Skip to main content

The Myth that Christian Leaders are in control of everything.




 Working on Murphy's Law. (Apologise to anyone called Murphy.)


Christian Leaders like to portray themselves in total control, nothing knocks them over. In church at a Sunday service, they stand head and shoulders above everybody and everything happening around them. Issues that trouble us mere mortals wash over and off them like the proverbial duck. Sometimes they give the impression that they are succeeding in everything they do; unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth.


To be in control often means that at some point you had to be in a situation where you weren't in control. By its very definition the Christian Leadership journey means that at some point something did go wrong, situations occurred that stretched the leader and caused them to question faith and creed and leadership and even church. If they hadn't they would never have come out the other side a better leader or pastor.

A crisis can either make you or break you. Even failure can be a lesson that makes us stronger. The Bible says that all things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose. Christian Leaders need to learn to grow their crisis capability; here are six things to do when Murphy's Law interrupts your perfectly controlled life and leadership:

Problems never go away, see them early and deal with them.

Never play the blame game. Take control, find solutions and take responsibility.

Play to your strengths and always look ahead never backwards. Focus on the possible not the impossible.

Never be a hero you can't do it all by yourself, seek support and take advice from those other Christian leaders that have been through what you are going through.

Stamp out the gossip mill. Over communicate keep the message positive and constructive.

Overcome project fear and confusion by staying positive and confident people will always remember this.

Christian Leaders are not perfect they are imperfect human beings who have a lot of life experience with Murphy.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The myth of Ministry Leadership.

The myth that all leaders are leaders. Not everyone who leads in church is a leader. I think it is wrong, for Church leaders to believe that those they train up to take various ministry leadership positions, are in fact leaders in their own right. They are not. At best I would categorise these people- that many churches call 'ministry leaders' as ministry managers.                 "At one level there is nothing wrong with title inflation; it is a cheap way of recognising people who work hard and make serious contributions" Jo Owen. I am of the opinion that this title inflation undervalues both the leader and the ' ministry manager' and can often bring about confusion and mismatched expectations. Many churches have ministry training evenings for their volunteers. Many use the reason for this training is "to make a person a better leader," when in fact the only thing actually happening is that th...

The 1970's Christian Coffee Shop

I remember as a new Christian being invited into a Christian Coffee shop in the town where I grew up. It was clean and tidy, the table tops were all brightly painted in different colours,  but mainly yellow and scattered on top were a random selection of Christian tracts. Fish symbols and Christian posters proclaiming that there was but 'One Way' to heaven were everywhere. The music playing out of the stereo was The Bill Gather Trio or Dolly Parton singing Gospel. The crockery, was a mixed assortment of coffee mugs, donated by keen supporters of this outreach to the unsaved sinners and ungodly people living in the city. The coffee was a local brand heavily mixed with chicory. In all the years the Coffee Shop operated, I never saw a non-Christian go in and I never heard of a person coming to faith through having coffee there. I never really understood its purpose. Fast forward to today, when I was asked recently, to advise on helping a local community church open a c...

Playing well with others.

Today's rambling. Looking over some of my old school reports the other day and was amused at how some of the comments, that teachers made about me have shaped my life and in many respects made me who I am today. One teacher wrote that I didn’t play well with others, I was 5 at the time maybe I had an excuse. Another teacher in my high school years, the wood working teacher or wood shop teacher for my American friends wrote; “If you value your life you will keep him away from power tools and other dangerous equipment. I can’t remember why he wrote this, obviously I did something that made him fear for his life. Today as an adult I have to say that I don’t do well in committees, for most of my life I have been self- employed. I have steadfastly stayed away from power tools and other wood working equipment, basically anything that can cut something off and is a danger to life and limb. Over the last 10 years I have been looking at and teaching about Emotional Intelligence ...