Church Guesswork

An awful lot depends, in ministry, on correct guesswork -- and it's not of the kind that detectives make, or mechanics, where guesswork yields fairly early results. In the Church, it may be five years -- and what if it was wrong? John Maxwell warns that an incorrect reading of a situation "exacts a high price". OBSERVATION: That's not a reason, for me, to speak of fear, as several leadership authors do (such as Ford, Gangel, Stanley). For one thing, I don't place any emphasis on successful strategy, which looms large in much leadership thinking. But then, isn't that a choice, too: my own guesswork is to decide against strategy. Looking back, most of my guesswork in ministry was of a spiritual or humane nature -- and it led mostly to a thriving Church. One does wonder, however, what else one might have guessed. (I'm not sure that "guesswork" is the right word. In many cases one should say "faith".)