Leadership is key

I written repeatedly in this blog that everything rises and falls on leadership. It's true in the business world, it's true in families, it's true in personal achievements and it is certainty true in churches. Every success can be traced back to good leadership; every failure is the result of poor leadership. I wrote an e-book  a few several years ago called Mistakes: Avoiding the Wrong Decisions that Will Close Your Small Business. A friend who read it said I was too hard on myself, but I don't think so. I was solely responsible for the decisions that caused our business to fail.

Success in any endeavor is directly related to the ability of the leader. That small business I managed failed due to many reasons, but the primary one was my failure as a leader. Churches succeed or fail as a direct result of the leadership of the pastor and lay leaders the church has selected. That may sound harsh, but it is true. If the leadership does not possess a fresh vision from God about the future ministry of the church and lead the church to fulfill that vision, the church will fail.

As a regional minister in our denomination I saw too many pastors simply going through the motions hoping to survive to retirement. It's not that they were doing anything wrong; they simply were not doing enough things right. Some were in difficult churches that refused to move forward, and they had grown weary in trying to move them. I compare such churches to a rope, and everyone knows how difficult it is to try to push a rope. These pastors have given up and just want to hang on until they can retire. I can understand their frustration, but it's a shame regardless.

When I retired I was responsible for 133 churches. A few of those pastors simply had little leadership ability, and didn't want any. They had been trained to manage churches and were quite content to do so. They possessed little vision for ministry and had no idea where God wanted to lead their churches. They simply followed what they had been taught in seminary. Manage the system, keep everyone happy and be willing to move every 3-4 years. If it sounds like I'm being harsh, perhaps I am, but I am sharing what I've seen in many pastors.

I have three degrees. I am not against education as some claim, but I am against the management of churches instruction that is taught in too many seminaries. Pastors are not called to manage churches; we are called to lead them in ministry. The fact that the majority of our churches are declining should point out that failure of our educational system for pastors. We need leaders; not managers. We need men and women who are not interested in climbing the ministerial ladder to bigger churches but are interested in pursuing God's will for their churches.

Let me say this as kindly as possible. If your church is stuck, it is because your church is being led by managers, not leaders. You need someone who will help you get unstuck. You need a leader who has a vision from God about where your church is to go and the courage to help you go there. Without such a leader, you will remain stuck and of limited use to the kingdom of God.