As we lead ministries I hope our prayer is to keep growing. Not only to grow numerically but to grow spiritually, mentally and to grow in capacity of what we feel like we can do. I want to keep growing. I want to keep pushing. I want to see our ministry grow. I want to keep pushing it forward with God leading the way, as I’m sure we all do.

Here are some sayings as a leader I believe will stop you in your tracks:

I’m fine with where we are/I don’t like change – If this is true, then you have no desire to move forward. I love where I am at right now, but I have no desire to stay where I am right now in our ministry. Healthy things grow; growing things change; changing things keeps things fresh and moving things forward.

I won’t do that – This is a heart issue (unless it’s an unmoral thing, please say “I wont do that” but you get what I mean here). It is a selfish desire to keep what you have and will limit you to your own thinking of what you can and cannot do. Nothing will pinch your effectiveness by close-mindedness. Nothing will kill a spirit more than these words. Many people say this because they love what they have and the thought of saying “no” to what they have now could keep you from saying “yes” to something better. Our ministry is not ours, it’s God’s. We merely get the privilege to oversee it, watch it, grow it and care for the people in it.

I deserve this – Again, this is a heart issue. We deserve nothing yet God chooses us to bless us. “But I deserve a youth room”, “But we deserve a solid worship band”, “But we deserve…” fill in the blank.  This thinking will only stunt our growth and keep us bitter at the things we don’t have and think we deserve. Usually God is waiting on us to work with what we have to see what we could do with more if we had it.

What else do you think kills growth in you, your leadership or ministry?

 

@justinknowles3