10 Mistakes Pastors Make That Hinder Growth by Tracy J. Brown
10 Mistakes Pastors Make That Hinder Growth by Tracy J. Brown
Most of us have heard Dr. John C. Maxwell say, at least 100 times, "everything rises and falls on leadership." Although it's become cliché, it's absolutely true! Leadership and vision are the major keys to the overall health and growth of your church. This means that the current health and rate of growth (or decline) of your organization is a direct reflection of the leadership ability of the Primary Leader.
As you know, God has blessed me to work with churches and community organizations of all shapes and sizes from all across the country. I have observed almost every angle of church leadership and have identified ten of the most common mistakes church leaders make. These mistakes are normally subtle, but if unchecked they can have major consequences that keep churches from reaching their full potential.
TOP TEN CHURCH LEADERSHIP MISTAKES
1. Hiring Too Fast. Firing Too Slow. Every minute you delay in removing an ineffective leader you risk damaging the morale and effectiveness of the entire team. As Pastor, it’s your responsibility to protect your flock. This includes protecting them from each other. Many leaders are faced with challenge of removing disqualified or ineffective people from the ministry. Personnel decisions are often the most difficult decisions Pastors make in the day-to-day management of the church. These are difficult situations because as God intended, Pastors are wired with an abundance of Grace and Mercy for the people of the church. Grace and Mercy are important qualities that must always be present in ministry, but there is a delicate balancing act that must be played. The health of your ministry is dependent on the Pastors ability to make the right choices.
For example, If you have a team member who is hindering the overall effectiveness and moral of the team, as PASTOR YOU MUST PROTECT THE FLOCK AND REMOVE HIM/HER FROM THE TEAM. Apostle Paul said “we must speak the truth in love”. God requires us to speak the truth and its dishonest to keep someone in a position when you know they are not getting the job done. Further, if you retain ineffective people on your team you are interfering with God’s work by because they are adversely affecting the growth of the ministry?
2. Putting Projects before the People. Embrace the tension and find the balance between leadership and shepherding. It easy for churches to become project driven and not people driven. It’s the leaders responsibility to make sure the ministry is meeting God’s purpose.
3. Trying to Fix the Problem Rather than the Process. Ninety percent of the time it isn’t a people-problem. It is a process-problem. Many pastors spend countless hours attending to an ongoing problem. However, his or her time would be more productive developing a leadership organizational structure to support marriage , finance, Family and the community needs. After the organizational infrastructure is in place, I recommend the pastor encourage the congregation on how effective his leaders are in assisting their needs. This system will take a tremendous amount of pressure off the senior pastor.
4. Delegating Tasks Instead of Responsibility. It is hard to delegate, because many times we (wrongly) assume that we are the only one who can do it right. Many pastor’s struggle with letting go and let God use someone else in the ministry. Delegating the task will provide quality time for the pastor to pray.
5. Assuming rules influence culture. Following rules and regulations is easier than dealing with people and relationships. As the senior leader of your church you are responsible for establishing the right atmosphere in the organization (culture). I have learned that church culture is more important to growth then policies & procedures. In fact the church culture should be the greatest influence on the churches policies and procedure. As a pastor, your role is to set the tone for the organization. The best way to set the right tone in your organization is to treat your leaders the way you want them to treat your members. How you treat your leaders is your greatest tool for developing a healthy culture.
6. Not listening to God. All too often I talk to Pastors who have received instructions from God but because of fear or disobedients they fail to do what God has told them to do. Then to rationalize this disobedients the Pastor seeks "confirmation" from others. But in reality, the Pastor wants to avoid the short-term discomfort that sometimes comes with obedeants to God. If you are faced with a hard choice or have received instructions from God, I encourage to do three things;
a.) Spend lots of quite, uninterrupted, quality time with God,
b.) Listen to what He is telling you
c.) Most importantly do what He tells you to do...even if its hurts!
7. Dwelling on the Worst-Case Scenario. Worry might not be your issue, but everyone has an issue that can derail them. I challenge you to focus on the Best-Case Scenario. There always two questions you must ask yourself in any challenging situation. First, whats the best that can happen. Second, what is the worst that can happen? If you can deal with the worst case scenario you should take action and go for it!
8. Waiting Until There's a Problem to Provide Feedback. We have to discipline ourselves to encourage our team. Most importantly we must learn what motivates our people. Some people need a daily dose of encouragement while others need more quality then quantity. It’s your job to learn what makes your people tick and that only happens by spending regular time with them. I recommend you spend 90 minutes with each of your leaders every 3 to 4 months.
9. Staying Busy. We tend to think if I'm staying busy, I'm adding value to my organization. This is not always true. Can you monitor the results of your busy work? Is it just busy work without a plan.? We must work the plan and not let the plan work us.
10. Spending more time on Details than Dreams. We so often get caught up in the day to day of trying to survive until we loose focus on the big prize. The big God size vision to outreach to your community. We must have the clear plan written out so we can run for the goal daily.
"Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it" Habbakuh 2:2 NIV.
About Tracy J. BrownMr. Tracy J. Brown, devoted father and husband, is a distinguished author, speaker, businessman and urban development expert. He has achieved national prominence by teaching individuals, ministries and organizations how to socially and economically advance our urban communities to greatness using biblical stewardship principles. In 2004, Mr. Brown founded the nationally recognized 501(C)(3) non-profit organization, Urban Awareness USA, Inc., which provides educational resources & consulting to faith-based and community organizations to help them enhance the lives of the communities they serve.
