Ridgell's Originals

 Churches/congregations/communities of faith rarely admit they were wrong.  About anything.

The closest you will here about being wrong is when refering to the past -- and by past they always mean before any of this current leadership was in position.

But you just do not hear church leaders admit they were wrong.  Not about anything.  You know it is not true.  Of course churches have gotten things wrong.  They have made poor decisions.  Sometimes leaders have even acted in ways that are wrong.

Here are a few reasons I think church leaders should confess wrong.

It is the right thing to do.  When leaders have acted in ways that are not Christ-like, confess it.  If you are rude, mean, arrogent, or condescending in your decisions... admit it.  Ask the church for forgiveness.  It is the right thing to do.

It builds confidence in future decisions.  Everyone can see that some decisions were wrong.  You will lose confidence in a leadership that evidently cannot even recognize when a wrong decision was made.  

It builds trust.  Following someone who acknowledges they are not perfect and sometimes make mistakes leads me to believe they are least really trying to get it right.

It moves you out of the past.  When any issues are always blamed on the previous leadership it just keeps people looking back.  And when there is no acknowledgement of the things done well by previous leaders, you begin to lose people who were favorably impacted by those before.

Never confessing sin/mistakes/poor judgement makes it very hard to cultivate a community of accountability.  How can I possibly confront you about issues if I cannot even admit to leadership failures.

And finally, never acknowledging wrong makes it very easy to confuse God and Jesus with the leadership.  Even easy for leaders to develop a "Messianic complex" as if they are incapaple of making the wrong decision.

I have know a lot of elderships.  Not many ever acknowledge their mistakes.  But the ones that do end up with healthy growing churches.

Just my thoughts.  

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM