I have always been an idea person.
But, not so much of a follow-through person. I wonder how many phone conversations my mother has had to endure where I spent ages telling her about some grand plan that I had for this or that. The majority of my big plans end up forgotten. My enthusiasm for one thing is quickly replaced by enthusiasm for another.
And, you know what? I find that a lot of people are like that. And, in church, when you get a bunch of idea people like me together, things can get a little dicey. So, I have learned, slowly, through the years, that in Christianity there should be no such thing as idea-only people. Idea people should also be people who are working, serving, and carrying out their own visions and ideas.
After all, no one is going to have more passion, more excitement, or more drive to see the idea come to fruition than the person who had the notion in the first place. But, instead of tackling these visions ourselves, we try to cast them on the ministers in our church or on already overloaded volunteers. Imagine how our churches would change if every person who brought an idea to the pastor finished with, “and I’d like to head that up.”
Instead we idea people take our precious baby idea and hold it high Lion King style, as if it’s about to revolutionize everything. Then, we lay that baby at the pastor’s feet and walk away like we never saw it before in our lives. Tell me, what are our pastors and our overworked volunteers supposed to do with our cherished visions of how things should be?
Here’s a good question for us to ask ourselves: Do I want to be in charge of this? If the answer is no (and mine almost always is), then maybe we should just tuck our idea away for another time. After all, if you’re like me another one will be along in no time at all.
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