A Caution for Sideline Critics

One of my sons is a biotech research scientist. He recently told me about a conversation with someone who is connected to the field but is not a researcher. This individual expressed frustration with the amount of time required to go from a new idea to a successful experiment. My son remarked, “He doesn’t understand how many times you have to fail in order to succeed.” I recognize that ministry leadership is not the same as biotech research. But if you’re in the day-to-day trenches of leading a church or ministry – a senior pastor, executive pastor, director of a non-profit, head of a program – my son’s words ring true. The path to reach a desired outcome is rarely clear, and it is never a straight line. Any time my son starts an experiment, he believes it will work. The same is true for each new initiative that you undertake. But despite his and your best efforts, setbacks are all too common. The only real option is to learn from each of these experiences and keep trying. The remainder of this blog is addressed to a different group: the leaders who are not involved in the ministry on a daily basis. They are elders and board members, or serve on key committees or in pivotal volunteer roles. Do you get frustrated with the slow rate of progress in the ministry where you volunteer? Do you see failures and setbacks as signs of poor leadership? If you answer “yes,” then consider this question: Is it possible that you’re like the person in the conversation with my son? You’re connected to the ministry, but you really don’t understand the complexity of the leadership challenges in the trenches. It’s easy to stand on the sidelines and criticize, but have you grasped all that is involved? Consider a “simple” change. A church has a good small group program, but as worship attendance has increased, the number of groups hasn’t grown. At the annual elders retreat, a goal is set to double the number of groups over the next 3 years. While this may sound straightforward, it involves many steps, including identifying and training group leaders, deciding on format and content, getting buy-in from existing groups that may be affected, promoting the new groups to get people to join, and more. Some of the new groups may fail for any number of reasons. Now imagine that a year later you learn that the number of groups has only increased slightly. How will you react? Will you be the critic, looking for someone to blame? Or will you be curious, seeking to learn? Every leader has areas for improvement, but that won’t come from misplaced criticism. If you’re one of those leaders who is not in the trenches every day, the message of this blog is simple: Seek to understand before you decide to criticize. It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.]]>