Forty years ago, one of us (we’ll leave it to you to identify her) taught juggling in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. From that experience comes the following counterintuitive lesson: juggling isn’t a catching skill, it’s a throwing skill.
When beginners pick up juggling balls, they instinctively lunge after their wild and wayward tosses, desperately trying to save each catch. But in time they learn not to focus on the catch. They focus on the throw.
This is the strategic insight we all need in ministry today.
Most churches—and their boards—operate in perpetual ‘catch mode,’ reacting to whatever comes at them:
The budget shortfall that appeared last month.
The facility issue that cannot wait.
The staff member who just resigned.
The complaint from a longtime member.
The program that’s suddenly struggling.
When church leaders focus on catching everything, they end up diving off balance after each bad throw, creating a vicious cycle. The budget crisis sends the board lurching sideways … which leads to operational debt (catch!)… which creates a facility issue (catch!) … which causes a staffing problem (catch!)… which leads to a complaint from a longtime member (catch!). And just when balance has been regained, a program is suddenly struggling. Catch!
In juggling, the throw pathway is what makes the pattern work—keeping elbows at your sides, throwing from the same consistent position, creating arcs of equal and predictable height. This pathway creates the conditions for an easy catch, and all of it can be accomplished without even looking at your hands. (In fact, you should never look at your hands! But that is a juggling lesson for another day.)
For church boards, good “throws” are the proactive, strategic decisions you make when you have margin to think clearly, pray regularly, and explore depth consistently with one another.
There are mission throws. Clarity about who you’re called to serve and what transformation you’re pursuing. When this throw is good, dozens of tactical decisions become obvious.
There are culture throws. The environment you’re cultivating—how conflicts are handled, how staff are developed, how decisions are made. Good jugglers maintain the same arm position for every throw, reducing variability. Good boards create cultural consistency, which makes future decisions easier and more predictable.
There are systems throws. The structures for budget planning, succession development, volunteer management, communication rhythms. These are the “throw mechanics” that keep everything at a manageable height.
There are leadership development throws. Identifying and investing in next-generation leaders before you need them. Jugglers deliberately practice “throw, throw, throw, drop, drop, drop”—not even trying to catch—so that the throwing pathway becomes ingrained. Boards need to practice proactive leadership cultivation even when (especially when) it doesn’t feel urgent.
Most crucially, there are faith formation throws. Boards invest in studying scripture together, probing faith together, sharing their experience of God together—not to facilitate the next sermon or education series, but to fund their longer-term theological imagination as a leadership group. Often, the moment for “withdrawal” from that fund cannot be foreseen. We add to our learning and sharing so that when that moment comes—and it always arrives—we have a deeper well to draw upon to face the challenges together.
Beginning jugglers often walk forward, chasing balls. Instructors teach them to stand against a wall or plant their feet like a tree trunk, and, if a ball goes too far, to let it drop rather than reinforcing the bad throw pattern.
This is hard medicine for boards. It means:
Letting some complaints go unaddressed if they’re outside your mission scope.
Accepting that some programs should end rather than consume endless energy.
Allowing temporary “drops” in order to build better throwing patterns.
In board work as in juggling, we focus on the catch because dropping a ball is embarrassing. We’ll go far out of our way, diving after bad throws, to save ourselves from humiliation. But mature boards understand: the real failure isn’t the dropped ball—it’s never learning to throw properly.
What are your board’s current “throws”? What proactive decisions and investments are you making when you have margin? Because six months from now, you’ll be catching whatever you’re throwing today.
Can you think of times in your life when you found yourself gracefully catching whatever was thrown at you? What was helping you keep your balance?
Can you name three incoming things that your church board has been busy catching this year?
Can you name a few good “throws”—proactive decisions and investments—the church board has been able to make this year? (Did the board need to accept some dropped balls in order to work on those throws?)
How could your board shift its focus from catching to throwing in the next season? What are a few pro-active investments you could make?
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