I was talking with my friend Chris W. this morning over breakfast and he’s been reading up on why church leaders fail in recent weeks. I think failure in leadership comes from two things, a separation of family and leadership responsibility and a separation of leader and led.

From the little experience that I have had in church ministry and campus ministry, I see people neglecting their significant others and families under the guise of ministry. We seem to glorify sacrificing the few for the sake of the many. It’s like we settle for the “lesser” of the two evils. Chris W. spoke some truth and hope into the matter and referenced 1 Timothy 3:4. He reminded me of the hope that this verse brings, that it is possible to do both, to not have to sacrifice family for ministry.

The second separation the one between the leader and the led I think results from exceptional leaders and people wanting to be exceptional leaders. Exceptional leaders themselves are instrinsically differentiated and put on a pedestal by the people they lead, creating a gap, essentially removing the community from the leader. People who want to be exceptional leaders put themselves in isolation by their own doing and severe the community from themselves. This is unfortunate because many leaders now have no community to turn to for help. Yes they are suppose to lead, but that shouldn’t mean they are alone.

Without family support and community, leaders end up taking on too much alone. So we need to come around our leaders and provide them with community.