At the start of the year, many of us may realise we spent the previous year caught in a cycle of constant activity—just doing, without much reflection or planning, and barely surviving. How can we break free from this endless seven-day grind?
- What’s the cycle of survival from Sunday to Sunday and why is it so dangerous?
- Why is it rooted in selfishness and being unloving?
- Who is responsible when a team is stuck in a seven day cycle?
- How does long term thinking and delegation help not just break but force us out of the cycle?
- Some of the obstacles we need to address in developing leaders to get us out of the seven day cycle
What We Discuss
0:00 – Introduction
2:36 – What is the 7-Day Cycle?
4:12 – Challenges Christian Leaders Face
5:01 – The Challenge of Identity
7:10 – How to build responsibility in others
8:41 – What are some other things to get out of the 7-day cycle?
12:11 – How to Develop Leaders
13:50 – How to get out of the Sunday to Sunday mindset
17:37 – Reach 2025 National Conference
Tool Box
Reach Australia National Conference
Credits
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Transcript
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service.
0:08
G’day, I’m Scott Sanders and I’m Peter Blanche. Welcome to The One Thing, a podcast designed to give you one solid, practical tip for gospel-centred ministry. Every week The One Thing is brought to you by Reach Australia. We want to see leaders transformed. At the heart of I think our work in the church planning space and with established churches is to see leaders transformed.
0:28
So if that’s you, if you’re listening in, you’re a team member.If you’re a church leader, if you’re thinking about playing a church, head to reach australia.com.au. We’re all about leadership transformation.Well, Pete, cycling, tell us, tell us, when did you learn to ride a bike?
0:47
I went to ride a bike back in.It would have been Balliner, I think maybe Gilgandra, where I was born.Wow, I.Didn’t know you were born in Gilgandra.There’s born in Gilgandra 10 or 2000.But yeah, I learned that I had 4, three older brothers.No doubt they would have been laughing at me as I fell off without the training wheels.
1:05
No doubt there’s probably video or there’s no videos of it being the younger son.But yes, I learned the.Ride a bike.There’s some hurt there, There’s some hurt there.There’s they’re lovely boys.Well, you haven’t pressed play on a cycling podcast, even though we do have many passes in the network who probably spend a little bit too much time on their bikes.
1:25
They’re probably listening on their bikes right now, right?But for now, you press play on another episode of The One Thing getting out of the Seven Day Cycle.Today’s podcast is brought to you by Virtual Church Assist.Say goodbye to the burden of chaotic admin once and for all with a huge well of experience and a whole team of expertise to draw on.
1:46
VCA works with churches all over Australia and would love to discuss your needs.Get in touch at www.virtualchurchassist.com.And now back to the podcast.It does make sense why I was talking about cycle, doesn’t it?
2:02
When we get to that title, I I think this is a, a particular issue that’s really important for pastors that getting out of the seven day cycle.Sunday comes around very quickly.And I think pastor ministry lends itself to the urgent important, which are often people.
2:20
They’re not, you know, projects you can kind of hand off.But when you’ve got people in front of you, they become urgent and they become important.So if you’re listening in and you’re thinking through, yeah, this is this is I, I need some, I need some help with this, then this episode is for you.
2:36
So what’s the seven day cycle?Why is it so bad?Yeah, it’s important to actually be clear what we mean by 7 day cycle.A good way I, I, it’s like ministry on rinse and repeat.It’s just surviving from Sunday to Sunday.I mean, there are things if you a 7 day cycle suggests there’s a rhythm and there’s a pattern and of course there’ll be a number of things in any leader, Christian leaders life, which has a healthy kind of habits that they’ve got.
3:02
But what we mean by the seven day cycle is that ministry on rinse and repeat.What I mean by that is it’s this cycle where you are unreflective.You are just going through the motions.You end up being task focused just thinking about these are the jobs I’ve got to get done to get through this week.
3:20
And when it’s like that, you lose side.The big picture, you don’t care as much about the difference this is making.You’re just getting through it and potentially then switching off and moving on to the next thing to get that done as well.And I think a ministry like that, why it’s so dangerous and so bad is at times it really becomes more about you personally than it does about God and what he’s doing with his people.
3:44
It becomes about you and your performance in the stuff you do in those seven days and, and, and in your mind, you can go.I got through that.It went OK.I didn’t embarrass myself.Everyone seems happy.I haven’t got any complaints.Great.What’s next?
3:59
And the focus is on you and not getting complaints and not embarrassing yourself.Whereas actually getting out of seven day cycle really is getting out of that me focused task focused ministry.So Pete, what are some of the most common challenges Christian leaders face just in their in their weekly rhythms?
