By Dan Reiland<\/p>\n
The Church is a powerful force for good and the hope of the world. That has always been true. Yes, the Church is flawed, but it hasn\u2019t and can\u2019t fail.<\/p>\n
The Church is imperfect because people are imperfect, but the living, breathing body of believers focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ ultimately can\u2019t fail because God can\u2019t fail.<\/p>\n
And I tell you that you are Peter,\u00a0and on this rock I will build my church,\u00a0and the gates of Hades\u00a0will not overcome it.<\/em> Matthew 16:18<\/em><\/p>\n Notice two things:<\/p>\n When I take an honest look at the New Testament Church, I see the reality of miraculous life change and community transformation. Yet, at the same time, I also know the reality of daily problems.<\/p>\n The same is true today.<\/p>\n This is in no way an excuse for sin or disingenuous leadership.\u00a0It\u2019s a reminder of who we are and who we\u2019re meant to be: The Church. The literal Community of God and the hope of redemption.<\/p>\n The Church is the ordained instrument of redemption designed by God and fulfilled in His Son Jesus.<\/p>\n So, where does this beautiful plan break down?<\/p>\n Something happens.<\/p>\n Something changes.<\/p>\n There are many factors, but when we consider responsibility, we must at least start with leadership. The problems that leaders must solve are unending, the demands are unrelenting, and sometimes the line between right and wrong becomes blurred.<\/p>\n I\u2019m writing this post with the assumption that church leaders begin with redemptive intent. I\u2019ve never met a leader who started in ministry intending to hurt anyone or damage the reputation of a church.<\/p>\n Further, the overwhelming majority of those who lead in a local church are working hard and serving well. But that doesn\u2019t prevent the disheartening situations we encounter.<\/p>\n The key is to catch it early while there is still time to make course corrections.\u00a0These five points should help us accomplish that.\u00a0When we are aware of what causes us to stumble and eventually fall, we can be watchful, accountable, and make better decisions.<\/p>\n 5 Reasons Leaders Stumble and Fall<\/strong><\/p>\n 1) When the pressures of growth crowd out the promises of God.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> When these unrelenting pressures are allowed to crowd out the promises of God, trouble will eventually follow.<\/p>\n The promises of God include: He is always with us, He alone has the power to change lives, and He\u00a0will<\/em>\u00a0build His Church. When we try to lead the church in our own strength, running ahead of God (because we don\u2019t think He\u2019s doing things fast enough) or lagging behind God (because of doubt), we forsake the power of His promises.<\/p>\n Pressure will always be with us, so we must lean into God\u2019s gracious promises, power, and presence.<\/p>\n We must first be humble followers and allow God to lead.<\/p>\n 2) When human temptations are stronger than healthy habits.<\/strong> What is your great temptation? What is your leadership Kryptonite? It\u2019s important that you know so you can resist.<\/p>\n However, saying no to our greatest temptations rarely works by itself; we also need to replace them (crowd them out) with healthy habits.<\/p>\n What three healthy habits do you have that protect against your top temptations?<\/p>\n In general, healthy habits include practices such as daily prayer, genuine accountability within an authentic community, and margin for things like Sabbath, rest, and play.<\/p>\n But we can also employ specific good habits to overcome particular temptations. For example, the practice of daily gratitude helps overcome the temptation of comparison, envy, entitlement, and focusing on what you don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n 3) When the loss of authentic community skews perspective and gives permission.<\/strong> Isolation is a great danger for any pastor, staff member, or church leader. The scary thing is that you can be\u00a0among<\/em>\u00a0people but not really be\u00a0with<\/em>\u00a0them. So we must open up and be transparent.<\/p>\n Our perspective of ministry, the church, culture, and life, in general, becomes skewed when left unchallenged and limited to our own thoughts. Isolated and on our own, it\u2019s easy for our thoughts to become small (lack of hope), spiral downward (feeling discouraged or defeated), and lose connection with truth and wisdom. Community is vital. It then becomes easy to rationalize and justify (permission), which is an invitation to stumble and fall.<\/p>\n Can you name those in your close community where you have no secrets, and they lovingly but firmly hold you accountable? (We are in danger without this.)<\/p>\n 4) When a spiritually dry season continues to a \u201cdidn\u2019t see it coming\u201d progression down a dead-end street.<\/strong> Catch it early.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the way out:<\/p>\n First, don\u2019t beat yourself up or give up for feeling spiritually dry. Keep going.<\/p>\n Second, introduce something new, positive, and healthy to your routine. For example, make a change to your devotional life that creates something new, fresh, and life-giving.<\/p>\n Third, talk to someone, a trusted friend or spiritual advisor. Do not try to navigate a spiritually dry season alone for more than a few weeks.<\/p>\n 5) When passion for the mission turns to unhealthy ambition.<\/strong> It starts out good; to reach more people, see more baptisms, help more people break free from addiction, etc. But it can turn into a hunger for more authority, greater position, and more recognition.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t be quick to judge anyone; it can happen to any of us.<\/p>\n Leadership gifting and drive is a good thing and necessary, as long as it doesn\u2019t become unbridled and unhinged from biblical calling and accountability. The warning sign is when \u201cit\u2019s never enough.\u201d<\/p>\n No matter what you have, how big the church is, or how far the reach of your influence, it\u2019s just not enough.\u201d If you wrestle with that, I urge you to talk with a trusted advisor soon.<\/p>\n For all of us, a great practice that helps to keep us grounded is to: Reflect on the price paid for your salvation, remember your calling, and recall your humble beginnings and the blessing of God\u2019s grace that we get to do what we do!<\/p>\n \u00a9 2022\u00a0Dan Reiland<\/a>\u00a0| The Pastor’s Coach \u2013 Developing Church Leaders<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Dan Reiland The Church is a powerful force for good and the hope of the world. That has always been true. Yes, the Church is flawed, but it hasn\u2019t and can\u2019t fail. The Church is imperfect because people are imperfect, but the living, breathing body of believers focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":83097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3380,4661,276,266],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-leadership-articles","category-resources-ndi","category-sunday-school-and-discipleship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nThere are two kinds of pressure related to the growth of a church. The inner pressure a leader feels to be a catalyst for growth and the outward pressure that comes in responding to that growth.<\/p>\n
\nWe cannot escape the realities of our humanity, but they must never become an excuse (or permission) for giving in to temptation.<\/p>\n
\nA long-standing occupational hazard for church leaders is to help get everyone else in the community, such as a small group, and fail to get the same experience for themselves.<\/p>\n
\nA spiritually dry season is common and expected. The problem begins if you get stuck there \u2014 but there is a way out.
\nThe whole sequence looks like this.<\/p>\n\n
\nThe hunger for more is a slippery slope.<\/p>\n