Leading Through Crisis

Responding with Resilient Leadershipto Ministry Challenges

John Fehlen

2Max DePree once said: “Leaders don’t inflict pain. They bear pain.”

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This of course isnot a completely ironclad statement, but it is representative of an understanding that leaders by inlarge have their followers best interests in mind while personally carrying significant and often painful burdens due to their role. This becomes a point of personal crisis often accompanied bydisappointment, conflict, and burnout. I have personally found this to be true, and it has led meto consider the subject of

Responding with Resilient Leadership To Ministry Challenges.

While it is true that I tend to grow both spiritually and professional through crisis, it is nota route that I would opt for willingly or cheerfully. It hurts. There is a level of pain that isaccompanied with definitive leadership decisions and determinacy. Therefore, I am on a personal pursuit of discovering how to engage my leadership focus and to develop resilience in the midstof difficult times, perceived or real. It is my belief that in Christian ministry I, as a leader, must be comfortable with crisis and conflict. It is inevitable. There is a great deal of pain anddisappointment while working closely with people,

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ministry to people is difficult.However, there also is a great deal of joy, blessing, and reward in the “people business”.Leaders are privy to many wonderful stories of healing, grace, triumph, and success. Leadershave a bird’s eye view of the work of the Lord within the congregation. Leaders will often be thefirst one to hear of a particular victory and be the mouthpiece that relays that victorioustestimony to the masses. Being a ministry leader is incredibly rewarding and personallyfulfilling. For every day a setback or crisis is experienced, I have discovered there to be manymore days of joy and peace in the land. I trust that this is true of many of my colleagues.One cannot deny the reality of challenges in ministry though. Tough things happen whenwe least expect it. Our once solid feet are cut out from underneath us, and we are left gasping for breath and hoping we can get up again to face tomorrow. Melodramatic? I do not believe so. Itwas Jesus who told his disciples “in this world you will have trouble.” This statement comesupon the heels of Jesus’ own point of crisis. He told his disciples in John 16:32-33 that “a timeis coming, and has come, when you will be scattered…you will leave me all alone.” Jesusknows pain. Jesus knows conflict. Jesus knows crisis, and so will we as Jesus’ ambassadors to a pain-filled world.The word “lead” has an Indo-European root that means, “to go forth, die”.

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That isexactly the kind of crisis Jesus experienced. As leaders, our challenges may never end in death,yet, we do have a strong scripture to contend with in which Jesus said: “If anyone would come

3after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). This is a brutal reminder that ministry leadership (which is actually about follower-ship) will alwaysinclude an element of denial, pain, and sacrifice. How we respond to that is key. How werespond to ministry challenges is so vital to our growth and effectiveness.Following the definition of key terms, this research will then explore challenges inministry. Observation will be given to

Six Common Challenges

as discovered specifically fromthe life of Elijah the Prophet in the Bible. The Old Testament sketch of Elijah’s life reads like amodern day novel, complete with victory and defeat, joy and sorrow, intrigue and suspense.Elijah’s story parallels that of the 21

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Century leader in so many ways. This research willspotlight six of those connective equivalents. Beyond the biblical character of Elijah, there aremany individuals throughout history that illustrate to us the manner in which resilient leadershipthrough immense challenges produces amazing outcomes. Next the research will observe where God is at work. One must trust that God is at work even in the midst of pain, crisis, and conflict. He is behind the scenes bringing about formativechanges to the heart of the leader. Reggie McNeal expresses it so poignantly: “The heart-shaping work of God in the arena of conflict is, in the heat of it, the hardest and most painful of all the operations of God on the soul of the leader. The work is done without benefit of anesthesia. The leader has to be wide awake through these proceedings.”

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It is this “work of God” that I will give special attention to as this research progresses, because I believe thatultimately all things, good and bad, can be used for God’s glory and for the leader’s growth.The concluding portion of the research will give light to how resilience works by askingthe question, “Why do some people bounce back from life’s hardships while others despair?”

Definition of Key Terms

The phraseology “Responding with Resilient Leadership to Ministry Challenges” is intentionalin that each key word brings with it a specific sense of understanding.

Responding

This word denotes the role and the capacity of leaders to “see the challenge and raise itwith a response.” The way in which one responds to difficulty will determine the level of effectiveness experienced in the future when facing other, perhaps more complex challenges.Jeffrey Sonnefeld and Andrew Ward write in

Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound After Career Disasters:

“Leaders should not be measured by how they bask in the gratification of their