As a ministry consultant, I’ve traveled all over the United States and heard pastors say all kinds of things that just aren’t true. As a pastor, I must sadly admit that I’ve said and thought some of these things myself.
Here are a few examples.
“Small group campaigns don’t really produce long term fellowship and/or disciples.”
“Small group coaching doesn’t work.”
“Online church and online groups are ineffective.”
“Multisite ministry is not ‘real’ church.”
“Video preaching isn’t effective.”
All of these statements (and others like them) are things we as pastors sometimes tell ourselves so we can feel better about our own feelings of failure and insecurities.
Let’s face it, too often we’re looking for a plug-and-play system or a magic bullet for our ministries.
As a result, we often look at things that work for others incorrectly and do one of two things:
1. Cut and paste it ineffectively into our own contexts.
2. We verbally bash it.
Sometimes we do both.
Verbal bashing is a leadership cancer, and all I’ll say about it for now is this: Pastors, don’t you hate it when your people complain about your ministry?
Don’t give them a negative example to follow by being a complainer about other people’s ministries. If you’re gonna get caught saying something, get caught saying good things about other ministries. ‘Nuff said.
Simple cutting-and-pasting is poor leadership because it assumes that things should be easy.
