Transformed on the Mountain: Ministry Leader's Handbook

Tension is a term musicians often use to describe the condition of the strings on instruments like the violin, the cello, the harp or the guitar. Musicians know that the tone or pitch produced by the instrument is greatly affected by the tension of the strings carrying the sound. The outcome of good tension is good-sounding music while bad tension produces sour, flat, or sharp sounds that are unpleasant to listen to. There is good tension and bad tension in church as well. One task of effective leadership is to discern good and bad tension within the church. The outcome of good tension is success in achieving the goals and objectives of the ministry. Bad tension can result in chaos, complexity, confusion, and contradiction. Bad tension freezes a ministry in time, with no productive movement, no common ground, no unity, and an endless array of activity spiraling into uselessness.

When each member of the church discovers his/her own God-given abilities to express love for God through the service of humankind, the result is not unlike a symphony of diverse instruments, chords, and sounds, all making a joyful sound in peaceful coexistence. Bad tension creates a stench in God's nostrils. It is the task of every Christian to embark upon a journey of discovery that ends in a God-given ministry niche or place of service. God calls every Christian to God's own hands to be broken, melted, molded, filled, and used to the glory of God. Leaders are part of the solution and not part of the problem.

How does a vibrant and healthy congregation balance the need for stable leadership with the need for change? How do changes within a ministry impact relationship within the church? What effect does systemic change have on the entire church body? What is the role of leadership in church relations? What is a creative tension dynamic? Leaders today must learn constructive interventions that interrupt malevolent cycles of destructive behaviors in order to balance the tension between resistance and acceptance in a way that empowers ministry and inspires growth.