Momentum and Agility

Wikipedia.com defines agility for the athlete this way, “the ability to change the body's direction efficiently, and this requires a combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, and strength.”

I can’t say I am especially agile, although recently when a car pulled suddenly in front of me I was surprised how quickly I maneuvered my steering wheel to avoid a collision. Agility is a useful concept in leadership and organizations. It speaks to our ability to respond to changing conditions, opportunities, and obstacles.

One of the greatest challenges facing congregational ministries is their capacity to react to the changes in our culture and the needs of people in a way that is fruitful. It is typical for church programs of even the most vital ministry to essentially run last year’s programs over again. As long as those programs and ministries actually facilitate the growth of disciple-followers of Jesus and address human needs, the concept of momentum is a good one. The momentum of the ministry sustains its engagement with people. However, as the culture changes, people respond differently, have different preferences and or lifestyles then our momentum can work against our agility. It's hard to make a sudden right turn when you are going seventy-five miles an hour.

I spoke this week with a wonderful lady in her seventies who was bemoaning the loss of young women in her congregation’s women’s programs. She said, “They just don’t have the time.” The result was a slow decline of programming for women of any age. The momentum of that ministry was clearly centered on doing what they had always done. Now with women working as well has juggling family and other activities, a ministry for them needs agility.  It needs an agility that will allow them to show honor to the way they ministered to women in the past, while seeking new approaches, programs, and formats for today.

This leads to an interesting paradox in fruitful leadership – the ability to develop the momentum that sustains fruitful ministry while simultaneously having the agility to respond to changing needs and opportunities for ministry. When Jesus set out with his disciples on retreat, as described in Mark 6:30 and following, clearly there was a momentum, a energy about getting away. Yet when the people showed up, and Jesus saw they were sheep without a shepherd; he showed himself to be an agile leader and shifted from his original plan to address the present needs before him.

Some questions to consider:

How agile are you personally? How responsive are you to change how you do things in order to adjust to changing circumstances?

How does your church or ministry balance momentum and agility – the ability to keep it going versus the ability to adjust and change direction? How can you develop both?

With Joy - E. Stanley Ott