Last week we learned that leaders are learners. The handy acronym L.E.A.D. can help you remember the four tenets of leadership:

Learns

Engages

Anticipates

Decides

Second, leaders are eager to engage with their people. I bet you know pastors who have gotten so burnt out that they become distant both from their staff and their flock. Sometimes they will even hire a go-between, such as an executive pastor, so that they don’t have to spend as much time in the trenches, dealing with problems and issues. While there’s nothing wrong with hiring help and changing the focus of your workload at various points in the life of your church, you can never let that cause you to disengage. Stay among the people. Otherwise, you’ll lose your feel for the pulse of your congregation.

One of the most important aspects of staying engaged is to stay on top of any potential conflict. As I’ve already mentioned, you should be prepared to run to conflict. Catch it in its earliest stages, before it has a chance to spread. If you don’t, it will splinter out of control and create multitudes of problems that could have been avoided with a little pro-activity.

Have you ever been driving along, minding your own business, when a rock pops up and hits your windshield? The small chip it creates is annoying, sure, but not much of a problem. It’s a quick and easy fix; any auto glass repair shop can fill the chip with glue and, like magic, it disappears. But if you don’t take the time to fix it early on, you know what happens. The chip starts to grow. Cracks start splintering out in every direction. The longer you ignore it, the worse it gets. Eventually, if the situation is left unaddressed, your whole windshield will be destroyed. The same reality applies to conflict in your church. If you address issues in their earliest stages, you can keep them from spreading and causing irreparable damage. Stay engaged with your people and meet problems head on, before they splinter out and create major issues.

– Nelson Searcy

Read part 1 of this post here.

P.S. These strategies can be found in my best-selling book, The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life and Ministry. This book is a relevant, step-by-step resource for church leaders who are ready to step up in surrender to the pursuit of God’s best for his or her life and work. Click here to grab your copy from Amazon today!

© Nelson Searcy. All Rights Reserved.

About Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy is an experienced church growth strategist, pastor, church planter and coach, consulting with churches around the world. As founder of Church Leader Insights and the Renegade Pastors Network, he has personally trained more than 3,500 church leaders in over 45 denominations through live events, seminars and monthly coaching. Nelson is also the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.” He is the author of over 100 church growth resources and 18+ books, including The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life, Ministry and The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, and At the Cross with the People Who Were There. He and his wife, Kelley, have one son, Alexander.