Technique!

Dear Pastors

Technique!

As a youngster I was a competitive swimmer. Believe it or not back then I was as thin as a post. In fact my friends called me ‘plank’. I remember it well. ☹

I also remember my swimming coach standing on the side of the pool watching the squad I was in swim lengths (after lengths after lengths), stopping me at the turn and giving me a quick one-on-one tutorial about my technique, to be precise my stroking technique. Though I may not have appreciated much at the time I sure appreciated later on. In fact it is fair to say technique in swimming is everything as it is in all sports. Sure body build helps and fitness definitely helps but you could be a rippling super man with a fitness reading off the charts and even look like you are a really good swimmer but if your technique isn’t up to scratch you have no chance of winning a medal…..and I do mean….no chance.

A few years later I was employed as a swim teacher during my Varsity holidays and I taught probably hundreds of primary age kids to swim over 3 or 4 summers. Again it was all about teaching them good technique. These days I still swim for fitness and I can’t tell you how glad I am that I learnt some good technique all those years ago. It means I can swim a few lengths without falling apart. And I can teach my grandkids how to swim if they will ‘look and learn’.

There is a direct corelation between excellent technique and great results.

As Pastors and Christian leaders, if we want to excel at what we do and be a blessing to our people (and church) we have a lot of different techniques to learn.

So let’s be clear what I am talking about. The word ‘technique’ when used as a noun means:-
• the manner and ability with which an artist, writer, dancer, athlete, or the like employs the technical skills of a particular art or field of endeavour.
• the body of specialised procedures and methods used in any specific field, especially in an area of applied science.
• ability to apply procedures or methods so as to effect a desired result.
Source: Dictionary.com

I like to think that Leading and Managing your church is an art form. Good art requires good technique or skills as noted above. There is a direct corelation between excellent technique and great results.

So how is your technique when it comes to preaching? What about team leadership or conflict resolution or getting ‘buy-in’ or strategic planning, or pastoral care or managing your time and on and on? Each of these tasks have there own skill set or technique. Each of these tasks need you as a leader to read, inquire from more experienced leaders, think and pray about how to develop your technique so that you become really good at pastoral leadership.

And finally. I think that the best places and environments to learn management and leadership techniques is at the coal face, where the rubber meets the road. Sure, you can learn principles in the classroom but skills are honed and developed in the trenches of pastoral and organisational leadership.

Blessings
Alan