Dangerous Strategies

This article focused on four dangerous leadership strategies that could kill a church. The first strategy is using the church to build a platform. The leaders who use this strategy are more interested in making a name for themselves than they are interested in doing what is best for the church. The second strategy is never say "I'm sorry." These leaders always look for an excuse to justify what they did. Instead they need to show humility by apologizing, even for something that was not intended. The third strategy is defend your innocence, even when the whole crowd points out your sin. These leaders see their identity as being rooted in their holiness and purity, not in their relationship with Christ. The last dangerous strategy for church leadership is be a black hole, never communicate. The author compares these leaders to politicians in that the purpose is to be non-committal until the situation plays out. This way the leader can save face or look like the hero. The one strategy that really struck me was never say "I'm sorry." In all the leadership classes and conferences I have attended and in all the leadership books I have read, I have never heard this mentioned. You would think when it came to conflict management one of the first things we leaders would be taught is the idea of apologizing. Instead we are taught how to stand our ground and fight. I completely disagree with the fighting part, I think as leaders we should be people who are always willing to apologize, even when things are accidents. Jesus commands us to be people of reconciliation and I believe saying "I'm sorry" is the first step of reconciliation.