Avoiding Mistakes in Ministry

Dave Kraft shares the fruit of forty-three years of ministry in his newest book, Mistakes Leaders Make. In his forward, Mark Driscoll advises the reader to process the book—take it slow. There is a lot of pastoral wisdom here. It is worth reading and rereading.

When I was a pastor in The Netherlands, I worked with a number of professionals, including an HR person with Eastman. Whenever we interviewed someone for a position, he made it a point to say to a candidate—tell me about a recent mistake you made, and what you learned from it.

Any of us who have pastored very long do not need much time to process this one. Pastoral ministry is fraught with landmines. I have made mistakes in both hiring and firing. I have put up with sin in some members far too long, and been too short with others. I have made the mistake of emphasizing information over transformation in my preaching. All too often, I have made the mistake of not praying enough. I have let criticism have too much space in my heart. I have spoken when I should have listened, been quiet when I should have talked; been too available on some occasions, and not accessible enough in others.

Kraft has his list. I can find myself in each one. He covers ten critical mistakes (the “big deal” kind) that leaders make, the first one being the greatest mistake—

1. Allowing ministry to replace Jesus
2. Allowing comparing to replace contentment
3. Allowing pride to replace humility
4. Allowing pleasing people to replace pleasing God
5. Allowing busyness to replace visioning
6. Allowing frugality to replace faith
7. Allowing artificial harmony to replace difficult conflict
8. Allowing perennially hurting people to replace potential hungry leaders
9. Allowing information to replace transformation
10. Allowing control to replace trust

Along the way, Kraft offers wise counsel. Here are some ways to avoid the above mistakes—

1. Make Jesus your life, pure and simple
2. Be yourself. Everyone else is taken
3. Get a true handle on who you are (Rom 12:2)
4. Live for the audience of One
5. Operate with the microscope of things up close and the telescope of things far off
6. Remember-people give to vision more than programs
7. Have the courage and conviction to collide and confront
8. Keep this as your focus when building a team: Getting the right people on the bus is based on character and chemistry; getting the right people in the right seats is based on competency and capacity
9. When you impart truth, tell yourself–It’s not enough to have thinking heads—we need responding hearts
10. Remember-holding people responsible for reasonable results and controlling them is not the same

Kraft’s closing words help get us out of bed the day after a mistake: “The triune God is bigger than our mistakes and will work His plan and purpose in spite of them.”