Plan time to work ON the ministry, not just IN the ministry.
As a leader, the gravitational pull is always toward the tyranny of the urgent. It’s like a tractor beam pulling us in. Too many leaders get so focused on “What now?” that we can’t focus on what’s next! We fall into the rut of putting out fires and managing the ministry machine, rather than focusing on what could come next for our ministry.
There’s a big difference between ministry management and ministry multiplication. Ministry management is important; just not at the neglect of ministry multiplication! New approaches to ministry, starting new groups, new ministries, new campuses, new sites, and new churches is where the real Kingdom and church growth will come! Multiplication is the real key to Kingdom and church growth! So how can we get our ministries focused more on multiplication and less on management? Here are a few:
Focus on the IMPORTANT not the URGENT
Are you familiar with the Urgent Important Matrix? In the figure above, you can probably tell where we tend to spend the majority of our time: Urgent things that are NOT the most Important things: the world wide web, our email inbox, social media, and meetings where nothing really gets done that will bring increase to our ministries! What’s often neglected? The important but not urgent things: daily time alone with God, exercise, personal growth, reading, studying, etc. No one comes knocking on our door because they’ve noticed we’re neglecting these things. However, they are the most important things! Every week requires some management of things and people. However, the tail doesn’t have to wag the dog. Plan time to work ON the ministry, not just IN the ministry. Schedule it! Plan time to work and think strategically …
