interview excerpts

This weekend I was interviewed concerning leadership principles at Faith. Here are a few of the questions that were asked:

How important is it to have unity among the volunteers of different ministries? Leaders? The congregation?

It is not uncommon for unity to get confused with lack of diversity. Unity does not necessarily mean that we all do the same things and think the same things in the same way. This definition of unity is a recipe for frustration. On the other hand, if we can allow for diversity within unity…that is awesome!

So what is unity? It means that we are all headed towards the same goal. In a church that goal is defined by its purpose and vision. Natural tension arises because you and I will often see the path to that goal in totally separate ways. But if we can agree on a way to work together to get to that goal, the power of synergy multiplies our efforts.

What steps are taken to maintain unity?

You can’t force unity because unity is a byproduct. Just agreeing to agree doesn’t accomplish anything. We have to decide WHAT we are going to agree upon. What will be our corporate values? This defines our boundaries and establishes a basis for unity.

And as challenging as it is to work in the church world rather than in the business world…this is one of the truly beautiful things about being a leader in a Christian environment. We have already agreed that the Bible is our foundation. It gives us the guidelines that we all agree to submit to. And even if you and I approach things in a completely different way, because of our shared foundation in Christ we can at least commit to trust, respect and value each other.