Many years ago I was attending a really good church where the Holy Spirit was present and the people were genuinely seeking God. I was especially thankful because my previous church had just collapsed due to some unresolved issues between the pastor and the elders. Everything was going well at this new church, then one day I received a stunning message. The senior pastor had just left his wife and run off with the attractive worship leader, who left her husband to run off with the pastor. The two of them had been spending a considerable amount of time together in ministry, and staff members expressed concern, but the pastor did not respond. This illustrates one of the big pitfalls of leadership.
Over the years I have observed first-hand pastors and other leaders who fall into moral failure or severely restrict their effectiveness because of four different issues. Maybe there are others that belong on this list, such as people-pleasing, but these are the biggest pitfalls of leadership I have observed. Please remember to examine yourself for these pitfalls and avoid them like the plague!
- Refusal to find help for an issue. This is what the pastor mentioned above failed to do. Everyone has one or two big weaknesses, and when you are a leader these weaknesses often start to manifest and hurt your ministry. This includes becoming dissatisfied with one’s spouse. Leaders often know their weaknesses or at least hear about them from others. But many leaders either don’t do anything at all or just try to deal with their weakness on their own. But nothing actually changes, and they go on damaging people and their own ministry. Their pride stops them and they fear what people will think if they get help. Obviously, the godly thing to do is to humble oneself and find someone who is experienced with treating their weakness. Then stick with the process until actual change occurs. Otherwise, one will continue to tear people down. How will such people answer for themselves when Jesus asks them to give an account of their lives?
- Denial/avoidance. This is the habit of pretending that some problem does not really exist or at least avoiding it and trying to put it out of one’s mind. It is one of the most prominent pitfalls of leadership. Very often leaders won’t face the reality of a fault in themselves or in people they are responsible for. Or leaders will avoid facing a trend or circumstance that they don’t want to deal with. And sadly, leaders often indulge in denial when they read Scripture, skipping over passages they dislike. Denial or avoidance is a way to avoid pain or failure, so ultimately it is an unwillingness to do the difficult thing even though it is best for people. Thus, one is tearing down others instead of building them up.
- Unbelief in God’s word. Every Christian is an “unbelieving” believer to some extent. No one has perfect faith. It is common for leaders to unconsciously choose not to believe something God has said because it is hard to apply it to their circumstances, and they want to take it into their own hands. One of the biggest unbeliefs is not believing that God will bring good out of the bad that just happened. Or that God will not act in a needy situation if one prays and waits patiently.
- Spiritual sweet tooth. This is another issue that everyone has to deal with. People are attracted to what is pleasurable or sweet. But God wants us to “know the fellowships of [Jesus] sufferings.” He uses bitter circumstances to Christform us. When life goes dry or fills with pain leaders often use many different strategies to avoid what is unpleasant. Some will generate good feelings inside themselves, some go back to their old pagan pleasures, some just deny it and put on a false self, some will keep themselves busy, and some will keep searching endlessly for a way out of the unavoidable pain.
All of these pitfalls of leadership prevent us from growing up into the full stature of Christlikeness and reduce our participation in the blessedness of God himself. We would do well to be on constant watch against them!
Which of these pitfalls of leadership are you susceptible to? How will you combat it?
