When Plan A doesn’t work and neither does Plan B

 What do you do in leadership when things do not pan out as you expected they might or you hoped they would? It is easier if there is someone to blame but harder when people are looking to you and wondering what is going on. We can have an easy out if “circumstances beyond our control” provide a ready excuse. 

New beginnings are frequently fraught and change is always challenging but at least someone knows what is going on. I need the humility to give up on plan A and to not defend plan B but to look for the new opportunity that will I believe always open.

Transcript

Day 94

What do you do in leadership when things do not pan out as you expected they might or you hoped they would? It is easier if there is someone to blame but harder when people are looking to you and wondering what is going on. We can have an easy out if “circumstances beyond our control” provide a ready excuse. 

 We have our first all staff zoom call after the summer tomorrow and I have been wondering what bible passage to focus on as we gather. I have found myself thinking about the end of Acts 15 and the start of 16 where we see a new vision for the next phase of mission emerge. The Church Council in Jerusalem has resolved that gentile believers are not to be required to be circumcised or to keep the law of Moses. This is going to bring clarity and encouragement and a fresh commitment to growth. Against this backdrop, this passage covers the start of what is going to become known as Paul’s second missionary journey. It starts in the familiar territory of Antioch and finishes in modern Europe.

The vision that Paul articulates is fairly simple. It is a plan that involves Barnabas who has been his mentor and partner in ministry. 

“Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” (15:36)

Barnabas is on board with the plan but wants to take Mark. Paul has serious concerns about Mark’s suitability and has written him off based on a bad experience. They have a sharp disagreement and head off in different directions. Barnabas and Mark to Cyprus and Paul selects Silas to join him heading North.

 I confess my sympathies are with Barnabas. I do not believe in three strikes and you are out, there is always something more you can do. I hate leaving anyone behind and tend to see it as a personal failure when I do. But Luke when he is writing the story does not apportion blame for this parting of company.

 Some conflicts are about what is right and wrong, others are about differences of opinion. Disagreement can be heartfelt and the implications for individuals serious but we need to avoid the temptation to upgrade judgements to issues of morality. It makes us feel better if we can find a sympathetic ear who will agree that what happened to us was wrong but this can take us away from following God’ call on our lives. 

In this instance Paul forges a new partnership with Silas and will soon add Timothy to his team and Barnabas continues to mentor Mark. Both groups advance the original mission of visiting places that they went to on the first missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas each have opportunities to strengthen churches and to invest significantly in a younger leader.  

Leadership is about planning and taking initiative but the plans that we make do not always turn out like we expect. In this instance Paul does not wind up working with the team that he thought he would.  

Some years later there is reconciliation and renewed partnership with Barnabas. Later still when Paul writes his final letter he asks that Timothy would bring Mark with him to Rome because “he is useful to me in my ministry”. Through all this the team has multiplied and the work of the gospel advanced. 

As I reflect on my own journey when one door has closed another has opened. (Although not always simultaneously and seldom without pain)

Paul saw doors close on successive plans he had made;

“They went to Phrygia, and then on through the region of Galatia. Their plan was to turn west into Asia province, but the Holy Spirit blocked that route. So they went to Mysia and tried to go north to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus wouldn't let them go there either. Proceeding on through Mysia, they went down to the seaport Troas. 

That night Paul had a dream: A Macedonian stood on the far shore and called across the sea, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!" The dream gave Paul his map. We went to work at once getting things ready to cross over to Macedonia. All the pieces had come together. We knew now for sure that God had called us to preach the good news to the Europeans.” (16:6-10 MSG)

Luke is explaining the significant alteration to the geography of Paul’s plan. He imagined that he might go to Asia but the Holy Spirit kept them from preaching in that province. So they keep travelling on and try to enter Bithynia but the Spirit of Jesus prevents them from crossing the border. We are not told what the mechanism of this prevention was or if they appreciated at the time that this was God’s redirection rather than circumstances conspiring against them. 

I don’t know what his team thought was going on but there may have been frustration and confusion. Paul’s plan A has not worked and his plan B is also a no go. They carry on without any knowledge of their destination. It is only when they reach the coast that Paul has a vision of a man from Macedonia begging for help and concludes this is where they have to go.

The writer of Proverbs points out that God knows better than we do about what is going to happen next. It is good to dream and imagine but we need to hold the plans that come from these lightly. Things not working out like we hoped they would is not an indication of failure, an acknowledgment of error or a reason to despair. It may just present a new cause for praise and a new path to follow. 

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” (16:9)

“Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails” (19:21)

So in answer to the question I asked at the start of this about “What do you do when your plans do not work out?”  I don’t know. 

What I see Paul doing when things do not work out with his people and his plans, is to keep going, encouraging believers, building a team and seeking the Lord.

He has a fractured and depleted team but new people are provided. He is faced with blockage, disruption and diversion but a new vision eventually becomes clear. Paul ends up in Macedonia which is plan C from his perspective but was the Lord’s purpose all along. God has been directing their steps and the result is the Good News entering a new continent.

This season in this continent  has not developed at all how I expected with people or with travel. I am thankful that I am not alone and that we are not lost.

I am also thankful for the prospect of meeting together with our team scattered across 6000 km to begin the next stage of our own missionary journeys. We will be thinking together about what we are called to do, where and how we should do this and who we might do it with.

New beginnings are frequently fraught and change is always challenging but at least someone knows what is going on. I need the humility to give up on plan A and to not defend plan B but to look for the new opportunity that will, I believe, always open.