Category / Leadership

2020 has been a crazy year.

Church leaders continually tell me they are worn out, and now at Christmas, when demands are high, it’s easy to miss a moment of discernment that you would otherwise have caught.

The purpose of this post is about wanting the best for you, rather than assuming anything negative about others.

Stuff that can hurt you happens in leadership, and I don’t want you to take hits that can be prevented.

When you have been through a year like this one, your reserves can be low. Challenges and conflicts that would normally just be part of life in ministry can catch you off guard.

What demonstrates the real strength of leadership?

We know things like decision-making, strategy, and execution require strength from a leader, and those elements are vital to realizing your vision, but what puts strength in a leader?

I’ll admit that I like to get things done, make progress, solve problems, and see things change for the good.

But the longer I lead, the more I’m aware of the real strength of leadership. The attributes, that when cultivated, bring you true inner strength.

More and more leaders quietly express a sense of life being out of control.

I think at some level, we all understand what that means; it’s what we do with that thought or feeling that matters.

• We naturally desire the sense that everything is under control. We like the peace that brings.
• We dislike the sense of everything being out of control. We don’t like the panic that it produces.

But let’s focus in on reality.

Neither statement is actually true.

• We never have everything fully under control, though we love it when we think we do.
• It’s never true that “everything” is completely out of control, even though there are times when it feels this way.

Let’s take this further.