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Lewis Center for Church Leadership

Leadership

My #1 leadership mistake

1leader mistake

No matter if you are the head of a company, organization, or church the responsibility of leadership can weigh heavy with worry. You do not want to make a mistake. You do not want to look incapable. Often, leaders make more mistakes out of fear thinking they are avoiding an organizational misstep.

When I became the head of staff as a pastor, I was excited to be the leader to help a church take a new direction. I spent many long hours refining organizational procedures, developing lay leaders, and getting my sermon messages just right. I read all the books I could and attended the best conferences on leadership. I learned leadership best practices. After many years of spending an exhausting amount of time on making a vision a reality, I often became disappointed. Why were things not working as intended? Why is this taking so long? Why are there not more people jumping on board? Why are we not growing faster? These questions haunted me for years. I questioned my calling to ministry.

Then, I realized that I made the #1 leadership mistake:

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Lewis Fellows

Young Clergy Unite

This past week I attended the first gathering of my Lewis Fellows cohort in and around Washington D.C.  I blogged about the whole program and the reasons why the Lewis Center for Church Leadership focuses on young clergy. It was a wonderful experience to connect with other young clergy because there are so few of us.  Also, ministering in Upstate New York, I do not get opportunities like this.  It was extremely affirming to be in a gathering where younger clergy are seen as critical to the present and future Church.

Our sessions were thoughtfully led by experts and leading pastors.  Much of our discussion revolved around leadership, vision, practice of ministry, dealing with conflict, and transforming churches. Not only was the theoretical covered in our meetings, but practical learning.   We visited churches and talked with pastors who were able to transform their churches or in some cases bring a church back from death.

As I participated in the discussion, it was clear that not only do clergy need to understand leadership, but lay people need to understand certain realities of church leadership:  Continue Reading…

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