Monday Morning Insights

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    What’s Your Church’s Biggest Strength:  Management or Leadership?

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    The percentage of churches in decline is America is substantial.  (I’ve heard as high as 90%!) It’s my hypothesis that each of these churches (and if you take the conservative church count in the country of 200,000 churches, 90% would be a whopping 180,000 American churches!) have to be ‘doing things right’ to some degree.  Doing things right means things like conducting weekend services, maintaining property and facilities, making payroll, and caring for their attenders.  In essence, as long as there are still people attending most churches, the churches, by and large, are ‘doing things right’, at least from a management standpoint.

    But what about the other 10% of churches in America that are growing and vibrant?  Could it be that they have moved beyond ‘doing things right’ to ‘doing the right things’?  Every single one of the growing churches I’ve seen are very outwardly focused.  They reach out and specifically target reaching their communities.  They move beyond ‘management’ to dare to try new things; new programs; and new approaches.  They are not afraid of change.  They are not afraid to confront the culture.  The are leaders.  And the result is a growing and community-changing church.

    FOR YOUR INPUT:
    What’s your church’s strength?  Management or Leadership?

    Leadership and management guru Peter Drucker once said, “Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things.” When I read that recently, I thought that this statement could be very true in today’s American church. Here’s my theory: Could it be that while most churches are ‘doing things righ’t, a smaller group of churches are ‘doing the right things’?

    Comments

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    1. Peter Hamm on Mon, March 10, 2008

      Leadership. Definitely.

    2. Roland Thomas Gilbert on Mon, March 10, 2008

      Great question. While I would like to believe our greatest strength is ‘leadership,” the evidence in our growth track points toward a hybrid of both ‘leadership’ and ‘management.’ We’ve been on a very slow and steady incline in attendance, but I would be hesitant to say we’re blowing the doors off its hinges.


      But what do I know? ... I’m only the Communications guy.

    3. Bryan Craddock on Mon, March 10, 2008

      I’m not even sure that you can say that the 90% are doing things right.  A lot of churches lack both leadership and managment.


      I’ve also met fellow pastors who have a desire to do the right things but don’t have the organizational, managerial skills to make them happen - leadership (to some degree) without management.


      As I understand Drucker’s idea, you’ve got to have both.  That’s what we find in the 10%.

    4. Ken B on Mon, March 10, 2008

      Is it possible to do the right things and do it right?


      Maybe the declining churches are doing the right thing poorly, and people are leaving to find a church that is doing the right things right.


      Turning the churches that have been around a LONG time into churches that are willing to try different means to reach the unchurched and the lost (not the same), and even to fail while looking for the “right things to do”, when in the past the majority of ministry was maintainence of the present membership, is a long, slow deliberate process.


      To do so takes both good managerial skills and spiritual leadership.

    5. Tye Male on Mon, March 10, 2008

      I am in a church is that is doing the right things and we are constantly evaluating our progress in this area. And as a result we have continued to grow at a very steady rate of 10% per year for 10 years.


      I know of churches that are in steady decline and they are doing things right. I think the hardest thing to do for a church in decline is admit that change is needed. They often say “this is what has been working for us so why change.” This is the reason it is so hard for Super Bowl champions to repeat.


      How do you identify the right thing to do? In our context it ministry is always done in the context of teams and I think this really helps us discover what that right thing to do is.

    6. Phil DiLernia on Mon, March 10, 2008

      Being the senior pastor of my church ... I’ll say LEADERSHIP!!   http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/smile.gif  just joking.  A good article that I’m going to send to my congregation today!  Leading up to Easter we spoke of Our Mission last week, Our Vision yesterday and we’ll do Our Values next week.  A perfectly timed article!


      Thanks God!

    7. Steve Ferris on Mon, March 10, 2008

      Whoever is leading without anyone really following is just someone taking a walk.


      Leadership starts the race. Management clocks the progress of the race. Together we win the race!


      Leadership plants the seeds, management waters the planting, God gives ALL the increase.

    8. Nate on Mon, March 10, 2008

      I agree with the posters who said its not an “either - or”  but both simultaneously.  Would you choose a hospital that was only doing one or the other?  “Hey Bob, this guy needs surgery, but I forget why… just give him a top quality appendectomy and we’ll hope for the best.”)  Hospitals do lots and lots of caring for illnesses they have already seen, and also research that advances the field of medicine—which is good becasue some doctors have some doctors have great bedside manner, and some are… House!  Reference Bobb Biel and his continuum of leadership—there are designers, developers and managers, and the church can use all three, no?

    9. Will on Mon, March 10, 2008

      Sadly, once again, another example of a well-meaning attempt but unbiblical advice from a Christian ministry.


      <u>First</u>, there is the problem of over-assumption by the statement, “The percentage of churches in decline is America is substantial.  (I’ve heard as high as 90%!).” If you’re going to give statistical facts, then make SURE it’s a statistical fact and not mere unverified gossip or rumor. There is an excellent article entitled, “Evangelicals Bad With Statistics”  about how evangelical leaders as guilty of throwing out statistics without verifying or giving away the source of their statistics. Todd Rhoades at least gives Peter Drucker as the source to the Leadership vs. Management phrase. But he needs to do the same when throwing out statistical quotes. Otherwise, it only makes Todd Rhoades appear disingenuous about whether what he has to say really is worth reading.


