Celebrating Uniqueness
You know one of the biggest signs for me that I had a cookie-cutter mentality? Jealousy.
I think Orlando may be the church planting capital of the world. I don’t have data for that, but I’ve seen dozens come and go over the last decade. At one point, there was an elementary school with five separate church plants meeting in it every Sunday. And every time I would hear about one of these church plants coming to town, I would have two emotions: fear and jealousy.
My perspective was that “your spiritual machine can process people just like my spiritual machine, and what if they like your spiritual machine better?” But it was the wrong perspective.
So what shifted? I’ve shifted the understanding of my role as a leader from leveraging people to achieve my agenda to platforming them to live out God’s agenda for their lives. And in this, our congregation has continued to develop a unique identity that reflects the gifts and talents of those within it.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t things in my heart, mind and spirit about who our church is, what we’re doing and how we’re getting there. But the reality is that, as we disciple people to be who they are created to be, those who resonate with who we’re becoming find a home with us, and those who don’t find home somewhere else.
It’s not my job to manipulate people to think, live and be like me. It’s not my agenda to conform people to the mold I’ve established for them. As a church, we should collectively know who we are and empower people to live out their unique gifts in the context of who we’re becoming.
So I encourage you with this. It’s OK to be who God created you to be as a leader. Leadership is a process, and it’s mostly a process of discovering the unique ways God has created you to lead. As you step into an intimate place with God to discover who you are, platform people to do the same.
As you do, you’ll find a new level of peace in your leadership as you relinquish the pressure of getting people to fit into your mold and begin seeing them thrive in their uniqueness.
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You can purchase Cole NeSmith’s book Spiritual Innovation here.
