leadership: forging a new path
April 2, 2006
have you ever had to follow a slow car on the highway? i have on numerous occasions. sometimes i might follow the car for a while, but more often than not, i'll change lanes to pass.
one day, as i was driving home on the 404, i was caught behind a line of slow cars. it was an on-ramp with two lanes. all the cars were in the left lane (mine included). i noticed that all the cars were slow because the lead car was slow. the right lane was completely clear. not wanting to wait so long, i decided to change lanes to pass. i wondered why more people didn't do it. maybe because they were comfortable following the slow car. maybe they didn't want to waste energy bothering with it. maybe they were afraid of the potential risk involved. i mean after all, you would have to switch lanes, pass the slow car and switch back to the left lane (the right lane was ending in the distance). a driver in this situation had three choices: one, follow the lead car, two, follow the lead car and complain (why are we moving so slow?), three, don't follow the lead car and pass.
from that, i started to think about leadership. what happens when your leader(s) move at a rate that is too slow or in disagreement of where you'd like to go? do you simply follow them? or do you follow them and complain (there are many people that grumble under certain leaders but never do anything about it!)? or do you take initiative and do something about it (like switch lanes and move ahead)?
i'm the type of person that would take initiative to do something about it, even if it's something simple like asking questions. i will not follow a leader simply because they are a leader. i must be convinced of the direction they are heading towards and their reasons for it. if i am not, like the traffic situation, i will switch lanes and move to pass.
being an idealist, i have ideas on how everything should be. with regards to the church, there's a certain picture i have of it in my head. too often i have seen leaders cop out of attempting new things or accelerating the pace of ministry (i mean moving it forward, not just being satisfied with it being "good") for whatever reason. it is difficult to sit under these leaders, because you don't want to undermine their authority.
the more i think about the leadership structure of a church, the more i see how vital the senior pastor is. he/she is the one who sets the direction of the church. if you are in not agreement of where they are heading, perhaps it's not the right church for you to be at. church members hardly have much say over the direction, core values, mission statement, etc. this is decided by staff, deacons and elders.
i wonder how many of us know all these different things about our churches. i have to be honest, i don't. i have no idea what the vision/mission/values of my church. but this is something that has been on my mind for a long time now. if we are going to commit ourselves at our church for an extended period of time (which we should!), we'd better understand what it's all about and where it's headed. otherwise, we may be doing a disservice to the church and to ourselves if we participate and lead ministries that head in other directions.
Posted by Leo Chan at April 2, 2006 9:45 PM
