Christian Leadership Alliance
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From Founder to Flourish—or Flounder?
Avoiding Founder Syndrome
It starts with passion and a vision. With the impetus of God's call upon their life, a founder of a nonprofit sets out to faithfully execute the mission placed in his or her hands. There are many around the world who would testify to the life transforming ministry they received due in part to the mission being carried out on their behalf.
Therefore, it is not inaccurate to state that founders provide the life giving blood for a new organization. However, the very same principles that propel the ministry into action can also become a detriment and an actual hindrance for God's work to be achieved.
Many nonprofits are now experiencing challenging times due to the economy, or due to the inadequate belief that vision and mission are "enough", and as a result, many ministries are struggling to survive or even worse, dying a painful, often public, death. Unfortunately, in many cases, it falls back on the founder's incapability to let go of what they perceive as their duty to lead in the way they, alone, determine.
Founders can lead a ministry to Flourish or they can cause it to Flounder.
Founder syndrome. You know this is an issue that needs to be addressed when the concern has been given a name. Even the dictionary defines syndrome as "a group of symptoms that collectively indicate or characterize a disease, psychological disorder, or abnormal condition; a distinctive or characteristic pattern of behavior. In one particular moment in time, an idea was born and with it, a founder. The founder brings much to this fledgling organization and it is these very strengths that can ultimately cause an organization to flounder instead of flourish.
A Founder is a Visionary.
It is very rare to find a founder of almost any Christian organization who will not state emphatically that the vision was given to them by God. It is not up to any of us to agree or refute such a statement.
However, it would be good to consider such statements in the context of a statement made by Christian literary agent Steve Laube, previously a major Christian publishing house editor, during a Glorieta Christian writers conference: "Everyone says that God told them to write … what they fail to realize is that it does not automatically mean they should write a book and it will be published."
A Founder's vision is what starts the ministry or organization on the path to greatness. And yet, founders must be careful that their vision is in line with what God desires. If God tells a founder to provide for widows and orphans, it may not necessarily mean that the founding of a ministry is called for or even the way God desires for help to be achieved. It could be something entirely different than what the founder would even consider.
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