Leadership vs Management

I'm taking a Organizational Management course for my MBA and this topic of Leadership VS. Management caught my attention and got me thinking. There is always a controversy over these two words. Can you manage without leading? Or Can you lead without managing? In the most extreme ends of spectrum, where its black or white, managers are people who are just concerned about getting things done and trying to get others to just perform. Leaders on the other hand value flexibility and are concerned with what things mean to people.

Scholars Bennis and Nanus (no idea who they are but supposedly researched this topic) quotes "managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing". As my college ministry days slowly come to an end I look back at my leadership throughout the last 6 years of ministry and I wonder what I was. In the perfect world, as I wrote in my MBA class discussion paper, I think a "leader" and "manager" can benefit one another. To just be a leader or just be a manager is too black or white. There are benefits and downsides to both.

In many churches now a days I see the biggest down fall as being a lack of management. There are great spiritual leaders and great speakers but many times what falls short is a lack of logistics, planning, preparation, and professionalism. I always here the excuse " God will take care of it". I think when we look deep within ourselves, we can see that this saying, although it should come from an absolute faith in God's sovereignty, it comes from a core of carelessness. In ministries I see that when someone is careless it is so easily accepted everything is "OK" everything is "Oh, no problem I understand". Everything is always , "Don't worry God forgives".

I know. I know God is sovereign. I know God is Good. I know God forgives. But, knowing all this for me, I already also know that even if I do 100% I will still never be good enough. Knowing this I understand grace. That no matter how much I try I am a fallen man. That no matter how much I want to I will never be able to reach heaven on my own. It is only by the grace of God because of his mercy that I even breathe. Isn't it from this knowledge that an outflow of effort comes? Why do we wait and make God give 100% all the time? I want to be able to give as much as I can even if it means its only 2% and God has to offer me another 98%. But I hope that this doesn't make me into a Martha. Or just a "get the job done" type of a person.

I think, I hope that I've been both a manager and a leader. That I've inspired the people I've met and that the ministry I've done has brought someone closer to God. That I've understood people. But sometimes, I think I've been more of a manager than a leader. That I've run around like Martha planning events and running meetings. I wonder if there will ever be a perfect balance. Where leaders in church will understand how to manage better and managers in the corporate world will learn how to lead better.

I want to mature and understand this balance.