There are lots of ministries that look like they've got it all together. You walk in and are blown away by the decor. You talk to the leader who shares with you how awesome the ministry is, everyone knows the 5 core values and the curriculum they use is just amazing. From the outside looking in you might be thinking it's the perfect ministry! Because you are visiting or evaluating you get a lot of smiles and everything looks like a well oiled machine, but is it? Unfortunately, sometimes it's just a facade.
After digging a little bit deeper you find out that although everything looks great, the picture painted is awesome alright, it's just a little out of focus. The people who were smiling at you are the same people who feel uncared for, misunderstood or not empowered. They are filling a hole because their children are in that room, or because they have always served in children's ministry!! How does this happen?
It's simple, the task can seem so exciting that we forget about the people who carryout the week to week ministry. As a big vision leader, I can see what can be and it's so tempting to focus on getting the tasks done. The problem is that the people come second, this should not be! There is balance to every tension, we must navigate that tension and if we fall too hard on one side or the other, it must be the people side. I recently listed to a brief John Maxwell talk from Catalyst. He was asked to share one thing about leadership. Of all the things he considered he landed on this; "Intentionally add value to people every day." If you constantly sow, the reaping will happen. Pour into your leaders, care for them, understand them, empower them! The tasks are the easy part, but not at your leaders expense. If you value your team, they will gladly help with the tasks!
Repeat after me, people before task.....
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