Most of us have heard Dr. John C. Maxwell say, at least 100 times, "everything rises and falls on leadership." Although it's become cliché, it's absolutely true! Leadership and vision are the major keys to the overall health and growth of your church. This means that the current health and rate of growth (or decline) of your organization is a direct reflection of the leadership ability of the Primary Leader.
As you know, God has blessed me to work with churches and community organizations of all shapes and sizes from all across the country. I have observed almost every angle of church leadership and have identified ten of the most common mistakes church leaders make. These mistakes are normally subtle, but if unchecked they can have major consequences that keep churches from reaching their full potential.
TOP TEN CHURCH LEADERSHIP MISTAKES
1. Hiring Too Fast. Firing Too Slow. Every minute you delay in removing an ineffective leader you risk damaging the morale and effectiveness of the entire team. As Pastor, it’s your responsibility to protect your flock. This includes protecting them from each other. Many leaders are faced with challenge of removing disqualified or ineffective people from the ministry. Personnel decisions are often the most difficult decisions Pastors make in the day-to-day management of the church. These are difficult situations because as God intended, Pastors are wired with an abundance of Grace and Mercy for the people of the church. Grace and Mercy are important qualities that must always be present in ministry, but there is a delicate balancing act that must be played. The health of your ministry is dependent on the Pastors ability to make the right choices.
For example, If you have a team member who is hindering the overall effectiveness and moral of the team, as PASTOR YOU MUST PROTECT THE FLOCK AND REMOVE HIM/HER FROM THE TEAM. Apostle Paul said “we must speak the truth in love”. God requires us to speak the truth and its dishonest to keep someone in a position when you know they are not getting the job done. Further, if you retain ineffective people on your team you are interfering with God’s work by because they are adversely affecting the growth of the ministry?
2. Putting Projects before the People. Embrace the tension and find the balance between leadership and shepherding. It easy for churches to become project driven and not people driven. It’s the leaders responsibility to make sure the ministry is meeting God’s purpose.
3. Trying to Fix the Problem Rather than the Process. Ninety percent of the time it isn’t a people-problem. It is a process-problem. Many pastors spend countless hours attending to an ongoing problem. However, his or her time would be more productive developing a leadership organizational structure to support marriage , finance, Family and the community needs. After the organizational infrastructure is in place, I recommend the pastor encourage the congregation on how effective his leaders are in assisting their needs. This system will take a tremendous amount of pressure off the senior pastor.
4. Delegating Tasks Instead of Responsibility. It is hard to delegate, because many times we (wrongly) assume that we are the only one who can do it right. Many pastor’s struggle with letting go and let God use someone else in the ministry. Delegating the task will provide quality time for the pastor to pray.
5. Assuming rules influence culture. Following rules and regulations is easier than dealing with people and relationships. As the senior leader of your church you are responsible for establishing the right atmosphere in the organization (culture). I have learned that church culture is more important to growth then policies & procedures. In fact the church culture should be the greatest influence on the churches policies and procedure. As a pastor, your role is to set the tone for the organization. The best way to set the right tone in your organization is to treat your leaders the way you want them to treat your members. How you treat your leaders is your greatest tool for developing a healthy culture.
6. Not listening to God. All too often I talk to Pastors who have received instructions from God but because of fear or disobedients they fail to do what God has told them to do. Then to rationalize this disobedients the Pastor seeks "confirmation" from others. But in reality, the Pastor wants to avoid the short-term discomfort that sometimes comes with obedeants to God. If you are faced with a hard choice or have received instructions from God, I encourage to do three things;
a.) Spend lots of quite, uninterrupted, quality time with God,
b.) Listen to what He is telling you
c.) Most importantly do what He tells you to do...even if its hurts!
7. Dwelling on the Worst-Case Scenario. Worry might not be your issue, but everyone has an issue that can derail them. I challenge you to focus on the Best-Case Scenario. There always two questions you must ask yourself in any challenging situation. First, whats the best that can happen. Second, what is the worst that can happen? If you can deal with the worst case scenario you should take action and go for it!
8. Waiting Until There's a Problem to Provide Feedback. We have to discipline ourselves to encourage our team. Most importantly we must learn what motivates our people. Some people need a daily dose of encouragement while others need more quality then quantity. It’s your job to learn what makes your people tick and that only happens by spending regular time with them. I recommend you spend 90 minutes with each of your leaders every 3 to 4 months.
9. Staying Busy. We tend to think if I'm staying busy, I'm adding value to my organization. This is not always true. Can you monitor the results of your busy work? Is it just busy work without a plan.? We must work the plan and not let the plan work us.
10. Spending more time on Details than Dreams. We so often get caught up in the day to day of trying to survive until we loose focus on the big prize. The big God size vision to outreach to your community. We must have the clear plan written out so we can run for the goal daily.
"Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it" Habbakuh 2:2 NIV.
About Tracy J. BrownMr. Tracy J. Brown, devoted father and husband, is a distinguished author, speaker, businessman and urban development expert. He has achieved national prominence by teaching individuals, ministries and organizations how to socially and economically advance our urban communities to greatness using biblical stewardship principles. In 2004, Mr. Brown founded the nationally recognized 501(C)(3) non-profit organization, Urban Awareness USA, Inc., which provides educational resources & consulting to faith-based and community organizations to help them enhance the lives of the communities they serve.
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