Why Aspirational Leadership is not Enough



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Believe it or not, pastor, most of your best people will not wake up Monday morning thinking, 'How can I build a great church this week?' They will go to work thinking about how they can impact their world for the Kingdom of God.

If they're in business, they will (hopefully) be thinking not simply about how they can make a profit, but how they might add value to people's lives. If they're in education, they will be thinking about how to shape the values of young minds and leave a lasting mark on a future generation.

In short, whatever your people are doing on Monday, it won't be primarily aimed at putting more bottoms on seats next Sunday. People need to be equipped for their work of ministry - or more literally, 'service' - in their environment.

Aspirational leadership might give them a burst of motivation to do better on Monday. It won't, however, provide either the vision, strategy or know-how to help them to build something of lasting significance in their world over a long period of time.

This is not an either-or proposition. We need both aspirational and strategic leadership.

However, the former does best when it serves the latter. Motivation toward personal growth carries much greater weight when it serves a bigger vision, the transformation of lives on a very large scale. CR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.