Tuesday, 9 February 2010

Old Rules / New Rules: Conclusions

I hope this series taken from Leith Anderson’s Leadership That Works encourages you to get the book and read it! After Bill Hybels and John Maxwell, this is the best book I have read on Christian church leadership.

I think it will be very interesting to look back in a decade and see if any of the new rules have become old rules! One of the arts of leadership is the ability to discern trends, adopting the ones which are in line with scripture and that will bear fruit in your context.

At King’s Church, Catford we are embarking on a new philosophy of ministry and going multi-site... time will prove if this becomes a fruitful ‘new rule’!

Old rule: Faithfulness is sufficient
New rule: Effectiveness is expected

Old rule: Godliness is assumed but not required
New rule: Godliness is required but not assumed

Old rule: Pastors are ‘prepared’ for ministry
New rule: Pastors are life-long learners

Old rule: Reason is more important than relationships
New rule: Relationships are more important than reason

Old rule: The centre of influence is the denomination and the bible college
New rule: The centre of influence is the large church and seminars/conferences

Old rule: Preaching is more important than church ministries
New rule: Church ministries are more important than preaching

Old rule: Ministry depends on the leader
New rule: Ministry depends on the team

Old rule: Success defined by narrow comparison
New rule: Success defined by broad comparison

Old rule: Credentials are very important
New rule: Performance is very important