Being or Doing

January 06, 2021•2 min read

We are all human beings. Imperfect people doing our best day in and day out to follow a perfect Savior. On an average day, we struggle a bit to do so, but this past year it has been increasingly difficult – at least for me it has. When everything seems to be uncertain, we might find ourselves living in fear, fighting addictions, feelings of loneliness or depression, or full of fatigue for what feels like an unsustainable time of liminality. I have heard the term weariness more often in the past ten months than ever before when church leaders describe how they are feeling. As we anticipated entering into this fresh new year, we had all hoped the pandemic would have been behind us by now. While there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel, we do still have a ways to go.

With more inevitable uncertainty, change, and pivots ahead of us, how can we journey forward in a healthy way in this new year? One strategy that is helpful for me to remind myself is to remember I am a human being not a human doing. The Book of Genesis reminds us that we have been created in the image of God with a purpose. I have been placed here at this time at this place by Christ with a purpose. That purpose becomes my driver and the natural “Achiever Enneagram 3” plows full speed ahead. Doing trumps being.

I am first a human being made in the image of God. Spending time “being” with God, “being” a disciple, and “being” the hands and feet of Christ is first priority before the doing kicks in. If we are only doing without first being, our tank will surely run dry. We will become weary. The road ahead may become foggy. Our engine will likely be unable to sustain the journey. Our transmission might start slipping. Our tires will become flat.

As we usher in 2021, my prayer for both you and me is that we are both reminded and practice first being before we commence our doing. If our “being” is filled up, tuned up, and balanced, our doing will become more purposeful, joyful, and life-giving. How will you be more intentional in 2021 in “being?”

Kay Kotan

Kay’s purpose is to Equip and Empower Leaders of Faith Communities How to Engage in More Effective Ministry. Kay Kotan is the founder of You Unlimited (coaching, consulting and training company) and The Greatest Expedition – a collaboration of more than twenty thought leaders providing resources and insights for a congregational journey to develop new MAPS (ministry action plans) to reach new people in your community. Kay also launched Multipliers’ Movement – a gathering of kingdom multipliers for sharing, equipping, and encouraging. She is a CoachU and Advanced CoachU Graduate, an accredited coach (PCC: Professional Certified Coach) with the ICF, International Coaching Federation, a Certified Path 1 Coach, and once served on the faculty at Coaching4Clergy. As a passionate lay person, she has a banking background and has been a business owner for more than 25 years. Kotan has served as a church developer for conferences and worked with churches, pastors, conferences, and judicatory leaders across the country for more than a decade. She is most proud to be the wife of Bob for over 30 years and the mother of their adult son, Cameron. Kay is the author of multiple books, workbooks, and resources including Gear Up: Nine Essential Processes for the Optimized Church, Cry From the Pew, Full Schedules, Barren Souls, Being the Church in the Post Pandemic World, and Journey Preparation: Surveying Your Church’s Landscape, as well as the co-author of the books titled: IMPACT!: Reclaiming the Call of Lay Ministry, Small Church Check-Up, Insights on Productivity, Renovate or Die – Ten Ways to Focus Your Church on Mission, Ministry 3.0 and Get Their Name , Ten Prescriptions for a Healthy Church, Necessary Nine – Nine Things Effective Pastors Do Differently, Launching Leaders: Taking Leadership Development to New Heights, Strategy Matters: Your Roadmap to Planning a Strategic Ministry Planning Retreat, Voices of Christmas: A Daily Devotional for Advent and Expanding the Expedition Reach Through Marketplace Multipliers. Mission Possible for the Small Church. Inside Out: Everting Ministry Models for the Postmodern Church, and more. Kotan and her co-author Bradford published their third version of the best-seller, Mission Possible: Simple Structure for Missional Effectiveness. Mrs. Kotan spends her time investing in pastors, laity leaders, congregations, and judicatory leaders through equipping, coaching, and creating resources to help them discover and live into their fullest missional potential of effectiveness and fruitfulness to reach people for Jesus Christ. Through her enthusiasm, truth-telling, and passion, she challenges those who encounter her in both their thinking and their doing.

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