Leaders' Weaknesses

Dr. Thom Ranier, a Prof at Southern Seminary in Louisville, is a prolific writer and researcher on leadership and church growth. In one of his many research projects Ranier asked Pastors to list their top weaknesses. Here is a summary of the top five mistakes.

Weakness #1: Pastoral Ministry

Almost three out of four leaders told us their number one leadership weakness was providing personal pastoral ministry. Our definition of pastoral ministry included counseling, doing hospital visitation, and performing weddings and funerals, to name a few of the responsibilities.

"If I get a consistent criticism," a Nevada pastor told us, "it is my failure to live up to the expectations to minister to each person individually. But if I live up to all of their expectations, I wouldn't have time for sermon preparation, personal evangelism, and just plain ol' dreaming. I constantly live with this tension but refuse to give up time from the other responsibilities. "

In our research we discovered that leaders of effective churches spent 10 hours per week in pastoral care while leaders of the comparison churches spent 23 hours doing the same type of ministries.

"It finally hit me one day," said Tom J., a senior pastor from Oklahoma. "I was doing all of the hospital visits, counseling, home visits, and nitpicky ministry for two reasons. First, I received affirmation for doing it. Second, I avoided criticism for not doing it. Neither is a legitimate reason for doing things the way I was doing them."

He paused for a moment, and his tone indicated a serious reflection. "But you know what really got to me? I realized that I was being disobedient to Scripture. When I try to do all the ministry, I am depriving the people in the church of their God-given call to do ministry."

So why did the leaders of the effective churches say pastoral ministry was their number one leadership weakness? The issue, it seems, is one of balance.

"I am constantly dealing with the tension," Jack M. of eastern Tennessee told us. "I know my primary calling, according to Acts 6, is to be in prayer and the ministry of the Word. But when the critics tell me I am not caring enough, I wonder if I am too insensitive to their needs. I wish I was a strong enough leader to know just exactly what to do."

My comments: Jack M. still hasn't gotten it right. According to Ephesians 4:11 and following the leaders primary task is to "Equip the people so they can DO the works of serving the Lord and people." Complaining members are simply trying to get the leaders' attention. Like a wailing baby the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Any senior pastor who spends that much time giving personal counsel and support to parishioners is misdirecting and misusing his gifts and energy.

Our seminaries are failing to prepare graduates for real ministry.

ALERT! When I arrived on the staff at a large church as Minister of Discipleship the ministers spent between 10 and 15 hours each week delivering personal care and counsel. After we started training Lay Helpers and Lay Pastors they spent ZERO hours and our lay people did the rest of the care.

You want to know how we did it? Read our book, Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty
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