Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Hey Fletch … We are bringing in a new leader to a ministry area in our church. We are hoping that this new person can bring fresh insight and make needed decisions. Our former leader had received lots of complaints for “stale thinking,” and “not being motivating.” I wonder if we are having some idealistic thinking about this new leader.
DRF—Let me answer this one with a personal story. A long time ago, I oversaw a ministry area with about 120 people in it. Things were running fine and people seemed to be happy. A new area at the church came open and I took a new position.
I learned from my replacement that the church leadership had high hopes of seeing my former area grow from 120 to 240 people. They thought that with a new face and insight, that it could double.
As a leader, I see that new staff can bring new perspectives to ministry areas. However, new staff are not a panacea. If your church culture has kryptonite in it, even Superman will lose power.
Back to my experience … the new guy took my position, thinking he could grow the ministry within six months. Well, a year came and went, and the ministry not only didn’t grow but it declined by 20 people or so. I don’t know why, but it did.
Perhaps I handled the “oppositional elements” better or perhaps my season was a better season in that ministry. Perhaps it didn’t rain so much or the economy was better. There were few cogent reasons.
It did teach me the truth in a great adage: the grass is not greener on the other side of the hill.