4:18
I think the big one here is just the size and the amount of ministry receiver responsibilities or, or work that is in front of us in any ministry.Every ministry I’ve seen in every ministry, every minister I’ve known, they look at the responsibilities they bear the, the but their heart is genuinely for these people and there is just so much to do they and that just overwhelms them.
4:43
So there’s going to be lots to do every week.Yeah, maybe if you’ve been listening into the one thing, be helpful for you to listen about calendar, you know, listen to the episode on calendar and convictions because diagnosing the problem is always going to be lots to do.So managing your calendar, managing yourself can be a really important thing to reflect.
5:01
On one of the other things here about it, which is a common challenge for Christian leaders as they face their weekly rhythm is is just that whole topic of identity.Sometimes you can have a lot of things in your, in your seven day cycle, if we’re calling it that, that you feel really great and they make me feel important and, and you feeling important can sometimes go well.
5:25
I like to feel important.That’s an identity piece for me.They may not necessarily be the best things to do, but I’m doing them because it makes me feel important.And that that ends up leading an unreflective cycle where you’re just going through the motions because it makes you feel good again.
5:44
The challenges again there is all about is is about busyness as well, just how much I’ve got on my plate, making sure I get the right things done.I guess another aspect of the seven day cycle is actually not paying attention to the the long term sort of planning growth pieces.Yeah, that’s exactly right.
6:00
That that’s the, that’s the healthy thing about getting out of a seven day cycle is you’re getting out of that just all you’re thinking about is what’s what’s in front of me over the next seven days.Key in any ministry, actually any level of leadership is getting beyond the next 7 days and thinking about what about the next seven weeks?
6:18
What about the next seven months, seven years.Getting thinking of a much broader time frame that will help you actually spend the right things in your diary.And then one, one final area to sort of pay attention to or think through is, is just, I think a lot of Christian leaders often are unaware or aren’t thinking strategically or intentionally about how they can actually hand over and hand off some of their ministries.
6:44
Yeah.So as you say, there’s always lots to do, but I think often we actually don’t pause and reflect.Well, how can I delegate some of these things?How can I actually work through others to get them done?There’s, there’s of course some just some things that are always going to land on, you know, land on your at your feet.
7:00
Yeah, I think that’s a key part to to actually thinking through how do I get out of a seven day cycle.I know we’re probably heading too far in advance to this, but it really is.Let’s just dive in there to sort of some of the solutions to this.So kick off, yeah, kick off this first I.Really do think that being able to build responsibility in others is just so key to it.
7:18
The danger in that space though is sometimes in the seven you’re stuck in a seven day cycle because you’re thinking, well, takes me more time to get someone to do that.I’ve got to invest time in them.It’ll go quicker if I just do it myself and it will probably be better because I’ve been doing this for a while, therefore I won’t build responsibility in someone else.
7:36
And then you get stuck doing the same things week in week out, week in, week out.Peter is not talking about the website.He’s also not talking about the church bulletin either.There, pastors, if you are still working in those two spaces, there are other people in your congregation who can do that better, OK?Probably much better that’s.
7:51
Exactly right.OK.So, so identifying which means you can delegate and hand over, but recognising that that’s going to take time.I’m going to have to be intentional about that and also there’s going to be some loss.Someone’s not going to do it as good as me at the start, but they’ll most likely do it better than me and and be able to give me time to focus on you.
8:10
Better than you in time, but you need to invest that into them.Any pastor who really has got to reflect on in this particular area of my responsibility, if I do delegate it, empower someone else to do this responsibility, there will be a speed drop in how quickly things are done.
8:27
And at times there will be a quality drop as well.And so thinking through more carefully about what kind of drops are, we can we can this ministry sustain while we build responsibility and others, but in the long run, that speed and quality will just go through the roof because more people are doing stuff.What are some other things to get out of the seven day cycle?
8:43
I think being willing to get feedback from people, one of the one of the crucial things here is am I using my time on the right things?If you’ve got a team of people around you, wherever they be, if you’re a church that actually has a staff team, or if you’re a solo pastor, you’ve got some high level volunteers getting some feedback going.
8:59
This is what we’re trying to do.Am I doing the right things in my weekly cycle?Actually getting some feedback and being and really creating an environment where you’re not defensive, you’re actually wanting to learn how to spend your time.Well, Pete, that’s been really helpful giving us 3 or 4 things there.
9:16
Delegate, hand it, hand it over to someone else, do do things together as a team and and reflect on your ministry together as a team and then get feedback again, another kind of team 1.So Pete, this kind of sounds easy.
9:32
If you’ve seen your leader, you, you get a chance to work out your, your calendar.You get a chance to set the the priorities and the responsibilities.If you’re an assistant minister, if you’re a member of a team, you don’t necessarily get to the side.You know what you can and can’t do.