      And then the <u>second</u> problem with this article, which is a bigger problem than the previous one, is the utter sadness that for Todd Rhoades, and for many evangelicals out there (dare I say 90%?), the solution to church decline is not about “obedience vs. disobedience,” “repentance vs. unrepentance,” “faithfulness vs. unfaithfulness,” etc., but is about “leadership vs. management.”


      <u>Third</u>, I find it ironic that Todd Rhoades uses Peter Drucker and the “corporate business” concept as the answer to evangelical churches’ problem, but fails to apply another “corporate business” concept of decision-making, “Identifying the problem.” Todd Rhoades doesn’t even identify the deadly disease that has stricken the bloodstream, muscles, bones, nerves, and senses of evangelical churches. Instead, he merely sees a symptom and thinks his “Peter Drucker” bandaid will cure the problem. If we are to see an example of what is the problem with American evangelicalism, it is right here with Todd Rhoades’s entire faulty perception of identifying the problem and faulty solution. The disease that has incubated in the church is not that 90% of the church are failing to grow numerically and failing to be vibrant (whatever Todd Rhoades means by vibrant, I have no clue, as he fails to define what he means by it), but that the deadly disease is the failure to uphold the word of God as the only test for truth and as the only solution for the church to “be growing and be vibrant.”


      It seems to me that Todd Rhoads should read less of Peter Drucker and read more of Peter the Apostle.

    10. Todd Rhoades on Mon, March 10, 2008

      Thanks Will, for reading the blog of Todd Rhoades.


      Todd Rhoades never said that 90% of churches are in decline, but that Todd Rhoades had heard that cited.  This is Todd Rhoades’ blog, not the New York Times (but Todd Rhoades is probably 90% more accurate than the New York Times most of the time).


      “Otherwise, it only makes Todd Rhoades appear disingenuous about whether what he has to say really is worth reading.”  Todd Rhoades probably wouldn’t know what ‘disingenuous’ even means, so yes, Todd Rhoades is probably very ‘disingenuous’ (and a lot of other five syllable words).


      Your recommendation that Todd Rhoades reads more Apostle Peter than Peter Drucker is troublesome at best, since Todd Rhoades only said he read one quote from Drucker.  And unless you can prove that Todd Rhoades has read more Drucker than the “real Peter”, you really should back-up or foot note that statistic, lest you, yourself appear more ‘disingeuous’ than Todd Rhoades.


      Todd Rhoades’ ‘Peter Drucker Band Aid’ can only be taken with a grain of salt, because there are many people out there (yourself included) are obviously much smarter than Todd Rhoades.


      Respectfully,


      Todd Rhoades

    11. Leonard Lee on Mon, March 10, 2008

      In a culture that is not Christian, that is not biblical, that is not evangelical and not that interested, certain gifts of God’s Holy Spirit show themselves to be missing and much needed.  I believe that never in the history of the church in this country has this been more evident and I believe one gift the church has flat out overlooked is the gift of leadership.  To assume leadership is unspiritual is a mistake, since it is also a gift of the Spirit.  The problem is that we have far too many churches with leaders leading without that gift.  We have far too many churches that never seek to develop that gift in others.  Far too many churches are hoping that the good old days will come back, instead of figuring out how to engage this culture. 


      The church needs leaders and a management does not develop leaders rather keeps what is going on, going on.  Leaders develop leaders.

    12. Peter Hamm on Mon, March 10, 2008

      Will writes “...that the deadly disease is the failure to uphold the word of God as the only test for truth and as the only solution for the church to “be growing and be vibrant.””


      Do you have statistics to back that up, Will?


      Sorry, couldn’t resist.


      (Well handled, Todd Rhoades!)

    13. Homer on Mon, March 10, 2008

      Hmm …. Okay


      Having been employed in both the business and ecclesiastical world (often at the same time) I find this discussion interesting.


      I have been apart of churches well led and well managed. I have found that in both world experiences that management usually trumps leadership out when critical decisions need to be made. Let’s see in if I can get Donald Trump into the discussion.


      Having said that I am presently serving in a management environment church where everyone wants to be the manager. Traditionally the role of the church “leadership” has been to serve as the Pastoral Break Society.


      And I have read both Peter Drucker and the Apostle and found them both applicable to serving in the church.


      Thanks Todd

    14. Ken B on Mon, March 10, 2008

      I have only pastored one church that never grew and in fact declined all the days I was there.


      If the path to growth is “upholding the Word of God as the source for truth”, then that church should have been vibrant and growing.  I certainly didn’t change the message I preached in the other growing churches.


      I do however think that the lack of growth was due to not doing the right things, which we are not even discussing this week -  what those right things are.

    15. PT on Mon, March 10, 2008

      Certainly, as has been posted, both are very important.  If I had to choose between excelling at one at the expense of the other, I would definitely pick leadership (during the right things).


      I would, however, respectfully challenge the notion that the churches that are growing the most (numerically & financially at least) are the ones that must be doing both well.


      I don’t doubt that it is true in some cases, but I think it is dangerous to assume that they are automatically linked.


      For example, I’m sure we can all think of at least a few churches that have grown large but have done so while compromising certain Scriptural principles and doctrines. 


      I would suggest that some (by no means all) of the ‘fastest growing’ churches are in fact examples of organizations that excel in management but not leadership (at least that which is Scriptural).  In other words, they ‘succeed’ on the strength of their management (doing things exceptionally well) even while failing in Biblical leadership (doing the right things).


      Does anyone else see this?

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