Healthy churches are built around healthy leaders. It begins with you. If you’re not healthy, your influence will be marginal at best. Are you ready for a fresh a start?
Here are six resolutions to set you up for success. They’re the foundation for helping you take your next steps in your leadership.
6 New Year’s Resolutions for Church Leaders
Establish a healthy pace.
God will not bless your life and your ministry if you deny his principles. That includes daily time to connect with God and prioritize our most important relationships. It means weekly taking a day to stop and take a sabbath. It means blocking off vacations months in advance for real renewal.
Invest in your family.
For many of us, that begins with our marriages. I started listing my friends who have blown up their ministry and their marriages because of infidelity. These aren’t people I read about in the news — these are people I have shared life with. The list is now in the double digits. Your marriage and your family need to come before your ministry, because unhealthiness will eventually end your ministry.
Grow with other leaders.
The emphasis is both on “grow” and with “other leaders.” You need both. Don’t settle for what you already know and what you’ve already done. Be stretched by other leaders. Gather with peers. Find a mentor. Connect with a coaching network. Be intentional about taking your next steps. If you think you’re beyond this, you are a very prideful person.
Serve people.
We lead because we serve. It’s what Jesus modeled for us. We serve the people on our team. We serve the people we’re trying to reach and help. Practically, it’s also healthy for us to get outside our comfort zones to serve people who are different than us. When we love God and love others, it makes our personal problems seem very small.
Build teams that embrace curiosity.
You can’t do it on your own. If you think you can, your dream is too small. You need other people. That’s the way God designed us. And you need people who aren’t satisfied with the status quo. They’re curious. They know they don’t have all the answers, so they’re always asking questions. You need people around you that will dream with you and then help you make it happen.
Spend time outside your every day world.
I see way too many church leaders who live their entire lives in a little bubble. They don’t get outside the walls to experience real people with real problems. They don’t take time to travel and take in new experiences. They don’t create space to discover new questions and new ideas. It’s hard to be a missionary in a “foreign land” when you don’t really know the people you are trying to reach.
The calendar says it’s time for new beginnings, and fortunately, we serve a God of grace who offers fresh starts. The world around us is changing. In many ways, it’s deteriorating. Because of that, real people need real hope in a broken world.
That’s where you come in. You can have an impact. But it begins with you being healthy.
