The compliment that is not a compliment

After church today I took my wife to SGT Peppers Sub Shop. Of all places she could crave during her pregnancy, she chose to long for a honey mustard chicken sub.

The owner was back today. He takes two days off a month…two different Sundays. The place does not run the same without him. The line is much slower. The service suffers when he is not there. Kaye told him so. She meant it as a compliment. “We missed you. Things are not the same when you are not here.”

I could see the pain on his face. The compliment is not a compliment to leaders. Leaders want to lead in such a way that things operate without them. Leaders want to build a culture that is sustained without the presence of the leader.

The apostle Paul rejoiced that the Christians at Philippi walked with Christ more after he left than they did when he was with them (Philippians 2:12). Church leaders are challenged to build into people so that ministry occurs through people and not merely through the leader (Ephesians 4:11-12).

In the corporate world, those who are able to work themselves out of a job will never be without a job. In ministry, the church’s ability to raise up leaders is directly proportionate to the church’s ability to expand ministry into the community, to reproduce, to multiply.

So in essence, the greatest compliment to a leader is “We don’t miss you.”