Control Freak

on Mar 01 in Church, Leadership

I was talking with a friend the other day, who is extremely frustrated with his leadership level in his church.¬† When he was hired, he was told that he would be the “Director” of an entire wing of the church’s ministries.¬† The Executive Staff Team promised my friend “the chance to dream”, and to “create the overall vision” for his ministry area.

Four years later, he is frustrated, and is ready to quit.

I don’t have to go into the tiny details because you already know them.¬†¬† In summary, he’s feeling the long-term results of serving under an over-controlling boss.¬† My friend was given real responsibility, but no real authority.

Responsibility without authority.

This church is about to lose a true man of God, who will have a huge impact on His world in the coming years.  But his impact will be somewhere else.

Because he’s been given responsibility without authority.

Leaders in any organization can be very small people.  They can be so full of fear that they feel the need to control everything.   Even the people they hire.  They are anxious to add staff who will take a task-related weight off of them personally, but are far less anxious to hire staff who have a huge dream for the Kingdom, and who are clamoring for an opportunity to live it out.

In my quiet moments, I envision a church, or a business, where the key job of the Key Leader is to fan into flame the unique dreams of the people under him or her.¬†¬† I see a leader who hires big people with big dreams.¬† And the leader is big enough to constantly communicate, “That may not be the way I would do it, but I’ll support you every step of the way.¬† After all, I trust you.”

Because a leader cannot give responsibility without also giving authority.

Here’s the truth:¬† Every leader I know, especially the one typing these words, is scared.¬† Scared to fail.¬† Scared to let God down.¬† Scared to let people down.¬† Scared to leave humanity untouched when they die.

The mark of a real leader is never the absence of fear, but the willingness to hand their fears over to a God who is both good, and sovereign.

One hundred times a day.

So may God grant Key Leaders of Kingdom Organizations the confidence to give the sacred blessing of authority to those around them, and may He show us that there really is no such thing as “our vision” anyway.

It’s all His.