Which One Are You

As a leader I find myself regularly at a fork in the road. In seeking to lead Jesus' church I find two paths open to me. For example - on Easter Sunday do I play it safe and have the regular Easter service in the church building or do I take a risk and rent a tent and have the Easter Sunday service in the park for the whole community to see(what if it rains?). Another example - do I enforce leadership standards and risk losing some leaders or do I compromise the standards to keep people and programs running. A final example - do I introduce a new music style to the church in order to reach a younger generation or do I continue with the top 20 worship hits from the seventies in order not to alienate any of the faithful members. These are all example I am currently working through. I am sure you could add many similar examples.

The choice as I see it is between being an instrument God can use in church renewal or being a status quo leader. Which one are you? Leading the status quo is the safe, respectable way of least resistance. You will do a good job and be known as a good pastor or leader and have many friends. To chose to take the other road - the road of becoming an instrument God can use will involve difficulty, stress, conflict and ultimately you may lose your pension. This is a choice all leaders must make. I also believe leaders make this choice every day whether we realize it or not. Let me ask you again - Which one are you? Are you an instrument God can use in renewal? Are you willing to pay the price?

Church history is full of leaders who faced these same choices that we face. Interestingly we only hear about the ones who chose the difficult road - becoming instruments God can use. The status quo leaders are not remembered. One young pastor named Roberts wrote this;

Two paths are distinctly marked out before me. I saw that I might be a popular
preacher, gain applause, do but little good in reality, and at last lose my
soul. Or I saw that I might take the narrow way, declare the whole truth as it
is in Jesus, meet with persecution and opposition, but see a thorough work of
grace go on, and gain heaven. Grace was given me to make the better choice. I
deliberately gave myself anew to the Lord, to declare the whole truth as it is
in Jesus, and to take the narrow way. The blessing came. The Spirit fell upon me
in an overwhelming degree. I received power to labor as I had never possessed
before. (BT Roberts quoted in Populist Saints by Howard Snyder page 180).

Which path will you chose? Which type of leader will you be?