The following is your mission, if you choose to accept it...

"Can you even imagine a quarterback fumbling and a lineman not jumping on the ball and instead saying something stupid like, "That isn't my job"?  Companies all over America are failing because they have allowed a culture of leaders and teams who don't care about the goal, but just about themselves.  When the team care only about themselves, they are by definition no longer a team, they are just employees.  As soon as that happens, the germ of failure has entered the organization.  When failure occurs like that it is leadership and the team's fault.  There was no clearly communicated shared goal that created buy-in from all parties."

Dave Ramsey, EntreLeadership, 41.

I now ask you to re-read the above quote and put the word church in the place of businesses.  In fact, I will do it for you.

"Can you even imagine a quarterback fumbling and a lineman not jumping on the ball and instead saying something stupid like, "That isn't my job"?  Churches all over America are failing because they have allowed a culture of leaders and teams who don't care about the goal, but just about themselves."

Dave Ramsey's EntreLeadership is in my top five of leadership books.  I would heartily recommend it for anyone who is looking for the foundations and vision for a successful business.  It is also full of many solid tips for becoming a better leader.

I know many who do not think that business books or business models are valid for the church.  They argue that the church is a spiritual organization and all that we need is the bible.

While I completely affirm that the bible is all infallible guide for life and practice, I believe such thinking forgets one key biblical principle: we live in a fallen world.  This means that while the Church is the bride of Christ and She is beautiful in spiritual power, the local church and denominations are systems functioning in a fallen world.

That leaves us with the number one problem of churches and denominations.  What happens when the members of a church or the members of a denomination change the focus to caring only/primarily about themselves?  What happens when these folks, perhaps even out of good intentions, focus on maintaining the institution or the past more than loving and caring for others?

At that time, as Dave says, "The germ of failure has entered the organization."

In other words, just like a business, a church has to be constantly reminded and realigned according to its mission.

What is the mission of the church?

Thankfully, Jesus was fairly clear about our mission.  His last words on earth were to give us the Great Commission.  "Go and make disciples..." (Matt. 28: 18-20) and "You shall be my witnesses..." (Acts 1: 7)  He taught consistently that trusting faith in Him is the key to fulfilling all the commandments of God.

God's mission is to live for the benefit of blessing others.  His Church exists not for self-fulfillment, but as an outpost for the blessing of those outside the church building.

Yet, often we fall into the same traps that every business struggles against.  How do we play like a team?  How do we get volunteers to buy into the team concept?  What happens to those who choose not to play on the team, but instead follow their own rules and play their own game?

These questions are the joy of leadership.  Answering them biblically and decisively are the essence of what it means to be leader in the Church.  May the Lord raise up more leaders who are willing to accept this difficult but rewarding task.