Pastor, “I can see what’s going on in my church” is a blind spot. Here’s why.

Picture two pastors with the same problem. Both churches are locked into their space. Both have people pushing out the door. Both have every number pointing to the same next step: launch another location. One pastor sees it and moves. The other keeps saying, “We just can’t do that,” and he honestly believes he’s seeing clearly. Same situation. Different belief. Different future. The story underneath the second pastor is one almost all of us tell: “I can see what’s going on in my church.” Here’s why that isn’t true, and what to do about it.

The old story: “I can see what’s going on in my church”

It sounds like confidence. “I know my people. I know my city. I have full awareness of what’s happening here.” And you probably do have a general feeling for what’s going on. A lot of us pride ourselves on self-awareness.

But there are stories we tell ourselves that just aren’t true. And we’re all living the story we tell ourselves: the story about who we are, where we’re going, and God’s role and our role in it. The problem with a blind spot is right there in the name. You can’t see what you can’t see.

What it costs

I’ve had seasons of church consulting, and I’ve walked into churches that genuinely believed they could see certain things. They couldn’t. They just needed another set of eyes on the situation.

One church in particular hadn’t launched a new location in a long time. I ran the numbers, saw the lids and the gaps, and walked the executive team through where to focus. The numbers never lie, and everything pointed to launching a location this year and another one the next. It just made sense. So I started asking questions. What’s really going on here?

Here’s what was going on. Years before, they had launched a campus, and it failed because the leader betrayed them and did poorly. Out of that pain, the lead pastor was telling himself a story: “We just can’t do that. I just can’t trust someone to do that.” That story put a lid on his leadership and on his thinking. He had learned the wrong lesson from the pain.

The right lesson was simple: it was a bad pick of a leader, and we could have run the principles of that launch better. The wrong lesson cost him years of growth and a lot of people who never got reached.

Breaking the old story

Consulting usually confirms a hunch or hands you a new method. But there’s always another layer beyond the data. Underneath the strategy problem is the limiting belief of the lead pastor. That’s the problem behind the problem.

Sometimes it’s a pain. Sometimes it’s a wrong belief, a root of bitterness, a staff member who betrayed him, a long story of turnover. Whatever it is, it’s holding him back from all God called him to be. And he can’t see it, because it doesn’t feel like a belief. It feels like reality.

That’s why we need friends. When someone came alongside that pastor and said, “Here’s what’s going on,” he could finally say, “Oh. I didn’t see that blind spot.” That moment is true for all of us. And it’s okay. Not being able to see your own blind spot isn’t a failure. Refusing to let anyone else look is.

The new belief: You can’t see what you can’t see

This is the belief that unlocks every other one. We’re all living to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” The wrong stories we carry keep us from being as good and as faithful as we could be.

So the goal isn’t to hustle harder. It’s to renew our minds. If we’re willing to take the time to think differently, God can do more through us than we’ve ever seen before. The way I think about things actually matters. If I start telling myself a new story, I’m going to live a new story.

What to do this week

1. Ask the hard question. What wrong lessons have I learned in ministry? Think about the painful seasons: the campus that failed, the staff member who left badly, the board meeting that went sideways. What did you decide was true because of it?
2. Name one story that isn’t based on reality. Write it down in plain words. “I can’t trust anyone with that.” “That doesn’t work here.” Then ask whether it’s helping you move forward.
3. Start where you already suspect. You probably already have a hunch about which old stories apply to you. Go there first. Then invite another set of eyes, a friend or a mentor, to tell you what they see that you don’t.

We all have lids we didn’t know were there. That’s not the end of the story. It’s the start of a better one. Same situation. Different belief. Different future.