by Brad Layland, CEO & Senior Consultant | Author of Turning Donors into Partners

Key Insights

• False idols in ministry leadership rarely appear as rebellion. They often look like competence, control, or approval.
• Leaders can begin trusting results, performance, or their reputation more than they trust God.
• Spiritual freedom in leadership begins when we allow God to tear down the walls we’ve learned to rely on.

A few years ago, my wife and I went to Starbucks in Berlin.

To get there, we walked through the Brandenburg Gate, a place that carries far more history than you can feel in the moment. Tourists were everywhere. People were laughing, taking pictures, holding coffee cups. It felt ordinary.

But standing there, I couldn’t help thinking about what had once been said in that very place.

In 1987, with the Berlin Wall looming behind him, Ronald Reagan stood and challenged the Soviet leader with words that sounded reckless at the time:

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

It wasn’t a policy proposal or strategy. It was a moral declaration.

At the time, the wall was defended, justified, and normalized. Many believed it had to exist to preserve order and safety. And yet, a few decades later, my wife and I were walking through that same space Reagan had once stood in on our way to Starbucks. The wall that had once felt permanent was now completely gone.

That contrast stayed with me.

A few days later, during my daily quiet time, that image came rushing back as I was reading the book of Acts.

“And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, ‘The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!’”

Acts 14:11 ESV

God moves powerfully through Paul. A miracle happens: Paul is empowered by God to heal a man who had been lame from birth. And the people respond by worshiping the wrong thing.

They don’t reject God. They just worship the instrument God used instead of God Himself.

That’s when the connection became clear to me.

Worshiping false gods is not a new problem, and it rarely starts with rebellion. It starts with confusion, with fear, with a desire for something tangible to trust.

False gods quietly promise what only God can give.

As ministry leaders, we are especially vulnerable here because leadership carries pressure.

We’re responsible for people.
We’re accountable for outcomes.
We’re expected to be faithful and effective.

And in that space, false idols can slip in unnoticed.

Approval tells us: “If people are pleased, you’re leading well.”
Performance whispers: “If it’s working, God must be pleased.”
Competence insists: “If you can carry this, you don’t need help.”
Control reassures us: “If everything is managed, nothing will fall apart.”

None of these feels like idolatry.

They feel like leadership.

But slowly, subtly, trust shifts. We don’t stop believing in God. We just start leaning on other things.

That’s where the image of the wall came back again.

At one point, people believed the Berlin Wall had to stand. It promised protection and order. Over time, it became clear that what was meant to protect had also imprisoned.

And that led me to a prayer I’m still learning to pray, especially as a leader:

Lord, help me see the false gods I’ve allowed into my leadership.

The ones I excuse as responsibility.
The ones I manage instead of confront.
The ones I confuse with faithfulness, discipline, or “just the way I’m wired.”

Lord, I am sorry for the excuses.

And then comes the prayer that feels risky for anyone in ministry leadership:

Lord, please, gently and firmly, tear them down.

Not just the obvious idols, but also the respectable ones.
Not just the personal ones, but also the leadership ones.
Not just the external ones, but also the internal ones.

Reagan’s words echo as a surprisingly fitting prayer: Tear down this wall.

Lord, tear down whatever competes for my trust.

Tear down whatever I rely on more than You.
Tear down whatever promises the things only You can give.
Not so I’m left exposed, but so I’m left free.

Because leadership built on anything other than God may still function.

But leadership surrendered to God is the only kind that truly lasts.

Brad Layland is CEO of The FOCUS Group, a fundraising consulting firm serving more than 150 Christian ministries worldwide. He previously served as Chief Development Officer for Young Life and is the author of Turning Donors into Partners from InterVarsity Press. Brad is an avid marathon runner and lives in St. Augustine, Florida, with his wife Wendy. They have four children.

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