications are. It is all about process, process, process and that requires a lot of communication, dialogue and all of that takes time which is why fast change is often counterproductive.
Our hurry to bring change is rarely helpful. Our resolve to see change is! Resolve is about knowing where we need to go and being committed to going there. The pace is determined by how fast our folks can adapt and respond to the suggested changes.
Remember that change is a process, not an event and that those who bring it must bring the requisite skill in helping their people navigate the whitewaters of change. Knowing what one needs to do is the easy part. Working the process is the hard part. So my advice: hurry up and slow down already!
Monday, November 4, 2013
When pastors stay too long at the detriment of the church
This will not be a popular blog among some pastors. It is possible for a pastor or any leader to stay too long and in the process to allow the ministry they lead to grow stale. I have watched it on numerous occasions and often to the detriment of the ministry they led well for many earlier years.
The symptoms for the church itself are usually a lessening of its missional energy, and a slow loss of people, often key people over time. Often at this stage, church leaders are restless and both leaders and people cannot identify with clarity where the ministry is going or how it is going to get there.
The challenge is that the senior leader often does not want to leave even when church leaders start to put pressure on them. After all they are in their fifties or sixties and they know they are not very marketable in another senior pastor position. Thus they push back and the church itself often suffers. The longer the church moves into decline, the harder it is to renew its vision and missional life. In the meantime it is the very people that are needed to revitalize the church that quietly exit one at a time.
When do long pastorates become a liability?
The symptoms for the church itself are usually a lessening of its missional energy, and a slow loss of people, often key people over time. Often at this stage, church leaders are restless and both leaders and people cannot identify with clarity where the ministry is going or how it is going to get there.
The challenge is that the senior leader often does not want to leave even when church leaders start to put pressure on them. After all they are in their fifties or sixties and they know they are not very marketable in another senior pastor position. Thus they push back and the church itself often suffers. The longer the church moves into decline, the harder it is to renew its vision and missional life. In the meantime it is the very people that are needed to revitalize the church that quietly exit one at a time.
When do long pastorates become a liability?
- When the senior leader gets stuck in how they have always done things and continue to do the same thing as the world changes around them.
- When the senior leader has taken the church as far as they can take it and are frankly out of ideas or skill to take the ministry to the next level.
- When the senior leader does not bring in a new generation of young leaders who bring a different generational thinking, new ideas and new energy. This includes the development of a preaching team so that the needs of a younger generation are met.
- When the senior leader does not continue to grow in their latter decades and lose their ability to lead well.
Not every pastor can go the long route in one church and keep the ministry vital. Often they too need a new challenge in new circumstances and certainly they should not stay when the church has plateaued or gone into decline - in numbers, vision, missional vitality, energy and spiritual vitality. Those who can go the distance in one place must intentionally grow and change along the way.
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