For the week of October 17, 2005
Overcoming Control - Help Your Leaders Lead |
|
By: Paul Nickerson |
While recently working with a congregation experiencing stress in transition, I was reminded again of an important principal: help leaders lead! This particular church had a younger pastor who was helping the congregation attract younger families. This led to the inevitable controllers complaining that the church no longer looked and felt the same. The Council was feeling great heat from the criticism of those who resisted the change. They had visited those disgruntled folk and spent long hours being barraged with hateful and unhelpful comments. The turning point came when one of the Council members said, “It is time for us to stop being so passive and to lead this church ahead”. To that I said “Amen!”
As leaders, in the face of harsh criticism, we often become defensive and frozen, thinking we have to please everyone and make peace at all costs. We give away our power. The healthy course is to take note of negative comments, but to also grasp leadership and move the congregation toward the vision God has planted. Assertive, grounded leadership is the way to move beyond the controllers to a new life in the mission field with Jesus. Stop spending so much time fretting over a few, and grasp the future. In times of transition, leaders need to lead!
|
