Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

At some point or another, we’re all drinking from the firehose. We have way too much to do, coming at us too fast.   

For me lately, and I suspect for many of us, the hose has been less a source of water for growth and more a way to put out fires.   

As leaders in our churches, our communities, and our workplaces, part of our job is to put out fires. The Internet connection dies; we fix it (or call the right people to fix it). The wrong date for the spaghetti supper is in the church bulletin; we make an announcement and send out an update. Someone is sick, and we cancel long-standing lunch plans to stop by the hospital.
Fires happen, and we need to be ready to extinguish them.   

But what happens when all the water goes to the fires and none to new growth and nurturing? We’ve put out the fires but to what end?   

Over the past few weeks, I have felt really drained at the end of my workday. Frustrated and wondering what I’ve accomplished. I decided to take a step back and reflect upon what was happening, what was different. And I realized I was all firefighter, no gardener. I was all quashing and no building up.   

It’s so easy to get into this rut. I’ve often referred to it as the tyranny of the immediate: the presenting problem of the moment gets the attention and the big vision gets back-burnered. 
I don’t think there’s one easy answer about how to find a balance between putting out fires and growing new projects. But here’s what I’m trying (and it’s working a little). I decided to stop. Stop only putting out fires. Instead of getting sucked into the hysteria of right-now-stop-the-presses mini-crises, I’m taking a deep breath and making an informed decision. Is this a critical situation? To keep beating the fire imagery, does this problem have the potential to erupt into a forest fire or is it an errant campfire that will put itself out?

In our lives and in our churches, we must seize the power to decide how we will use our resources, our time, energy, creativity. Guided by God’s wisdom, we can decide if we want to spend our days building up or stomping out. 

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