Sometimes leaders need to walk away. Protect their souls. Save their families.
PLI invests deeply in leaders…
- Gaining clarity about who they are.
- Navigating change. Chaplaining loss. Discovering vision.
- Leveraging spiritual, relational, physical, emotional well being.
These are fundamental building blocks!
I’m a big believer in seeing churches that are languishing and have…
- lost their way,
- lost hope,
- lost a sense of future,
…experience renaissance and renewal when God so elects to breathe new life into dry, dead bones.
I’ve seen it. Repeatedly! For Gail and me, it’s been a staple of our life and ministry. We’ve experienced an unusual amount of joy in seeing God move and breathe in bodies left for dead.
It’s hard. It can cost leaders a lot. It takes…
- Leaders who will legitimately risk leading.
- People willing to discover God’s vision.
- The unprogrammed breath of the Spirit.
It can happen. It happens over and over again!
So, what I write today probably sounds a bit uncharacteristic for me. Some churches and some organizations simply need to be allowed to collapse before they might change.
And leaders need to walk away. Protect their souls. Save their families. These entities are propped up by vested interests, oftentimes conflicted vested interests, or they’re gaining momentum on the wrong road. No leader, no matter how good and godly, seems able to intervene in the inevitable. Pride, stubbornness and traditionalism seem to win the day.
Churches and organizations like these always have an enemy they’re fighting. Responsibility for their decline and demise always reside in forces beyond themselves…trends, culture, “this generation”, demographics, birth rates, the current leader, the past leader, etc.
Seldom a discerning eye lands on their own failings and faults. There’s a resilient resistance to humble repentance. No dance of reconciliation. Sad to say!
For all the times where God speaks to dry bones to clatter together life that’s not deserved, there are times when leaders of churches and organizations must surrender their collapse.
And leaders must walk away. Protect their souls. Save their families.
Only in collapse might there be change.
Sad to say!
Rev. Dr. Jock Ficken
