LEADERSHIP

• Pandemic emergence…
• At the end of the long road…for many we have arrived at the end of the pandemic.
• Churches are lifting all previous Covid restrictions.

To what extent do you see us at the end of the Covid experience?
How do we know when “it’s” over?
Does leadership and membership accord over these issues?  What happens when they do not?

– – – – –

• The pandemic called for risk management.
• In risk management leadership seeks to minimize risk and keep people safe. (All our safety precautions can be seen through this lens.)
• This made for great experimentation in the church, unlike has been seen in decades. (Change, shift, reformation…)
• “Danger, danger Will Robinson!” What’s the danger?

What’s the danger?

• That the great experimentation will stop.
• That we have become risk managers and miss the moment this presents for the gospel!

Do you see this as a moment of great opportunity?

RISK TAKING

For the sake of the gospel, this moment of opportunity will call for risk taking over risk management!!

“The rupture of our former model of doing church has opened doors for risk taking that wise leaders will recognize. Rather than revert back to ‘normal,’ thoughtful leaders will recognize that this is our chance to reverse the ominous trends of the last 20 years.”
– Bill Wilson, June 1, 2021, [LINK]

• It is about recognizing the “seasonal” shift –when is the moment to shift from risk management to risk taking for the sake of the gospel?
• Because risk management is where we have been it will be easier to stay in that “space” over taking bold leaps.
• This is NOT flipping a switch! It is flipping our leadership mindset and motivation.

RISK TAKING LEADERSHIP: FIVE CHARACTERISTICS

1.  “We acknowledge that we are in the middle of a crisis that is larger than we have realized. For many of us, a sense of urgency that has been lacking needs to be fed and funneled into some hard conversations.”

How do you connect this pandemic with the previous couple decades in the life of the church?
What is your sense of urgency in your church?
Do you have what it takes to have the hard conversations?

2.  “We spend more time reconnecting with our reason for being and reconnecting with those priorities. We go back to Acts and devour those stories and lessons.”

How do you connect with your own “reason for being?” 
How do you do with with quiet, personal, theological reflection on your priorities?  Are you doing such reflection?
Who are you accountable to for being connected to your reason for being?

3.  “We confess that much of what we do and how we do it is simply preference and not Gospel priority. We humble ourselves and acknowledge we’ve drifted far from the focused church Jesus envisioned.”

“Much of what we do is simply preference and not Gospel priority,” do you agree or disagree with this?  What can you point to? 
What is your process for editing what you do?
How does/does not the expectations you have for yourself align with those church members have of you? And, does it align with Jesus’ priorities for you?

4.  “We put aside personal comfort and preference and embrace the idea of being part of a gospel movement rather than a member of a church club.”

How do you tell the difference between a gospel movement and a church club?
How has our education and system prioritized being a church club over being a gospel movement?  What might be done about that?

5.  “We personally pledge to engage in and participate in some form of risk taking that makes us uncomfortable, so that our church may not only survive but also thrive. We commit to criticize less and pitch in more.”

What is one risk-taking behavior you can name as you consider your ministry? (Yours, not the church’s!)
How has our thirst for comfort prevented us from being the leaders we are called to be?  …from being the disciples we are called to be?

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