Sunday Morning Coffee Musing:Death by Routine: Leadership

Routines are good. They create stability. Routines get you going and give you a certain flow to your day. Have you every noticed how some lose it when that routine is interrupted? It’s rarely a pleasant surprise. But, when it is, we certainly appreciate it.

In some worship places, there are rituals and routines. In your life their are rituals and routines. It’s not so much the rituals that become an issue in either one of these places, but it is not discerning when you have turned a routine into a ritual. Some marriages suffer because of routine. Some friendships suffer because of routine. Some work environments suffer because of routine. Some churches die…because of routines.

I’ve seen churches pray for a revival so that souls can be saved when it’s their hearts that need to be revived. They pray for a revival to light their fire and put the fire out the next Sunday. “That was good!” they say. “But did it create a change in you?” I think. Even leadership suffers from the syndrome of routine. “This is the way we have been doing it and we shall continue…even if we notice membership has dropped over 65%, we will continue to blame sin and the world. We will refuse to self reflect and say are we doing something wrong? Do we need to make some changes? What do the people need from us, vs what do we need from the people.” Trust me when I tell you after sitting under 3 different leaders, I can tell you the attitude of the leader makes the biggest difference in a church. Like priest, like people  is one of the truest statements in the Bible and can be applied to leaders of the world. Just look at America now. Just look at the leader on your job or look at yourself if you are a leader. Your people reflect your thinking. They reflect your attitude.

On the job, I have seen leaders with a vision, but they have not been able to communicate to the people effectively how to execute the vision. And so it fails or it goes awry and by some stroke of luck, it comes together. Same in church. If a leader has a vision and only shares it, but gives no way instructions, or unclear instructions, either nothing happens or chaos happens. And telling a pastor, he or she needs improvement is a very difficult thing. They have egos. They are hearing from God. They are the leaders. You are the sheep. But, there are leaders in the midst of the sheep. There are ideas and solutions in the midst of the sheep.

He or She who has an ear, let them hear.

~Nikki