Are you guilty of playing the "church game?" Don't know what that is?

Check out yesterday's post where I explain it more in depth.

Here's a quick summary: the "church game" is a game that ministry leaders knowingly or unknowingly play which revolves around trying to make everyone in their church happy. That sounds like a noble goal at first but you quickly realize - it's impossible! You can't please everyone because everyone wants something different.

The question is: How do you stop?!

Here are 3 steps to stop playing the "church game":

1 | Decide to stop playing

How do you stop playing any game? You simply DECIDE to stop playing. You say, "I've had enough. I'm done."

I think back to the days when my brother and sister and I would play hide and go seek. We'd play a few rounds and then eventually someone would want to stop playing. They'd say, "I'm done" and go inside. And that was it... everyone else was done too (more on that in a second).

To stop playing the "church game" simply say "I'm done" - In real life, this is done more by your actions than with literal words.

2 | Be okay with losing and the effects of losing

That declaration of being done playing isn't without consequence. What happens when you give up at a game? You instantly lose. When you stop playing hide and go seek, it's pretty easy for the other person to find you.

The thing is: the "church game" is impossible to win anyways. So, why not just choose to lose instead of spending all of your energy failing at winning? It's not a game you want to win anyways.

3 | Wait until no one else wants to play the game anymore

Occasionally, when my siblings would play hide and go seek, one person would want to keep playing after everyone else was done. The other two siblings would go inside and this person would be left to play by themselves. The thing is: hide and go seek isn't fun to play by yourself - so they stopped playing too!

Once you quit playing the "church game," eventually people will realize it's no fun to play it by themselves.

And that's the end of the game.

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