Leadership

If you require that the fruit for your labors must always be visible and measurable, one of two things will happen, both of them bad: you will either lose heart and quit or you will become a manipulator of congregations.

All of us can have moments of wisdom. There are lots of “smart” leaders. Yet, for the term “wise leader” I’m referring to a unique category of leaders. These are leaders who have developed certain characteristics – wisdom learned from the personal experience of success and failure and from the insight of other leaders.

An outward focused church also cares for the congregation, works hard to keep ministries meaningful, but directs a substantial amount of thought, energy and resources to those who are outside the church.

“Our sanctuaries reflect our dinner tables. So if you want a diverse sanctuary, then you have to have hundreds of diverse dinner tables.”

This mood isn’t just reflected on the international front, but on the domestic front as well.

“You have to construct a philosophy of ministry where you show people that diversity and reconciliation aren’t fringe issues, but that they’re tethered to the gospel.”

We pulled together data from some of the largest and most influential research organizations in the country like Gallup, Pew, Barna, and Lifeway, to track how we’re doing when it comes to living the life Christians need to live.

There is one question I ask myself every time I receive a complaint. It would be difficult to be in leadership and not have people...