A Bad Harvest From Bad Planting

Houston - Leadership is a funny thing? Church leadership is an even funnier thing. The rules a sticky as to what is allowed and what is not, how to handle those who disrupt the flow of organization, how do you let go of those who refuse to be held, and how to you support those who feel their support for you is over? 

I was practically born a PK, and have watched from the sidelines the sticky points of church leadership for over 35 years. Though my parents thought they were protecting me by never discussing, in a proper manner of course, why people came and went or behaved out of character at times, it actually became more discouraging to my early Christian walk and later early ministry development. 

I started to see leaders as rather tacky and hypocritical individuals who said one things, but performed another until it was their turn to be in the front, then rules would revert back to what was asked of them. 

On a side note, I was privilege to hear my parents former pastor speak well of them as members and how respectfully they left their home church to step out in to full time evangelistic work in the early-mid 70s. Knowing this, I expected all leaders to have the same report with their church leaders. 

Fast forward to today. I find that what I found discouraging as a child is mild in comparison to what is happening in church leadership today, from senior pastors to church ministry leaders. There is an abundance of feuding between pastors and those who serve with them. Sometimes to the fault of the pastor, and other times due to disrespect from the servant leaders. 

Some of the root causes of leadership issues in today church are a result of some senior pastors who either left their home church in bad standing and incorrectly to step out into ministry (often times due to a word from someone who is not keeping watch over their soul but looking to expand their own ministry territory) or they stepped out with no real outreach strategy other than collecting members from other congregations. And then some just were not called to be senior pastors of a congregation in the first place. Over time, they find that what did is now happening to them, though they may not be able to relate the two together.

When a pastors sows a bad seed into their church planting, they can almost always look to eventually reap a bad harvest. As my parents former pastor used to tell them every pastor is going to go through hardship as a pastor. But it's worst when the extra hardship is a result of your behavior with your former pastor. 

When a "good pastor" is wronged by a supporting leader, the future outcome of their ministry will result in how they handle the issue. I watched my parents, both who have been my senior pastor at different point in my life, deal with leaders who improperly walked away from the congregation. And no pastors should ever try to force people to stay, but they may question why one is leaving, especially if that individual means a lot to the ministry and/or the pastor. There were times I'm sure my parents did not handle the matter as it should be, humanity is oh so real. But for the most part, I watched as they had to humbly take the accusations and punches, only for some individuals to come back and repent when they found out that the "stepping out" wasn't what they envisioned it to be. 

I've seen pastors who built their thriving ministry by luring members from other congregations, to the point some local assembles had to close their doors, find themselves helpless when they start to reap the harvest of bad planting. They invest in big marketing schemes in hops of luring other people to their powerful ministries, while investing very little in true outreach and discipleship. 

When leaders don't have a respectful relationship with their pastor or they walk away from a supporting pastor on bad terms, maybe due to an itch, you can expect to reap an unyielding harvest of backbreaking labor. It doesn't matter how many prophesies one receives, if we step out of line with God's order and plan, we will find ourselves out of place from where the fulfillment is happening. 

Every leader (pastors and supporting leaders) must make sure that good and correct planting is done if a good harvest is expected. If a leaders leaves on bad terms, you should go back and correct the matter. While you may not return to that ministry, you can always repent to that leader and allow God to mend. Likewise, if a pastor allowed a leader's departure to sow a bad seed into their heart, repentance and forgiveness must sown to heal the ground so that a good harvest can flourish. After all, the harvest of souls are who will be effected the most.