9:47
So what do you do if you say your minister just kind of dumps a whole bunch of stuff on you and you’re already in your own seven day cycle?I reckon you praise God at that point because it’s actually a disruptor for you where this new thing that’s been thrown at you, you’ve got to interrogate it going, is it actually the right thing so.
10:02
It’s an opportunity to.Reflect it is it in of itself is that opportunity where?There’s that optimism, Pete, that just comes out.I’m not feeling that.I feel like I had already had five things.You just give me 6:00 and 7:00.Yeah.Well, that’s, that can be true.And it can be frustrating at times and you can have more on your plate than you actually got time to allocate.
10:20
But that kind of moment really does force the team to reflect on what to do, why to do it, what you need to say yes to.And to do this, I need to say no to that.And it disrupts your seven days.So yeah.Again, easy for you, Pete.You’re, you’re a confident leader.
10:36
You know, you know what you’re on about.But me coming back to my senior pastor and saying, well, hey, I don’t have time for that.Or is this really the most, you know, the most important thing?What?What does it look like to have that conversation?Well, it’s really key.There’s two things to say there. 1 is you do need to have a healthy team focus and a team relationship.
10:54
The senior leader is so key at that point in order for him not to be defensive, that if a team member comes to him and says, well this has come onto my timetable now, I don’t know if I can pull this off.I don’t even know if it’s the most important thing to do if a senior leader is is immediate reaction to that is or let me justify why I’ve asked you to do that.
11:14
There’s no way you can push back.Then that’s going to create a team environment where you will have a team completely stuck in their seven day cycles because they won’t they won’t allow the disruption and that, but the senior leader bringing in an environment of non defensiveness is really super critical.
11:29
Having said that, there’s there still is responsibility on the team member to evaluate this disruption to their timetable, ask themselves is this a worthy thing to be now included and if it is having the gumption to go, yeah, I actually need to say no to some things now and that’s okay.
11:48
Yeah, delegation is that there’s that dual responsibility.There’s a person who’s delegating.They do need to, yeah, think about a whole bunch of questions as well.But the responsibility also on the person receiving there as well to, you know, ask about the time of this over the priority of it.There’s a whole bunch of really helpful questions that you could be, yeah, asking as well, and not kind of, you know.
12:06
But you can hear me welcoming it rather than feeling a grave by It’s so critical.Now, one of the key things in this space is actually developing leaders.Give us two or three things.Again, that could be another whole podcast episode, another whole course, two or three things just on developing leaders Will.
12:25
Yeah, I think one of the things you want to do when it comes to developing leaders well is move out of just being opportunistic at the leaders you look at.One of the things when you get stuck in a seven day cycle is part of that cycle.It’s very rarely that leaders and developing leaders is part of that cycle because you’re just running ragged doing the activities you do.
12:44
But to develop, there’s a couple of quick things easier. 1, be intentional about it.I reflect on my own ministry in this area of running to develop leaders and think I could have been far more intentional.I do wonder if there were certain people who could have headed into into greater ministry responsibilities if I was more intentional.
13:01
I wasn’t negligent, but I was just opportunistic and that was an.Oversight, OK, so regularly kind of review who’s taking on ministries and look, look at how you can actually move them from being a team member to a team leader or a team leader taking on more responsibility in the in the system.
13:17
Another key thing is you look to develop leaders is not just to find a leader who’s in their head.All they’re doing is a task.You want to find a leader who can all build responsibility.People who go there is a genuine difference that we’re looking to make and whatever we need to do, I’m keen to make that difference.
13:34
That’s the kind of leader you want to develop.So make a difference, leader.That deleted wake is far less likely to get trapped in the seven day cycle, see, because they’re constantly thinking, is what I’m doing in these seven days making that difference, rather than am I just doing the task that I think I need to do?
13:50
OK, Pete, you’ve been working over the last sort of 18 months on the team development programme.You’ve been working with teams.You know, this is this is a common problem, getting caught up in the Sunday to Sunday mindset.Can you give us some examples?Can you give us also some strategies and tools to help A-Team move out of this?
14:09
Yeah, yeah.Now let me mention the church by name and away we’re going.That’s not going to go down too well.Look, I’ve worked with a team where genuinely the whole team was stuck in the seven day cycle.The thing was for that team, they actually their seven day cycle had wasn’t filled with completely inappropriate things.
14:27
And so the church was growing and had grown actually to a size where if I weren’t willing to get out of that seven day cycle, it really was going to cap itself.Now it really was going to be the growth limiter because all everyone on team only has a limited amount of capacity that they can get to and they were heading to the point where if they don’t build responsibility to others, they’re the blockage now.
