“I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.” – Benjamin Franklin
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell
We’ve heard it many times that “failure is not an option!” One of the reasons I enjoy working at South Hills is that my pastor allows us freedom to succeed and freedom to fail. Failure can easily be viewed as a negative. And, in our instant gratification society it usually always is a negative. People do not have the freedom to fail as they use to.
Even in the church failure is no longer an option. Leaders can be impatient to “go to the next level” and do not allow their staff to learn through failure. Because people are not able to fail it stifles their confidence and ability to produce, whether creatively or analytically.
As a children’s pastor I want to allow my staff and volunteers the freedom to fail. I’m not talking about making failure a habit, but I am talking about allowing people to grow, learn and discover through failure. If we have an event and it bombed because someone dropped the ball or because a certain aspect wasn’t planned correctly you bet I would be a little upset, but I would coach that person through what happened, so they can learn and succeed next time.
Is your kid’s ministry afraid to fail or is failure allowed so that leaders can be developed? What say you?
PJ
