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The Top Five Guiding Principles for Ministries

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A friend of mine recently asked me, “What would you say should be the top five guiding principles for ministries?”

Here’s what I listed, slightly updated to make sense in a blog post. This is off the top of my head, so I wouldn’t say this is comprehensive, and of course every ministry also would have its own principles that express its individual uniqueness and calling. So this is a general, high-level list.

  1. Prayer and the word. Seeking to do all things in God’s power, which comes most as we trust his promises and are built up by his word, and fellowship with him in prayer. This includes asking him for the impossible and being set free from bondage to small dreams.
  2. Radical generosity. This is about others and the church first, not us! We are to be liberal and abundant in using all our resources for the good of others, even at sacrifice to ourselves.
  3. Servant leadership. This includes humble authenticity (not going after position, but becoming the lowest servant; this isn’t about our name but Jesus’ name), and along with this a leadership approach that explicitly seeks to build others up and unleash them, not control everything from the top.
  4. Love. Sort of repeating points 2 and 3, but it’s critical. Related to this is “respect for the individual.” Seeing people, especially employees, as valuable and letting that be the governing principle for how you treat everyone.
  5. Trust. We need to trust our people and be trustworthy ourselves, as trustworthiness is the foundation of trust. Trusting your people is what enables you to lead from values, not detailed rules, and lead in a way that unleashes their creativity and initiative.

 

Fruitful Leadership in the Marketplace: A Mini-Conference if you are in the Louisville Area April 14

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On April 14, the Saturday right after T4G, I will be speaking at the Engage@Work Spring Mini-Conference held by Sojourn Community Church from 8 am to noon.

I’ll be talking about fruitful Christian leadership, especially in the marketplace, and will cover about six main things:

  1. Why we must care greatly about leadership as Christians
  2. Can there even be a Christian view on leadership? Or, how to learn from secular thinking without infecting the church with the “managerial model”
  3. What is the essence of good leadership and how does the gospel transform it? The two core principles at the heart of effective gospel-centered leadership
  4. Leading for the good of others: Transactional leadership versus transforming leadership
  5. How do you lead well — especially in the marketplace? 8 things you can start doing right now
  6. Leadership and how the gospel changes our organizations, cities, societies, and the world

Also, bring your questions — the harder the better. Answering difficult questions on leadership, the Bible, theology, and anything else is one of my favorite things to do. (But don’t worry if your question seems more simple — I like those questions as well!).

Everyone is welcome, and the event will be held at Sojourn’s New Albany campus. Registration is $10, and the first 50 registrants will receive a 40% discount on my upcoming book What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done when it releases.

You can see more details on Sojourn’s blog and register here.

It would be great to see you there!

Why the Church has a Shortage of Leaders

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It’s because we are weak in the doctrine of vocation. Consequently, the way many churches are run does not develop or attract leaders.

This is not to say there are no good leaders in the church. Quite the contrary. But it is to say that it is often extra hard to become a good leader within the context of a vocation that is structurally connected to the church.

These words, from a book I read a few years ago on marketplace ministry, are worth pondering:

As a whole, the modern church has not created nor attracted strong leaders. Meanwhile, the marketplace attracts and produces leaders by the truckload.

Gifted leaders gravitate to opportunity, challenge, and learning environments offered by businesses. They are repelled by the small vision, autocratic leadership [take note — I think this is more common in the church than we realize!], lack of objectivity, chaos and foolishness that characterize many church environments.

The best leaders avoid the political environment as well because of its small-mindedness, blind ambition, dishonesty and inability to address real issues [again, note that he is speaking in generalities]. In church and politics, there is often little recognition or reward for effective leadership. But in business, leaders find their natural environment. They are almost always welcomed, rewarded, groomed, and given opportunity.*

This doesn’t need to be the case. Business should and will always be a natural environment for developing leadership. But the church can and should be as well.

If you read the Old Testament, in some sense leadership is a major theme that runs throughout. The judges and kings of Israel were leaders, and we have example after example of good leadership and bad leadership.

Further, God says in Jeremiah 3:15 that he will give the church “shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and insight.” This is in contrast to the shepherds that scatter God’s people and rule them harshly and for their own personal benefit (Jeremiah 23:1-2; Ezekiel 34).

Again, I’m not saying that the church has completely failed in developing leaders. There are many, many solid pastors and other leaders throughout the church. But I am saying that we haven’t done nearly as good a job as we can — and should. We need to do better. And, perhaps, it is actually prophesied that this will continue to happen more and more (Jeremiah 3:15; Isaiah 32:1-2).

The key to doing better is to recover the doctrine of vocation. Ironically, by recognizing the value of all vocations before God, we gain the framework for understanding what effective leadership really looks like in the church and how to develop it better.

*Marketplace Christianity: Discovering the Kingdom Purpose 
of the Marketplace

The Relationship Between Vision and Productivity

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A great podcast by Michael Hyatt on how better productivity practices don’t help unless you are headed in the right direction in the first place.

Here’s his summary:

In this podcast episode I talk about the relationship between vision and productivity. I share the story of becoming a divisional leader at Thomas Nelson. Better productivity would not have improved our operating results. We needed a better vision.

And here’s his outline:

I discuss how any leader can develop vision by following these seven steps:

  1. Get alone with a journal and a pen.
  2. Make sure you won’t be interrupted.
  3. Close your eyes and pray.
  4. Jot down your current reality.
  5. Now write down what you want to see happen.
  6. Share your vision with those who have a stake in the outcome.
  7. Commit to reading your vision daily.

