Jesus didn’t make everyone happy. He didn’t give in to everyone else’s idea of what He was supposed to do or be. He remained focus on His mission.

He worked with a volunteer staff of rag tags and un-cultured folks, let them make mistakes, invested in them, restored them and released them.

Maybe there’s a book or something in here!

Yet, it’s rarely the mission we leaders point to.

We point to the ‘benefits’ of serving. Which paints us in a corner when the mission is getting missed and we have to change or kill a program that we earlier sold as a ‘benefit.’

I think the first step in changing the culture is to lift up the mission/goal NOT necessarily the benefits of serving.

Consequences play a huge part in the difference. If we fail at something in our jobs or our businesses we risk losing our livelihood. If I continue to churn out solutions that don’t work, I will eventually get fired or my business will fail. There is a sense of urgency in business that we lack in ministry.

But what are the real consequences of a failed attempt at ministry? A few less kids in the youth group? Less people at the fellowship dinners? One less night a week of that pesky life group?

The real consequences are the potential loss of souls, but we’ve become so accustomed to that thought that it doesn’t really bother us as much as we let on.

For people in the ministry it is more naturally a big deal, but to “Joe Congregant” it doesn’t matter or we know we can shift the blame to the pastors and leadership if things get hairy. We would much rather be comfortable and do things we know how to do than to do something we don’t understand because we don’t have a real grasp on the consequences.

I’d love to sit in on a discussion about this one, because I have several rabbit trails I could go down, but I’m not sure exactly where any of them end up.

Sorry, but I don’t feel like writing it again. O! I do remember what I had written. This is a inside joke.

Very good article and I”ll just say Amen to it and leave it at that.