Leadership Matters

A church rises and falls with its leadership. One of the great joys that Pam and I have experienced while serving with English Christian Fellowship in Costa Rica has been the growth of our leadership team. We recently held an all-day offsite to celebrate what God has done over the previous 12-months and chart direction for the upcoming 6-months. 

Commitment—The first thing that stood out was the level of commitment from our core ministry leaders. As I listened to their reports about what has been accomplished, I was amazed at our leaders’ self-sacrificing commitment to advance the cause of Christ through ECF’s ministry. The majority voluntarily invest 10+ hours per week in their areas of ministry. It was inspiring to be in their midst.

Creativity—ECF is still very much a church plant. As a result, all of our ministry leaders must find creative ways to meet the needs of our emerging congregation. For example, one of the fastest growing demographics at ECF is Kids Ministry. These kids come from English-speaking families who live in Costa Rica. A strong common desire is to make friends with other families with young kids. With that in mind, our Kids Ministry organizes a Kids Monthly Meet Up for families the first Sunday every month after church.

Change—An axion in church growth is “what got you here may not get you there.” Change is a constant in a developing and growing church. The needs change. The leaders change. The ministries change. The processes change. As a result, the people who thrive in a church planting environment must be flexible and give lots of grace. In a rapidly shifting organization, it’s not uncommon for people to inadvertently bump into each other. I’ve seen this time and time again at ECF. And time and time again, I’ve seen grace extended and flexibility demonstrated among ECF’s leaders.

Communication—One of the most important results of the recent offsite was communication between ministries. Every leader was able to hear from the rest of ECF’s ministries what they’ve accomplished, what they’re planning and what challenges and opportunities are on the horizon. Communication is vital for team cohesion, especially because we regularly add new leaders and others cycle off.

Candor—Candor is invaluable in creating a healthy team culture. We have tried some things at ECF that have not worked. There’s no shame in this unless we fail to admit when we’ve blown it, or when we’ve tried something that did not work out and we sweep it under the rug. For example, we’re still trying to figure out a workable small group strategy for our mobile congregation that lives in a world of insane traffic gridlock in the evenings. We’ve tried some things but still haven’t figured it out.

Courage—A church-planting friend once said, “Church planting is like building a house with cards. One strong breeze can knock it all down.” Established churches often have the “three B’s”—budgets, bodies and buildings. These can bring a sense of stability and permanence that church plants may not have. Because of this, I give a standing ovation to ECF’s ministry leaders who have had the courage to “hitch their wagon” to our dreams of growing a thriving new English-speaking congregation in the Central Valley.  They are one courageous bunch!

As I said at the beginning, it continues to be an honor for us to serve at ECF alongside an incredibly gifted team of leaders!

Warmly,

Steve and Pam