The term “scope creep” is a term consultants use when their clients expect more than what the project originally outlined. The idea is that the scope of the project is slowly getting bigger, usually in imperceptible increments.
Of course, no consultant wants scope creep to happen, but in an effort to please the client, it’s hard to prevent sometimes.
The same dynamic is ever present in ministry. It’s called “opportunity creep.”
What is “opportunity creep?”
It’s roughly the same idea, just applied to all of the positive ministry opportunities a pastor may face in the days and weeks of church life.
By calling it “creep” we are acknowledging that it’s all too easy to say yes too much. By positioning this as a problem, we are highlighting that a lack of “opportunity management” can distract and dilute our ministry efforts.
Think about how many kinds of opportunities cross a pastor’s path:
We serve a congregation that’s a bottomless well of members’ needs.
We are captured by the buzz of new ideas, new people and new initiatives happening in church space.
We live in communities riddled with issues that we would love to “missionally” engage.
We are digitally connected to an ocean of information and “friends.”
The bottom line: Church leadership is rich soil for opportunity creep.
It’s easy for opportunity after opportunity to press in and vie for the precious little time God has given you.
The first step to dealing with opportunity creep is to identify the sources of opportunities in a way that repositions them as distractions.
If we don’t understand that most opportunities are distractions in disguise, it will be hard to say “no” to the next seemingly “good” thing.
See if these sources clarify the point:
