Blockers

We’re in the midst of a three-day discussion about figuring out who does what at church…or rather, how that’s sometimes blocked from happening.

INCONSISTENCY – This is when the decision-making process varies without any set pattern of who is responsible for what. Many times this is a blame game: “How come you didn’t take care of problem A?!” with the response – spoken or unspoken – of “I didn’t realize I was supposed to” or “I didn’t realize you wanted me to make that decision, since it was covered by you (or person B) last time.”
TOO MANY COOKS – In the end, someone has to make the call. As I said yesterday, that should not always be the senior leader, or they become a funnel. However, the opposite can even be worse. If EVERYONE is involved in the decision without a clear sense of who makes the call, things can grind to a halt. Committees are where ideas go to die…
SECRET BOSSES – If a certain elder – or big giver – or the pastor’s wife – is the REAL decision maker, don’t pretend that it’s otherwise. Tell the truth – or, better yet, fix that problem.

So… we’ve hit a lot of negatives for the last two days. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about how to move things towards something better!