One of the statements that leaders speak that makes me cringe is the statement, “We’ve Never Done This Before.” This statement epitomizes a culture of complacency and contentment. It is a statement that causes us to wallow in a stale place and this has no place in the Kingdom of God.
Last night we held our Mid-Winter Institute and Revival. We are teaching on Christian Leadership. In the material discussing leadership we discussed that a leader must “Accept Your Restlessness”. This topic is speaking to leaders not being content with the status quo.
I began to think about how we as leaders can sometimes become so complacent in the work that we do the same thing over and over and over again. We operate and plan without praying or asking God for a new, creative flow for ministry. I challenge my leaders that if you are planning a program for a new year and you pull the program out from last year and just change the names on program, are we really being challenged to asking God if this is the method that He wants again.
I believe that there are some reasons we get complacent in the work.
(1) We have success in the work and you ride it until the wheels fall off. Sometimes we think that just because it worked before, it will work forever. The world changes…our ministries should appreciate and embrace that change.
(2) We don’t want to challenge ourselves. Once we have struggled through the challenges of ministry…we don’t want to go through that again. We end up keeping the same format again and again.
(3) We don’t want to accept new ideas (especially if it is not ours!) Often times the Lord sends people to help us in the ministry but we are afraid of letting go and not getting the glory that we suppress outside help.
If you are complacent in your work then you must ask God to open you up for a new, fresh and effective revelation for the work. The Lord deserves OUR BEST! What we do…we are to do it wholeheartedly.
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This sentiment speaks to a blog last week regarding why people are not attending church regularly. As leaders we should be always be looking for new and innovative ways to advance the kingdom of God. The world is always creating new traps to pull people in.
In the church many have relevance through church positions. They work their way to the top and work to maintain that spot. Never considering that God may want to use them in other capacities, have them mentor someone to replace them, or just change how they approach ministry. This discourages people with gifts and talents to use them in the church. This “pay your dues” mentality has weakened many ministries. I am constantly amazed at how many are sitting on their gifts mainly due to not being asked or because the ministry wants to maintain the status quo.
It is hard to tell a person who is bursting with creativity and zeal for God, to wait because your time will come. But, we do that in our actions and deeds.