Leadership Lessons from Star Wars

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This was funny, and insightful. It discusses five leadership mistakes embodied by the Galactic Empire in Star Wars.

Here’s a key part:

Mistake #2: Depriving people of the chance to have a stake in the organization.

By consolidating his power, the Emperor didn’t just ensure that his organization wouldn’t survive his death. He also deprived a key motivation for both his employees and the public-at-large: a feeling of having a stake in the success of the organization. The Emperor disbanded the Galactic Senate, removing the idea of any democratic stake in the government. He wiped out all references to the Force, so there was no longer any guiding ideology. His sole idea for maintaining control of the Empire was building the Death Star, on the theory that, in the words of Grand Moff Tarkin, “Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station.” Similarly, while in the first Star Wars film, there was a scene showing officers in the Imperial Navy discussing strategy, byReturn of the Jedi, it was clear that no feedback was being solicited anymore. The Emperor or Vader gave orders and that was it. No further discussion.

But as was ably demonstrated in this exchange in the movie Office Space, this is the worst possible way to get the best work out of your employees. Fear, combined with a sense of powerlessness, only inspires the bare minimum amount of work:

Peter Gibbons: You see, Bob, it’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care.
Bob Porter: Don’t- don’t care?
Peter Gibbons: It’s a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don’t see another dime, so where’s the motivation? And here’s another thing, I have eight different bosses right now.
Bob Porter: Eight?
Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That’s my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.

Key Takeaway: In order to get the best work out of people in your organization, you need to solicit their feedback, engage them in the decision-making process, and ensure that they have a stake in the success of the organization.

Is your organization led like the Galactic Empire?

20 Essential TED Talks for Future Leaders

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This is a helpful list from online universities.com. Here’s the intro:

If you want to get to the top in any field, whether it’s business, science, or even construction, you have to have some pretty solid leadership skills. Unfortunately, these kinds of skills often aren’t the sort of thing you’ll find being taught in your college courses, and may take some extra effort to learn and apply outside of your classes.

While there is little substitute for leadership experience through campus organizations, hearing from experts on psychology, leadership, and business can also be a big help in giving you a basic leadership education. TED is one of the best places to find all of these diverse subjects in one place, and here we’ve collected some of the best videos for anyone, young or old, hoping to hone their leadership abilities

So, You're Restructuring Again?

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There’s a great article over at WorldChristians called “So, Your Office is Restructuring Again?“.

Here are two good reasons for restructuring:

  • When you notice communication problems are creating mistakes. This often occurs in larger organizations when departments focus on their own projects resulting in conflict or competition with other departments. A restructuring may be necessary to better communicate, coordinate, and unite efforts.
  • When several new staff are added, it is necessary to create new structures for communication, connection, and accountability.

And, here are two bad reasons for restructuring:

Reasons that weak leaders use to restructure; if you are in an organization like this, watch out: weak leadership alert!

  • When you want to show that you can take charge and lead, but aren’t really sure what to do; restructuring gives the appearance of leadership and buys time until you figure out what in the world you are going to do. If this is your main motivation, don’t do it. Better focus on real, rather than cosmetic, accomplishments for the organization.
  • When you don’t have the courage to confront other leaders in the organization; restructuring can get them out of the way without having to confront them personally.

Defer–But for the Right Things

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Paul commands us to be “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21). One thing this means — among many others — is that we should be deferential to others (see also James 3:17; Titus 3:2).

To be sure, we shouldn’t sacrifice matters of core principle, or central doctrines, or ethics of the faith. But when it comes to the arena of Christian freedom, we should have a willingness to defer.

Nonetheless, there is still a need here for wisdom to guide us, because sometimes deferring to others is not the best thing — and it’s not selfish to stay the course.

I made the mistake of “wrong deferring” the other day when I was playing baseball in the street with my kids and some of their friends. They are new to baseball and just coming to understand it. A bit into the game, one of them said “let’s not play in teams, but just individually.”

I thought, “OK, doesn’t sound good, but I guess we’ll give that a try.” And, it went horrible. It wasn’t like a game of home run derby, but was confusing. So about an inning later, I said “let’s go back to the other way,” and I explained some basics of the game that are easy to take for granted. Then it went better.

I think it’s important not to have a “the leader always knows best” mentality. That’s why I went ahead with the suggestion that we change the structure of the game around a bit, even though I had a reservation. But, at the same time, sometimes the leader really does know best. So how do you avoid deferring in those cases, without being a squelcher?

In those cases, you need to ask: “Does this person actually know what they are talking about?”

It’s a simple question. If their suggestion comes from actually knowing a bit about the area, even if it sounds a bit outlandish, go ahead and give it a try if the consequences don’t risk sinking the ship.

But if their idea simply comes from not understanding the area, then be gracious, and don’t defer.

But don’t merely stay on track, either (which often equals discounting the suggestion). Rather, stay on track and do some teaching.

That’s critical, because the point of leadership is not just to go places, but to build people up in the process.

Suggestions are often a time for the leader to learn something. Many leaders need to do a better of job of knowing when it’s time to learn.

And then other times, suggestions and ideas are an indication that the person making the suggestion just might be clueless. In those cases, don’t discount them. But don’t defer, either. Take the time to teach.