There are six of us in the Morgan family. Let’s pretend though we all live in the same house, we each lived in separate rooms. We only engaged in individual activities. We never spoke to each other. We never shared our future dreams. And, with the exception of one meal on Sunday, we always ate on different schedules. Would we be a healthy family?
The answer, of course, is no. Ironically, though the illustration is extreme, this is a very common picture of what life looks like inside the house we call “church.” People and ministries live under the same room, but they do everything in isolation. And, for whatever reason, we find it acceptable to neglect the overall health of the church in order to protect the people and practices of each individual ministry.
This is a picture of ministry silos in the church. Though pastors and other church leaders are reticent to admit it, ministry silos are one of the most common dysfunctions we see as we work with churches.
It’s kind of like micromanaging. No leader has ever admitted to me that they struggle with micromanaging their team, but plenty of teams have complained about the micromanagement tendencies of their leaders. The same thing happens with ministry silos in churches. It’s not uncommon to find them, but no one ever admits that they exist.
Because of that, I asked the Unstuck Team to help me identify warning signs for ministry silos. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll share the seven warning signs they identified.
Before our team shares their perspective, what are your thoughts? What warning signs have you witnessed?
