
I recently was on her table again getting some work done on
my shoulders and neck when I realized the link between Massage Therapy and Church
Leadership. These series of posts will
demonstrate some links between the two professions and what we, as Church
Leaders, can learn from Massage Therapy.
Quick stop on my soapbox: The profession of License Massage
and Bodywork Therapists (LMBTs) gets linked to the sex trade very easily because
of the ‘massage parlors’ around the world that offer ‘happy endings’. My wife is not a sex worker, nor are the vast
majority of LMBTs. But a few rotten
apples always ruin the reputation of every apple. She takes her profession, her calling, very
seriously and handles her business with the utmost professionalism. Please leave all gutter thoughts in the
gutter. We can be grown ups and move
beyond the thought that whenever a human being touches another human being it
always leads to sex. These posts have
nothing to do with any of that and the mere mention is truly offensive. This profession has worked very hard to move
beyond that notion, let’s help them continue to move forward.
With that said, my first post on “All I Need to Know about
Church Leadership I Learned from My Massage Therapist” has to do with letting
go. As Alycia worked my neck muscles,
trying to loosen up the knots, she kept giving me instructions to ‘let go’. As she held my head in her hand and manipulated
it side to side to access the right muscles I kept trying to control it without
realizing it. The best way for her to
tilt my head in the right angle would be to simple relax all the muscles in my
neck and let her do the work. By ‘letting
go’, I enabled her to do the work she needed to do.
Many of us in the ministry have a problem with control. We like it and we don’t want to give it
up. This fact can have implications in
either direction. It is a good thing because
we can help steer a church or committee in the direction we see fit. It can be bad because we take away the power
from the laity to do the work they need to do, not to mention taking power away
from God. The art of Church Leadership
is found in knowing when to lead from the front and when to lead from
behind. When do we allow others to do
the work and when do we step forward?
How we answer that question tells us a lot about our leadership skills
and mindset. But to walk that line and
know when to do one verse the other is tough.
Then there are the other times where we need to get out of the way all
together.
“Let Go!” As my wife’s
voice echoed in my ears as she stretched my head towards my shoulders I was
reminded that I am not the savior to my church.
My congregation already has a savior.
My leadership, my vision, my pride, my desires are not the things to be
concerned with. Let go. God has placed a calling upon this
congregation and that is what I need to be searching for, that is what I need the
people of my congregation searching for.
We need to remove the I, me, my, we, our, out of the conversation and
listen to God instead. We need to let
go. I need to let go.
When we let go and enable ourselves to be pushed, stretched,
and manipulated by the hands of God we open ourselves up to true discipleship,
transformation, and sanctification. Even
the smallest notion that we can do it on our own removes our full faith in
God. We need to let go more as Church
Leaders. We need to let go the ideas we
hold dear in our minds because we want to build ourselves up, seek credit and
accolades, or look good to our bosses.
We need to let go and rest our hearts, our ideas, our trust in the hands
of God. Let God lead us to where we need
to be and stop attempting to tell God how it should be done.
We can see the process of letting go and then attempting to
take control back in the people of Israel.
They would follow God and then slip away, be called back and then slip
away. Letting go of our power and
relying on God is a process. Letting go
is a journey towards holiness and to be made Christ-like. May you be able to let go in your ministry
and in your walk with God.
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