Today and Tomorrow I will wrap up the things that I think will guarantee failure in planting, transitioning or leading a church.

You will fail if you are:

5.  Unwilling To Make The Hard Calls

It’s the bottom line – you have to make decisions.  As the leader this isn’t something you can hand over to a committee (there are a ton of churches trying that and they are dying… or dead and don’t know it).  To make wise decisions you have to have input from people you trust, but ultimately it comes down to you.  Hard calls are hard… they are suppose to be.  If the hard calls ever become easy you’ve lost your love and passion for people.  But, no matter how hard they are you’ve got to make them.  Calls like – someone on your staff that’s just not performing… even though you may be good friends you’ve got to make the call.  Someone who’s no longer able to do the job – perhaps the church/vision has grown beyond their capacity to perform.  If you can find another role they would excel in then move them, if not you’ve got to let them go.  Or perhaps you’re faced with a shrinking personnel budget in a struggling economy.  You can’t ignore reality… the personnel budget is only so big and you have to adapt.  Families are having to adjust, business are and the church is no exception – the alternative would be to no longer exist and that’s not the vision God called you to.  Other hard calls may be in volunteers – for example you need friendly people people as your first impressions/connection at your gatherings.  You may have someone who loves you and loves Jesus but doesn’t naturally connect well with others… move them!

6.  Coasting

I’ve seen it and done it, maybe you have too.  Those moments when you reach a place in ministry that you feel relatively “successful.”  The place where you used to think “if I ever get there I will have finally arrived” – maybe for you it’s a certain attendance, or number of salvation’s in a year,  or budget amount.  When you get “there” the temptation will be to stop doing what got you “there” and begin to… coast.  The slippery slide to comfortability in ministry kills growing churches.  Jesus didn’t call you to be comfortable – he called you to take risks… he did.  Keep pushing, keep reaching, keep learning… it’s the only way to keep growing.  You’ve communicated for years so now you can do it with your eyes close.  You don’t require the study you used to have to put it.  You can now walk out with little preparation and deliver at a level that you’re “okay” with.  Stop – the moment you flow like that you begin to lose your edge.  When your edge is gone your passion slides.  When you lose your passion you lose the very thing that God is using to attract others to your ministry.  You can’t pursue vision coasting.

Tags: C3 Church, ministry, pastors, theater church

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