“The person who knows only one religion, knows none”
What do you do when the deuces hit the air ducts? Sometimes, things don't go according to plan. In those moments of crisis it's easy to curl up into a little ball or overreact and cause more fallout.
How can leaders navigate a time of crisis with their church, organization, or community? Here are three axioms -- timeless truths -- from seasoned leaders to help you chart the course.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven….a time to keep silence and a time to speak.”
In our live-tweeting, news breaking, first-to-be blogging culture it can prove a hard environment to cultivate silence and solitude. No greater is this the case than when there is some sort of crisis — real or perceived — or when we are faced with a momentous opportunity.
Often, leaders in the church are hasty to speak up and speak out on major issues in our church, our city, or our country. We are quick to condemn the things we disagree with or are uncomfortable with and swift to support those decisions or occasions where our values are seemingly upheld or enacted.
Yet, we leaders would do well to contemplate the words of the author of Ecclesiastes above and Catholic contemplative Henri Nouwen who said, “As ministers our greatest temptation is toward too many words…but silence is a sacred discipline, a guard of the Holy Spirit.”