Your church is either leading, influencing, or managing

Jenni Catron is one of those people I pay attention to. She has earned her way as a practitioner in local church ministry as executive director of a very influential church, Cross Point Church. She is also deeply invested in helping leaders grow to be more effective in their work.

The Leadership Distinctive outlines are thoughts on the difference between a leader, influencer, or manager. I've never really separated those words before, so it was a good exercise for me follow her line of reasoning. In my own life, I can see myself filling those three distinct roles. Sometimes it's my responsibility to make a decision and move a team forward. Sometimes it's my responsibility to encourage others to reach for a goal that seems beyond their ability. Sometimes it's my responsibility to make sure all the boxes are checked and things get done. All of these roles are important. But as Jenni points out, they're not all leadership.

The more I thought about these three concepts, I began thinking how they might describe churches. Some churches always seem to push people to see things in new ways, to experiment on tactics and strategies; always intentionally trying different things. Some churches are definitely influencing other churches in their approach, resolve, and maybe even results, but they aren't necessarily cutting a new path. And finally some churches are simply just making it happen. They are doing all the necessary things but seeing very little impact.

Which church are you today? Which church do you want to be? How will you get from where you are today to where you want to be?

In a strange way, churches brave enough to ask and answer those questions are the ones with the potential to lead, at least as Jenni defines it.


Posted by Steve Caton on Feb 13, 2012 10:49:08 PM