14:48
Now what was key to that church actually changing was the whole team realising that that was their culture, that that no one was intentional about it.No one had said about to make this our culture.It was just an unintentional thing, potentially led really by the senior leader who had set, who had set his culture partly because his capacity was so high.
15:08
So, so you a way to kind of see this and diagnose this is you probably don’t have a lot of team leader, team leaders across church life.You got a ministry staff thing that’s doing a lot of ministry.That’s right, as opposed to actually working through others.And they had a senior leader who was doing a lot and then the people who came on team watched him model that and just followed that.
15:27
So how did you?Break.How did you break that church and then rebuild it again?The key thing was for the senior, the senior leader to then recognise that culture and go, we need to change this.And so, but the whole team then had to really consider their own work and go, we have been caught up in his culture accidentally and we need all to change.
15:48
And so it was a, it wasn’t less necessarily we’ve just got to pull this lever, press that button and this will change.But it has been a genuine culture piece that really as a team, they had such good trust in each other that they are now able to have those more difficult conversations around, oh, you’re just doing it.
16:07
You’re not building in responsibility in someone else and they are able now to ask those culture questions of each other regularly to try and embed a new way of leading.The church.OK, So if you’ve seen you later, listen, it’s gonna require humility on your part.Yeah, and it’s gonna require change.I got this great message from a a leader recently who had done a cult consult with it.
16:25
And I just asked how how’s things going?He said, look, we’re making good headway as a staff team, though a changing role will take time to bed down.Brackets open probably in me as much as anyone close brackets.So having humility, recognising that you’re, you know, you’re you’re a key culture setter, but then actively working, you know, to break it down.
16:45
But great news is you got a great you got a team around you, you.Can say well the great news also and what that team needs to know is it will take some time to change the culture and also to change the way in which they operate.And So what you also need here is leadership teams within the church, their governing bodies, whatever it is, giving the space actually for the their leaders to to transition and change rather than expecting something happened just immediately.
17:08
This is a 12 year project.I don’t want to give everything away, but obviously doing the team development programme, you know, getting developed at all as a team is a, is a really useful thing.So what’s the one thing people need to know about getting out of the seven day cycle?Love, Scott, love.
17:24
Love is the one thing they need to know.Rinse and repeat.Ministry, which has little or no intentionality, is simply not loving to people that you’re trying to reach.So it’s time to get out of it and get get into it.Well, that was excellent.Let me just jump in the toolbox.
17:40
Before I dive in the toolbox, let me talk about the National Conference in May 2025.Next year, so 19th to the 22nd of May at AV Church last year we had over 1300 plus ministers, church leaders, their teams, lay leaders.It was, it was a great time.It’s always a great time to sort of gather together to learn and to to grow.
17:59
This year we’re wanting to see more people.And so we’ve split the conference up into, into two sites with two focuses.And so you’re probably asking a question, which site should I go to?Well, if you’re in an established church, if you’re an established church leader and you wanted to bring your team to, you want to go to the EV site.The programme is going to be really focused on thinking about unlocking unblocking mission in in your church.
18:20
Or if you’ve been doing that for the last few years, helping you actually get better at being on mission as a church.If you’re thinking about planting or if you’re wanting to send out a planting team, if you’re kind of just starting off in this space, then you want to get to the plant conference at Gosford Prezi.
18:39
There be a bunch of planting leaders who I guess in some senses setting the culture and starting from scratch.So if that’s if that’s you, you’re interested in planting and you’re getting your mission system up off the ground, then you want to go to the Gosford site.Of course, get to the conference on Monday foundations and we will have two, two sort of planting conferences multiply for the potential planter and multiply multi site with Paul Harrington and with Wade Burnett.
19:05
If you’re thinking about starting a new site being one church in two locations, that’s the conference to get to on pre conference to get to on Monday as well.Now just I’ll dive in the toolbox.A few things that have been talked about.We’ll put a link in the show notes to the team development programme.
19:24
We’ll put a link in the show show notes as well to some resources on building building leaders as well.What does it look like to actually develop that team leader layer in church life?And and then I guess the other thing that I want to encourage people to do is to is to think and reflect just on on your week.
19:46
I think one of the really useful exercises just comes out of Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.Just the the urgent important, non urgent, non important box.Just pausing and reflecting and thinking about your week.How many of your activities actually sit in the the non urgent important box?
20:04
You’re wanting to move as many of those to there.Now that’s only going to happen through reflection, That’s only going to happen through delegation and it’s probably only going to happen to getting on top of the seven day cycle.All right.If you’ve got a question and you would like it asked, answered, talked about on the One thing, email resources at reachaustralia.com dot AU.
20:25
We love hearing from our listeners. You can also leave some feedback as well.I love getting feedback about how great the podcast is, so leave that feedback as well.I’m Scott Sanders.I’m Peter Blanche.Chat soon.
