Church ministry is not "Calvin-ball"!
Those of you who have worked in a church or been in leadership within the church know that one of the things that frustrates people to no end is rules that change in the middle of the game. If you are fan of Calvin & Hobbes (and who isn't?!) then you already get what I am about to say. (For those of you who've never heard of C&H - shame on you!)
When playing a rousing game of Calvin-ball with Hobbes, Calvin was (in)famous for changing the rules in the middle of the game to suit his own desires, his own needs, or his own current predicament - often without warning and without notifying the other player (Hobbes). This frustrated Hobbes to no end each time they played the game and often resulted in a knock-down, drag-out fight between the two of them.
The same principle applies for ministry within the church.
When pastors, staff, or other leaders within the church change the rules of the game without warning, then a fight is inevitable.
- A fight from those directly affected by the changes,
- a fight from those who don't agree with the changes, AND
- a fight from those who made the changes.
Now, I am not saying that I am faultless in this category, because I most certainly am guilty of changing the rules mid-game before. However, I try my best to notify as many people as possible of the rule changes ahead of time. Do I always do that perfectly? Absolutely not! Does it still make me mad when it happens? Absolutely!
I believe the real learning takes place when church leaders take a step back and see where they have made a "Calvin-ball style" mistake and take necessary steps to recover from that mistake. I also believe that permanent damage can be inflicted upon a congregation when leaders fail to learn from their mistakes.
What "Calvin-ball style" mistakes have you witnessed/made? What did you do about them?
2 comments:
I'm not sure I will go into details here on the "Calvin-Ball" issues I've seen brought up because of the public nature of this format. Some of the general ones though, are job description changes without notice. I've experienced this and seen it happen to others working on church staffs. The last line of the job description I had at a church in Dallas was "whatever else the pastor may require of you." I understand the nature of this line, but that is so vague and impossible to measure. I had my expectations change several times while there. I would get roped into things all the time that were not my job. That was a very small church, but I've also seen it happen at the very large church I'm at now. I think the reason for this kind of rule changing is because of the nature of ministry is so hard to evaluate. I've asked several times "what does success look like here?" and it is so hard to articulate that the result is occasionally either perceived or real expectation changes. But, then again, I've also played some Calvin-Ball myself to people, so I shouldn't be too harsh.
Spencer, I have had that line in most of my job descriptions too. I often joke with my staff that they should include it in theirs, but I haven't taken advantage of it yet.
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