Taking Time For Leadership

I am in Colorado Springs on behalf of my wife who serves on a global ministry board, so as she is in meetings, I have some time to reflect.  As it was pointed out in an informational meeting I had this morning, there are two kinds of ministry environments:

1. Task orientation: lets get the job done and accomplish what this ministry was designed to be

2. Relational orientation: lets find ways to be relational in our approach to ministry

I have been involved in both, and they both bother me.

The task orientation is driven by doing so much stuff that it makes ministry seem impossible, and all it does is justify the reason the ministry exists. On the other hand, I have been with relational people who spent all day relating to each other, but get nothing done for the ministry. I realized that in some cultures, you have to be relational because you won't get anyone to work with you if you are strictly task oriented.  However, if you don't accomplish some meaningful work that can be measured in our culture, the donors will think twice before giving any more support. 

Getting to know your ministry team and helping them know the objectives of the ministry is critical to getting them to accomplish the tasks of the ministry. Orientation around the task itself will not produce the buy in necessary by your team members unless they feel they have an emotional part of the task at hand.  Designing the objectives of the ministry is one way to build trust and cofidence in working together, and eliminates the threat of a top down organization, which no one appreciates today. 

Now why did I go down this trail with you today?  Because the environment is dictated by the leadership, and the leadership must be responsive to what works among people today.  Our world has changed, and if we are going to attract the new younger generation to the ranks of ministry, we have to develop ministry models that will draw them.  We can no longer expect that our experience in ministry will be enough to attract a bright enterprising candidate to work in the non-profit ministry sector today. The challenge of the ministry is about putting out a ministry product that is effectively engaging people to make decisions for Christ.  In ministry after ministry that I am familiar with, their leadership team is white haired or at least gray.  Every ministry organization is struggling with how do we attract the next generation to give up the lure of the corporations, to work for less in a minsitry setting?  I believe we can attract the new generations to the mission field of the non-profits but we have to give them a stake in how to craft the objectives and strategies to reach their generations for Christ. We need to take time to develop these new younger leaders not in the methods of our day, but with new creatively innovative methods of today.  Recently I read about the new armies in the world of tomorrow will be internet hackers who know how to stop computers from running within a country. They would be able to stop the flow of commerce, and that country would be vulnerable for a hostle take over. If this is possible in today's world, why couldn't we raise up an environment of young people who could hack the internet with a media blitz that would bring the message of the gospel to every person on line?

This is what takes time. Time to think through how we are using the leadership gift God has given to us in order to raise up future leaders who could have the capacity to challenge the world for Christ. It just a matter of letting go of the control and allowing the younger generations of shepherd boys like David to face the Goliaths of our day.

Keeping it honest and truthful......K