Jump directly to the Content

New Management Needed

People aren't horses to be trained. Tips for "managing" souls.

Years ago before anyone called me their pastor, I was assigned a ministry team of about 15 people to manage. I was excited, and diligently prepared for our weekly meetings. I wanted to manage them responsibly and with integrity. But after several months, something wasn't working.

A third of the group hated me and quit attending our meetings. A third of them loved me. The other third was undecided. Not an ideal ratio. I was blindsided because I felt like I had done a sterling job as a manager; but I felt that I had failed somewhere. So I began to study management again with a more sensitive spirit.

I found that the word "manage" originally referred to training horses The French word manège means a school for teaching horsemanship and training horses. Rather dehumanizing when it comes to people. I had an epiphany: Though I was prepared, organized, and communicated clearly, I treated my team more like horses than people. People aren't horses, or things, that we can simply "manage".

Whatever ...

March
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

Related
The Buck Stops Where?
The Buck Stops Where?
From the Magazine
I Hated ‘Church People.’ But I Knew I Needed Them.
I Hated ‘Church People.’ But I Knew I Needed Them.
As I attended my second funeral in three weeks, two Christians showed me a kindness I couldn’t explain.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close