Why Ministry Leaders Must Choose Difficult Work Over Hard Work

For many, many years I considered working hard in the church as a badge of honor. Jesus and authentic joy had that effect on me.

Growing up in the church, serving and working long hours on multiple teams, and attending countless meetings became badges of honor. But for many leaders, hard work is preventing us from engaging in the difficult work that truly transforms our ministries and the people we are assigned to serve.

There is a thin, gray line that separates and differentiates hard work and difficult work.

Hard work sips and saps the physical, mental, and emotional resources from us. In comparison, difficult work challenges our personal and professional identity, confronts our limitations, and transforms our leadership capacity.

Hard work is organizing a church event or program, but difficult work is evaluating the event’s impact and admitting it didn’t achieve its goals.

Hard work is recruiting and training volunteers, but difficult work is confronting a volunteer about unhealthy behaviors or a lack of commitment.

Hard work is preaching a sermon on forgiveness, but difficult work is forgiving someone who hurt you deeply.

Hard work is growing the church’s attendance, but difficult work is shepherding people individually as the church grows.

Studying, preparing sermons and sermon series, and participating in meeting after meeting is good and necessary work, but it is hard work.

Hard work is writing the policies and systems for the church staff, but difficult work is enforcing policies when they affect a beloved member.

Hard work is building a social media presence for the church, but difficult work is responding with grace and truth to online criticism.

We may be overly committed to busy, hard work to avoid the difficult, necessary work. It requires less tension to add another unnecessary meeting to your schedule than to have an uncomfortable conversation about someone’s less-than-stellar leadership style.

When leaders avoid diffcult conversations about organizagtional direction or team cohesiveness, it’s often not because they lack energy, but because it requires confronting uncomfortable truths about something or someone they love.

Moving forward as leaders, we must discern the difference between tasks that require our energy, as opposed to assignments that require transformation.

Here are 3 action steps to help us focus on difficult work:

1. Pursue Projects- that awaken your potential and challenge your capacity.

2. Monitor Moments- that trigger your inner resistance because something deeper is being revealed.

3. Document Discoveries- that journals your journey of growth, mental maturity, and transformation.

Always extend grace to those who have the responsibility of doing the difficult work and having the difficult conversations.

Paul’s letters to various churches as a missionary were hard work, but his wrestling with God in his suffering was difficult work.

Leadership is not a walk in the park, but the difficult work may require a tough but loving conversation with a leader while going for a walk in the park.

Leadership is effective when it’s evaluated by its depth, not just its width.

I hope this helps!

See you next Saturday.

Eric

Whenever you’re ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:

1. Coaching. Executive coaching for your staff and volunteers creates a more dynamic, engaged, and effective community, driving forward your mission with greater creativity, productivity, and profitability.

2. Church Leader OS. My leadership development “operating system” ensures your church teams exceed their Ministry, People, and Innovation Outcomes. The curriculum pillars are “How To Lead Yourself, How To Lead Others, and How To Lead the Organization”.

3. The Real MVP. I wrote and designed this book to invest in your leadership. Become a person of mission, vision, and purpose in 60 minutes.

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