Choosing the Moment to Lead
The best leaders don't understand only why and how, but when.
Timing is very significant in spiritual leadership. Indeed, timing played a major role in shaping Jesus' ministry and death. Not only would Jesus not go to the cross for the wrong reasons. He didn't go until it was the right time ("Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father" [John 13:1; NIV]).
Great leaders understand the importance of timing, specifically when it comes to making decisions. There are right times to consider issues and right times to make moves. Conversely, even the right issue tackled at the wrong time faces certain defeat.
There is no formula for great timing. It is part instinct, part intuition, part paying attention to surroundings, part prayer life, and all of the above. But it is not guesswork. Leaders who have a good sense of timing seem very wired into their situations while, at the same time, wired into God for a perspective that transcends just what the leader and his or her advisers can see.
Leaders adept at timing know how to read audiences and situations. They have practiced this over the years, testing out their hunches and intuitions. They have learned how to monitor their own internal sensors and when to pay attention to the voices around them and the voice within. Leaders with great timing know how to test the water, sniff the wind, and commit just enough to gauge reaction before committing it all. They risk, but they do not gamble.
The pastor of a large urban church defied conventional wisdom: he consolidated the number of worship services to just one when the congregation moved into freshly renovated space. After a year of being dislocated from their worship center, he felt the church's sense of community would be well served by being together. The spirit of the services went sky high. The atmosphere for the next months was electric. Four months later he announced a move back to multiple services. He wanted to do it before people's new routines became set. Both calls were made by a savvy leader who is a pro at understanding timing in leadership.
Sometimes the leader is ready to make a decision, but other people need time to catch up.
Leigh knew that her ministry role was coming to an end in the organization she had joined six years earlier. She was not distressed with her current assignment; she simply felt called to another city to become a part of a ministry there. Yet she knew that timing was going to be important. For two years she prayed about when to leave. Every time she felt the urge to announce her departure, she resisted it. She discerned that though she was ready to move on, some facets of her world were not yet completed, either in the organization she was leaving or in something God was preparing for her. Leigh's decision to hold off was confirmed when an unforeseen crisis emerged that she was uniquely qualified to handle. After the crisis, Leigh sensed that the timing was now right for her to resign and move. When she did, she almost immediately discovered a group of people who had only recently begun to pray for God to send someone with Leigh's technical skills to launch their new ministry. The timing was perfect—God's and Leigh's.
How have you observed the importance of timing in your leadership? How do you know when the time is right to implement a big decision?
Excerpted from, Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders by Reggie McNeal (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2006). Posted with permission from Jossey-Bass/Wiley.
Tags used in this post:
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1073
Comments
I wanted to ask a question about church staff and thought this would be a great place since church staff falls under church leadership.
What is your thoughts on your family (church staff) not being able to make to the Wednesday night service at church? Between new school schedule, a lot of homework (we have 3 kids), and tunnel traffic, it has been very hard for the family to make it to church. It was part my decision to let them not have to come. If you saw what my wife looked like when arriving to church by 6pm, you may have agreed with me. I wrestle with this decision though because I know that many in our church hold a "high view" of this mid week service. I feel like that i am caught between a rock and a hard place. As fellow staffers, do you have grace and mercy for me or do you condemn my actions. My pastor at this time has not had feedback from the church and he has no plans at making it an issue and has not condemned my families choice.
Posted by: joe | April 7, 2008 11:30 AM
Dear Joe,
Remember something...God instituted the family before he instituted the local church. You are a wise man. In the 50's and 60's the mindset for pastors was, "You take care of the church, and God will take care of your family." Consequently we raised a generation of God-haters and rejectors.
G. Morgan Campbell was on his deathbed. The doctor told his wife that time was short and that she should go spend time with him. She didn't stir. When the doctor confronted her about her unconcern, she replied, "Sir, the church has been his mistress for the past forty years, why would he choose to see me when all these years he has placed his family second?"
Guard your family. It is a toehold that Satan would love to utilize. If at the end of the day your children are serving God out of joy instead of obligation, when your wife can look you in the eye with that twinkle, when you are standing before the God of this universe...He is the only one you ultimately have to answer to.
Will you take shots from members in the congregation, more than likely. Before God, is this what you know God wants you to do, then: you+God= a majority. God knows and He's listening to your heart and to your wife. I'll be praying for you.
Pastor John
Posted by: John Stevens | April 11, 2008 2:53 PM
Joe,
My wife and family regularly show up 20 minutes late for church on Sunday morning. I have no problem with it and could care less if anyone else does. Here's why.
I pastor the church. We drive separately because I have to be there early. We have five children, two of which are under the age of three. That means she is left to feed and clothe everyone, including herself, and get them out the door and drive our old van 20 minutes to the school where we meet. And since one of our babies still nurses in the night, and since our weekends are usually quite full, she is regularly short on sleep.
I don't expect people to understand all this, nor do I worry about explaining it. It just is what it is right now - a season of life that we're in which limits us greatly. You are in a similar season. It is enough for you and your wife to handle your family responsibilities. Don't try to lift the heavy burden of people's expectations and perceptions as well. If you do your ministry life will be short.
Posted by: Randy Dunning | April 27, 2008 10:26 PM