It’s Really Much Easier to Not Lead with Clarity at All

Let’s face it, there are much easier things to do than be a leader in the local church.

Especially easier than being a pastor leading toward a clear vision.

Pastors who are committed to pursuing God’s unique Great Commission call for their church face more than their share of obstacles. Last week, I had some time with three ministers from different parts of the country and varying denominational backgrounds who have all spent the last year in the complex work of leading with the simple clarity of a Vision Frame. These leaders related stories of transitioning staff members in conflict with the vision, and having hard conversations with high-capacity donors, and even watching core families leave the church over personal preferences that fell outside of the church’s defined strategy for making disciples.

However, even during difficult days, each pastor could see the value of clarity despite the high cost of leadership.

There are much easier things to do in the local church than to lead toward a clear vision. Come to think about it, it’s really much easier to not lead with clarity at all.

Here are 10 reasons it’s better to be unclear as a pastor:

1. Hard decisions never have to be made, because every idea is a good idea.
2. Staff meetings are more fun when you can laugh and talk about stuff,without the burden of execution.
3. You can always tell an anecdotal feel good story to refute any criticism, because who can argue with a salvation from 2003?
4. Doing everything and complaining about being busy, obviously makes youimportant and irreplaceable.
5. Besides, it takes too much work to grow and develop leaders, it’s much more simple to just do it yourself.
6. It keeps you from “getting too far ahead” of God… as if that’s even possible.
7. It keeps you dependent on the Holy Spirit, who evidently avoids spreadsheets and thoughtful planning.
8. It keeps you giving all the glory to Jesus when things go well, and confused on who to blame when they don’t.
9. Because the church is no place for business principles like direction, motivation and success measurements.
10. Finally, because there is always another church you can pastor, and you have at least 3 years of good message material.

If any of these reasons make you laugh just a bit uncomfortably, maybe it’s time for a leadership gut check. Are you willing to do what it takes, even when it’s not easy, to lead toward God’s vision for your church? Connect with an Auxano Navigator and start a conversation with our team.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bryan Rose

Bryan Rose

As Lead Navigator for Auxano, Bryan Rose has a strong bias toward merging strategy and creativity within the vision of the local church and has had a diversity of experience in just about every ministry discipline over the last 12 years. With his experience as a multi-site strategist and campus pastor at a 3500 member multi-campus church in the Houston Metro area, Bryan has a passion to see “launch clarity” define the unique Great Commission call of developing church plants and campus, while at the same time serving established churches as they seek to clarify their individual ministry calling. Bryan has demonstrated achievement as a strategic thinker with a unique ability to infuse creativity into the visioning process while bringing a group of people to a deep sense of personal ownership and passion.

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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for this information. I'm going to use this article to improve my work with the Lord.
 
— Abel Singbeh
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 

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