A Sense of Urgency

John P. Kotter wrote Leading Change, the Heart of Change, Our Iceberg is Melting and A Sense of Urgency.  Of these four books The Sense of Urgency was written last because this aspect of effective change is the most ignored and/or mismanaged, of course I'm paraphrasing.

In this book Kotter goes to great length to describe the difference between false urgency and the real thing, and between complacency and true urgency.   He also reinforces again and again the unavoidable fact that without a true sense of urgency, any change effort is doomed before it even begins.

This is not rocket science - Kotter states as much himself  - after all it is pretty obvious that change without a reason for the change is unlikely.  Yet the reality is, according to his statistics, that as much as 70% of the change efforts undertaken by businesses fail, and most of them on this point:  There is not a sense of true urgency.

He describes ways in his book to recognize and overcome complacency as well as proven methods for promoting a sense of urgency. 

It is my opinion that this is probably one of the key factors affecting most businesses which are either consumed with false urgency (busyness) or complacency.   Either or both of these problems are so deeply rooted that those leading are confounded by their company's lackadaisical performance.

The larger problem is that the church as a whole has lost pretty much all sense of urgency as well.  I'm not talking about Pastors, who I believe (hope) are deeply concerned for the lost.  However, the personal passion of the Pastor (urgency) has somehow gotten lost in communication with the congregation.  The Pastor's desire to grow the church is misconstrued by the laity as a desire for more influence, greater salary and prestige.  By and large the laity are quite comfortable with the church just like it is, thank you very much.  Why? because, and here is where the Pastor drops the ball, there is not a clear ringing of the bell of URGENCY.  

The message of "no other name under heaven by which men must be saved" is buried under tolerance and a desire to be understanding and compassionate.  The church is EXTREMELY tolerant and compassionate, but typically NOT fervently burdened for their lost loved ones.  We've slipped into a comfortably heresy which wants to ignore hell and believe that God doesn't really judge people for their sins.

I think it would be well for Pastors to read this book and then figure out how to re-invigorate their churches with a true sense of urgency.

Reading List: Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code

This article touches upon one of the most important considerations of leadership which often ignored by leaders as being inconsequential to taking action and generating forward motion.

For the last twenty years, church leaders have been fed a steady diet of vision. We've been told that vision is the key to leading a successful chur...


Source: http://google.com/producer/s/CBIwou6xwRk

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Rick Upchurch

All of life can be reduced to relationships - so make yours count!

www.toolstolead.blogspot.com

Can Young and Old Leaders Coexist?

Interesting article on generations in church leadership.

When I look at the current church landscape, one of my biggest concerns is the generational divide in leadership. As the boomers get closer to retir...


Source: http://google.com/producer/s/CBIw6-iigBo

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Rick Upchurch

All of life can be reduced to relationships - so make yours count!

www.toolstolead.blogspot.com