Leadership and failure are two things that will always go hand in hand in every ministry. The challenge of leadership doesn't come from leaders who don't make mistakes, but mostly from the absence of a leader who is willing to try without being affected by the fear of making mistakes.
But one thing that many leaders don't know is that there is a right way to make mistakes and there is also an incorrect way of making mistakes. Here are some thoughts on leadership failure that will hopefully give ministry leaders a proper grasp on how to handle mistakes.
Serve those who are willing to accept your imperfections. There is no point in serving a group that cannot accept your mistakes, and as important as it is for a congregation, a group or department to allow their leaders ample room for error, it is most of the time not our job to teach them the value of having imperfect leaders, and the impossibility of having a perfect one.
Check humility, not perfection. If there is one thing that leaders must never make mistakes in is in the area of pride, which is the biggest cause of leadership downfall. Leaders are often the ones who are best at receiving rebuke, admitting mistakes and taking responsibility for them. Also making mistakes are never a pass to not face consequences, and as abundant as God's grace is to leaders someone has to take earthly responsibility for leadership mistakes and it sure shouldn't be the followers.
Mistakes become a problem when repeated over and over. What will be most alarming is a leader that makes the same mistake over and over again, but this won't need to happen if a leader takes time to assess and review performance.
Mistakes that affect you are those that paralyse you. Philippians 3:13 reminds us, "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead..." Mistakes won't have to affect your results if you won't let it affect your morale and spirit. At the end of the day, remember that God is strong when we are weak.
Imperfection is not an excuse for immorality. Aside from pride, another mistake that cannot be taken lightly is moral failure- sexual immorality, money issues and doctrinal flaws would name some of those few. Although these are problems that can also be healed and restored from, but the pain and effort of doing so will be so much harder than others.
