Every year, in the fall, our student ministry sponsors a community-wide clean-up day for the elderly. We rake leaves, clean gutters, trim hedges, cut down trees, and whatever else they need done.
This year, we realized there just wasn’t a good day to plan something like that for everyone. We usually try to plan around big home games, band trips, holidays, etc., but this time, we just couldn’t make it happen.
We hit a roadblock.
I was super uneasy, because this is something that helps to show our students what we’re really all about – serving others. Furthermore, I really don’t want to cancel such an important event, because we didn’t want it to conflict with other things that don’t matter in the long run (Yep. I’m talking about football. Get over it.).
As our team was talking it through, someone proposed that each of our small groups could adopt a home and watch over them throughout the entire fall. The pro’s were obvious: scheduling is easier with a smaller group of people, continual focus throughout the season, and building community within your small group. The only con was that it didn’t carry the energy of the big community event day.
But who really cares? Are we really doing this for our momentum? Or for other peoples’ good?
So, maybe a roadblock is exactly what we need. It causes you to re-consider your motives, re-think your priorities, and re-engage your team.
Not to mention, a huge benefit of busting through a roadblock is that it demands that you bump up against your organizational assumptions. You know, the things that you believe to be true about your people and about your church. For instance, my assumption was that we needed to do our community event as a big group. I don’t know why that assumption existed or how it got there, but that doesn’t matter. It was there and I hadn’t questioned it until now.
What are the assumptions that are foundational to your systems? I guarantee, if you dig deep enough, you’ll find something that is outdated and obsolete.
Don’t be afraid of the roadblocks. Push through the obstacles. That’s leadership!
