Balancing Leading for Me and Leading for the Organization

Every leader needs to balance the tension of “leading for me and leading for the organization.”

I balance it everyday.

Here’s what I mean.

I’m sometimes going to lead for me. My preferences. My tastes. My individual style is going to be reflected in the church. That’s part of leadership.

I’m certain leadership of the people looked different under Moses than under Joshua. (Joshua apparently didn’t have a stick. 🙂 )

If my leadership is effective at all it will have an impact on the church. At the same time, I have to be very careful as I lead, and with the structures we implement, and the vision I cast, that I’m not being egocentric. We have a bigger vision at stake. Hopefully the church lasts much longer than me.

I know the church is going to resemble me. It is going to reflect my leadership.

But the church doesn’t need to look like me. It should look like Jesus.

Do you see the difference?

This is a tension for every organization. Christian or not. Non-profit or for profit.

Consider Apple. Apple resembles Steve Jobs. It should. He built the company. He’s a mastermind behind it all. But it didn’t need to look like Steve Jobs. It needed to look like Apple. Imagine what would happen now if it had only been built around Steve Jobs. Apple looks like Apple. That’s a good thing if you like Apple products.

I see too many planters and pastors shaping the culture to look like them. It’s dangerous. It’s not sustainable. And, frankly, I don’t think it’s Biblical. When they leave the church will likely struggle with an identity crisis.

Here are some ways I attempt to balance this tension:

• If the decision has long-term implications I include multiple voices.
• I try not to always have an answer to every problem.
• I surround myself with really smart people. And, give them authority to question my judgment.
• I step back often to observe a bigger picture.
• I’m trying to shape paradigms of good leadership more than specifics of structure.
• I try not to micromanage.
• I empower people to make decisions without my stamp of approval.

People want to follow a vision that is bigger than today. They want progress. And, granted, to accomplish that, people want and need a leader. I believe God even allowed things to be set up that way. The tension is to not use that felt need of people as an opportunity to build my own kingdom.

Here’s a very practical example of how that is currently playing out in our church. Our church governing structure needs some tweaking. The current system, with a monthly business meeting on a Wednesday night, where major decisions eventually have to be made, attended overwhelmingly by seniors — who by the way are among the most faithful members of our church — is not sustainable long-term. The younger generation of people are not buying into that system. They don’t care about the business of church as much as the mission of church. In 10 years, unless we make changes, the room will be much smaller and it will be difficult to get anything done effectively with our current structure. That’s not being cruel. It’s being realistic.

In recommending that we need changes, I have suggested a team that is cross representative of the church, made up of laypeople in the church. I’ve offered resources and other church models for them to consider. But, then I’ve tried to get out of the way, as much as possible. I’ve even suggested, should anyone think this is personal to me, that they make changes effective the day I leave office as pastor. (I’m not anticipating they will do this but I’m that serious about not shaping a church to look like me.)

The bottom line in this illustration is that I’m in a church that’s 105 years old. That is over twice my age. I hope this local church body survives long after I’m gone (unless of course Jesus returns.)

That will be easier if I’m not the identity of this church – Jesus is.