The Ability to Say “Not Yet”

Pastors today are tired, burnt out, and stretched to their limits. Every single day there are opportunities to do good things, meet with people, start ministries, and more. Because of this, pastors are addicting to saying, “yes,” and their calendars are slammed packed and at capacity. However, one of the best things that pastor’s can say is, “not yet.” In this episode, we talk about the “why” and the “how” of saying, “not yet.”

Show Notes

EPISODE THREE SHOW NOTES:

THE PROBLEM: We want to provide ministry for our people and our community, but we don’t always have the capacity to make it happen. We have trouble saying “no,” and we build our schedules to capacity. We must get better at saying “not yet.”
Process for Starting Something New:

Validate a good idea
Remind of the mission statement of the church (Foothills Church exists to develop mature disciples of Christ in relational environments)
Create a “New Ministry Packet”

8-10 pages with questions regarding mission, vision, values, budget, volunteer recruitment plan, volunteer training plan, point person for ministry, goals and wins, etc)

Examine the “New Ministry Packet.”
Make a decision — yes or no?

Every busy pastor must first understand their giftedness and capacity. Every pastor’s capacity, life-stage, season of church, etc., is different.
How do we learn our capacity?

Become the most self-aware pastors we can be
Be honest about our giftedness, season, church, etc.
Mentors and coaches who are honest with us
Get in the right lane where you are gifted and designed

What should we be saying yes?

We say yes to our signature responsibilities:

Preaching (1 Timothy 3)
Prayer (Titus 1)
Protecting (Acts 20, 1 Peter 5)

Providing the right Vision and Structure

What are the key signature ministries that pastors should be saying yes to?

At FC, these are our key signature ministries:

Sunday Morning
Guest Services
Family Ministries
Small Groups
The Journey Process (Discipleship Strategy)

What is something you are saying “not yet” to right now?

At FC, we want to create a counseling center. We are praying and dreaming toward that end, but we are currently saying “not yet” to it.

QUOTES:

It’s okay to say “not yet” to the things we want to do in the future but don’t have the capacity to do right now.
As pastor’s we must get better at saying, “not yet.”
Your capacity to serve will limit your capacity to grow.
Anytime you start something new, something else suffers.
You can only spin so many plates as a leader before plates begin crashing to the floor.
As pastors, we like to start new things for momentum instead of working hard on what you currently have to make it healthy.
Every busy pastor must first understand their giftedness and capacity.
Everything has to happen in your church, but not everything has to happen by you.
When you have the right vision for your church and the right structure in place, your capacity as a leader will grow.
If you don’t have a strategy to disciple people, you can forget the rest of your ministry programs.
It’s freeing to say “not yet” to the things you want to do, so you can say “yes” to the things you have to do. That’s where you want to be busy as a leader.