There is a quote in the book Leading Congregational Change by Jim Herrington that says something like this...
"Managers are those who do things right and leaders are those who do the right things."
Although this is a quote that we would all, for the most part, agree with, I think many of us would be surprised that we tend to fall into the "manager" category more often than the "leader" category. For those of us heading into the pastoral ministry, or any other full-time ministry position for that matter, this should be alarming.
We are called to be leaders...yet we manage. We want our congregations to grow...yet we maintain the status quo. We want to create new and innovative forms of worship...yet we continue to follow the same format that we always have.
Jesus was an innovative guy. He did not manage...He lead. The simple quote, "Follow Me" illustrates this point plain enough. Jesus certainly did not maintain the status quo. In fact...you could say that He died because He didn't maintain the status quo. Finally, Christ did not continue worship in the same old fashion. He turned what it meant to worship the Living God on its head. Jesus Christ was a leader.
What differentiated Jesus from managers was that He took risks. They were not risks for risk's sake. They were risks for the sake of the Gospel. Maybe we too should take more risks. Maybe we should be willing to fail for the Gospel. Fail for the Gospel? What a great idea!!
Let us move from our fear of failure to an acceptance of failure. Let's embrace new paradigms of worship, new methods of leading, and challenge the status quo. I challenge you...as well as myself...to take a risk for the sake of the Gospel.
If we are taking the risk for the sake of the Gospel and fail...we succeed. Because the failure was an attempt to seek the face of God. Isn't that what we are supposed to do anyway?
Links
John 1:9-12
The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
2 comments:
Tony - I think you are right depending on how you define the word "fail". I think we are called to Biblical greatness and this is a calling that does not (and should not) mean failing... Actually, now that I say that I think the real word to define would be "success". What Jesus would consider success is NOT what our DS and Bishop would consider success (Church growth, more financial giving, etc...). These things are good to be sure, but are they really a "success" in ministry? It's like playing HBO Boxing on Playstation...you may succeed in beating up your opponent in the ring on the game, but when it all comes down to it you are still the same person just able to manipulate some buttons and get someone to do something on the screen. OK, so that's a stretch for an illustration, but do you follow my thought? Just a little? We can play a video game and feel success as a boxer, but did we really succeed as a boxer? No, we just succeed at playing a game. In a similar way, We can make others happy but is that always what Jesus would want and think as a success, or is it playing a "game" to try to "win" in our ministry?
My point...failing AT the Gospel no, but taking a risk FOR the gospel yes, I think you are right.
My use of "fail" and "succeed" could have used a better fleshing out than I gave. I used those terms in strictly a worldly sense until the end, when I stated that when we fail we really succeed.
Maybe that is where the problem is. We are wrapped up in the success and failure in worldly terms and fail to grasp what success looks like in our faith and in our ministry...in God's eyes.
Our leadership (doing the right things) would be in accordance with God's vision of success (I prefer the term significance). Being a manager (doing things right), is catering to the worldly standards and values.
Finally, I would not go as far as to say that our Supers and Bishops have a focus of success in terms of church growth and financial giving. I believe that most of them are focused on the significance of our ministries. But...then again...I am the eternal optimist.
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