Unity is a spiritual happening. You have to be very intentional about creating unity. It doesn’t just occur. Few churches or organizations experience real unity. There are 5 Main Enemies of Unity: 1. Poor Communication 2. Gossip 3. Unresolved Disagreements 4. Lack of Shared Purpose 5. Sanctioned Incompetence
Poor Communication
Poor communication can take many forms, but when the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, strife sets in. you have to work to create communication.
Gossip
Gossip is degrading and will destroy a church or organization.
A successful leader develops and maintains a culture in which negatives are handed up and positives are handed down.
By definition, gossip is when a negative is discussed with anyone who can’t help solve the problem.
Unresolved Disagreements
Unresolved disagreements happen when a leader doesn’t know they exist or when that leader avoids confrontation. When you don’t deal with your “stuff” your stuff gets bigger.
Confrontation
Sometimes Christians avoid confrontation in the name of being “nice”. That’s not nice, that’s wimpy.
A little confrontation cleanses the wound and allows the parties to go forward in a spirit of unity.
When you are aware there are hurt feelings and/or disagreements, act quickly and decisively. Nobody ever killed anything by saying, “Ready, aim, aim, aim, aim….”
Lack of Shared Purpose
Lack of shared purpose is caused when a leader doesn’t restate the goal, the vision and the mission early and often.
Sanctioned Incompetence
It has been said that sanctioned incompetence demoralizes. When you allow someone to goof-off, not execute, or live up to their potential, you damage your witness.
Team members will eventually eventually become demotivated when someone else on the team can’t or won’t do their job and a leader will not take action.
For the sake of unity in the entire group the leader must go to battle early and often with any of these enemies of unity
When unity is valued in the culture, the team will also act to keep these enemies at the gate.
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Brad Ruggles is live blogging from Catalyst 2008.
