Lately, I have had an opportunity to pull back from all the busy activities of ministry and to simply stop, reflect, and think.
I have learned and grown from personal experience, watching a few incredible leaders and some, not-so-great leaders.
During the past 10 years, I’ve learned about three dangerous kinds of leaders:
1. The solo-leader.
There’s always one or two of these in every leadership team. The one who has the mentality that ministry is about himself/herself and is not able to serve the community well for its future?
A solo-leader refuses to recruit to develop people and deploy others into the field. For this very reason, when solo leaders leave the team/organization, there’s a huge void that brings the effectiveness of the whole as a body to the bottom of the chart quickly.
Pastor, you are not able to wear all the hats yourself and do all the ministry yourself. Not a celebrity culture of a personality-driven ministry, but the whole. For Christ the head of the church and the only solo leader the body needs. The church is in need, but not from you alone.
Rely on others. Delegate the ministry. Shepherd a team of people.
2. The silo-leader.
This often can happen in organizational structure, but also within the individual leader. A silo is “a system or department that is isolated from others.”
Silo leaders do not allow accountability and are not able to have the check-and-balance with their time and treasure. Too often, silo leaders can suck the resources from the overall vision and the mission and derail the team from its original purpose. A silo leader lacks a biblical warrant and a structure of accountability.
Pastor, stop asking questions such as, “How does this impact my life?” but instead, “How does this impact us as a whole?”
3. The super-leader.
With the recent rise of superhero movies all over the media, people naturally gravitate toward this ideology of having superhero leaders!
However, there’s no such thing as super-leaders, are there? For if we all had to be honest, we are all broken, and we need a greater, truer, and stronger leader than amongst ourselves. To look at a fellow broken, sin-tainted sinner by placing them on a pedestal is putting unrealistic expectations and can crush the spirit of the pastor/leader.
Pastor, you’re trying to carry too much of a great load. You’re not Superman. Make time to rest and recharge from the busy-work of all that is happening.
So, ask these questions: What is my strength, and what is my weakness? Be transparent and honest as you come to the body in humility by saying, “I can no longer do this superstar show anymore. I am not Superman.”
Look to our supreme
leader: Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ, the supreme leader said, “I will build my church.”
Rest assured in the finished work of Christ. Even during the pandemic, all the riots, all the persecution around the world, Christ will still build His church! I echo the words of what R.C. Sproul said, “The church is not dead because it cannot die.”
This world can at times cause fear and weariness, but the church is not in trouble, for it rests in the finished work of Christ. The world can threaten religious liberty, the government can take away tax status, authorities can throw Christians in jail, but none can stop Christ building His church and His gospel spreading across the globe. Satan indeed cannot stop the church in its mission to preach the gospel to the nations.