Breaking the Bottleneck.

I was chatting one day with a fellow pastor about leadership and the continued growth of his church. At issue was how leadership development was choked off, and why. His point was there was a bottleneck to his church's growth, and he essentially said it was him -- he was the bottleneck. Why was this pastor the bottleneck? In his words, he was more comfortable with control and no "messes." Pastors of small churches have a hard time letting go. I know I did, but letting go and empowering others is the hammer that breaks the bottleneck. Is it risky? Yes. Is it messy? It can be.

Are you the bottleneck in your church? Here are some soul-searching questions to ask yourself:

1. On a Sunday morning what percentage of the service includes me, the pastor? (not including worship. Though you may be like me -- I lead worship too)? Do you do the welcome, prayer, announcements, offering, sermon, call to response? If most of Sunday morning features you, you may be the bottleneck.
   ACTION: Write down out all you do on Sunday morning, and begin to delegate as much as you can. How many Sundays a month or year do you have a guest speaker? How much do you involve the congregation in the message? Could you mix it up with a panel discussion, or do an instant in-service poll that animates the direction of the message?

2. Do I operate with the belief that, "if it has to be done right, I have to do it?" It is better to have some messes, and release responsibility than to do everything yourself. In fact, you may discover others who can do it just as well, if not better. If people are never given a chance, and they see you doing everything, they will probably hesitate to volunteer for anything.
   ACTION: The next time this feeling rises, make a concerted effort to purposely delegate.

3. Do I have all the control? Control is fine, but not total control. As the pastor of a small church, it is sometimes difficult to release control to others. The moment I began to open up the discussion about the vision and mission of the church, it became less about me and more about the congregation. You don't know how long you will be the pastor, and if the what, why, when, where, and how is about your ideas, when you leave the church, the church will flounder and have no identity because you took it with you.

4. Does everything pass through me? Similar to questions two and three, this is a matter of trust and delegation. Release your CE director, youth pastor, or worship leader to make final decisions without those decisions filtering through you. Naturally you must maintain accountability and weekly or monthly leadership reviews, but empowering your leaders is part of breaking the bottleneck.

THINK THROUGH IT: Consider taking time today to seriously think through how you run your church, and how much you are in the middle of it all. I know what you are thinking... we have a small church and thus fewer resources, i.e. people to draw from. Undoubtedly this is true and the old 80/20 rule may be alive and well, but consider the 80% who don't do anything. Pray about who God might draw your heart and mind to, and approach them with confidence and the request to join the team. Don't throw them into the deep water, instead ask them to do something small and then watch them grow. 

Less of you may just be the bottleneck breaker for your church.