Ownership or Stewardship

In reseaching leadersip transition for over 5 years now I have looked at churches and business models alike. The basic problem is systemic. When a leader of a church comes to believe that because of longevity he or she owns the ministry we are in trouble. I have even known of this becoming so blatant that outgoing senior leaders have demanded that they be paid huge sums of money for them to turn over “ownership” of the church! Some have even done it. In truth, we as leaders are stewards of the ministry of God. We must never get to a place that our welfare takes precedence over the welfare of the church or ministry. This can also happen among a group of leaders and they might presume ownership as well. This can happen from the church to the Congress. When ownership is assumed by a person or group the end result will be death and not a healthy continuation of the ministry. The church is the Lord’s! As leaders whatever we have built we have built with the offerings of the people and while doing so we have been compensated for our labor. While I believe a church will greatly benefit from honoring an outgoing leader generously, it should never be demanded.
Let me encourage every leader to close your eyes, envision the end of your life and visualize how you want to finish. I think most would say, “I want to be cared for but mostly I want to feel that I have done a good job for the Lord and his Church and that I will finish with dignity, honor and leave a healthy legacy in ministry. Are you walking a road that will produce it?