As ministry leaders, we recognize the importance of relationships with those involved in the ministry. However, it is easier to neglect than to form and maintain relationships with those to whom we report, i.e. pastors and Sunday School Superintendents. While we wish they shared our passion and vision for Single Adult Ministries, their focus encompasses the entire congregation.
Stephen Felts suggests that we learn what about the leader's goals and the vision for the church as a whole. Learning this information allows us to show how Single Adult Ministries helps to realize the goals and vision. This serves to gain the senior pastor's attention and support.
Felts further suggests that if we are not experiencing “small failures on a regular basis” we are not experimenting enough or learning enough. Professors at Harvard Business School developed the concept of failing forward. This involves the “ability to fail intelligently and respond constructively to failure so that the potential learning is captured.”
If we've been in ministry for any length of time, we understand that failure happens. This suggests that failure should be part a fairly routine experience and part of the learning curve. It's not too often that we view failure as anything but failure. Perhaps it's time that we take a second look at those events we identified as failures to determine what we can learn.
Take time to analyze any failure. Seize the opportunity to learn from the experience. Talk with those involved to garner transparent feedback on what happened, good and bad. There will be some things that can be changed and some can be avoided in future events. Analyzing failures also equips you to address concerns that church leaders express.
Developing good relationships with senior pastors and Sunday School superintendents are key to successful ministry. You might also be able to model how to cope with and learn from failures.