Pastors are busy! The priority of raising up the ministry and leaders can find itself placed on a back burner. It becomes another issue requiring attention. Some leaders like keeping the circle of authority small for control purposes. Fear drives that mindset; it is not kingdom-minded. Others say they do not have the time. They need to delegate; these things consume their time.
Find those things and release people that you have trained. If you have no one, train someone.
The Pit
Eventually, you feel the pressure of doing everything without enough help. Pressure mounts in your life. Nipping at your heels like some annoying little dog is an overwhelming feeling. It’s always one step behind you- it’s relentless, pushing you. Now you’re in a crunch. Stuck between a rock and a hard-place. Pushing yourself closer to burnout. Many leaders with good intentions labor exhausted for Jesus, and for the people. The demand of ministry presses in, and there seems no way through. Some leaders will react by being happy with the attention of being the sole leader. Some leaders will choose to spend all their time padding their nest with feathers of comfort. They will even chase away anyone who challenges them with dreams that are big.
Transformed Mindsets
Most small church leaders tend not to see the need for more leaders. They have all their leadership positions filled. The tendency is to gravitate towards keeping people on the volunteer level, keeping it task oriented, and short commitments. A lot of energy is spent recruiting, and even in some cases, babysitting. Do not recruit. They are doing it for you, not because it’s in their heart to do it. The structure is not set up for church growth or unlocking leadership in others. I’m not talking about bringing all these leaders on staff. I am speaking about you raising up a generation of leaders that will grow and have kingdom impact.
I am writing to leaders who desire to move in know-how and wisdom expanding the Kingdom of God. Leaders are the key. A leader is someone who has influence. Their voice carries weight. Their character exemplifies the nature of Christ. Their faith soars when they glimpse impossible things.
Grab these people and develop them. Draw out that rare and raw quality. Bring it into a safe environment. Focus on teaming them up with others and see an effective result.
Leaders developing leaders is a biblical pattern. It’s an effective discipleship process, unlocking the pressures of ministry.
Leadership Setting
People need you as their leader, to believe in them. Inside them, is a crying out, an urge, to explore and develop into someone useful. In your leadership arena provide an atmosphere for leaders to grow. Otherwise, they will leave you and go somewhere else. You may have underdeveloped leaders, or no leaders at all, to work with. Often, it’s because there’s no environment created that propels leaders to act. Go back to the basics and change how you do things.
I instruct many leaders to tweak and adjust their leadership skills. It unlocks the developing process in others.
Productive leaders create teams that act and stimulate the vision. A leader can become stuck in a cycle of talking about a dream, with no idea how to raise up leaders to execute it. Apply yourself today and understand how to flow in a paradigm of a fresh, anointed, and workable plan to raise up leaders.
Most leaders have no difficulty having a vision; the problem is how to move into the full vision. Vision will always include more leaders. It takes more than one person to bring about the fullness of vision.
It’s crucial that Lead Pastors develop leaders around them. I am not solely talking about learning leadership principles in a bible study format. (although that is required). You will never go wrong spending quality time with leaders in a mentoring role. Confer and spend time with those that are open. Reproduce yourself in the spirit.
Think Legacy
Do not be afraid to teach what you know. Train and develop others, so they don’t make the same mistakes you made. It puts legacy into play for generations to come. As the set leader, if you do not put raise up other leaders, should you leave, nothing is in motion beyond you. Everything resets back to its infancy.
Legacy minded leaders will produce great leaders. Take time this week with those spiritual sons and daughters that want to draw from you. Impart into them a quality nugget that will unlock their future.
Answers will come forward. There is hope, and you can build a strong multi-layer leadership and ministry to do the work of the Kingdom. Can you imagine no longer having the frustration of not enough leaders? God will give you wisdom of what to do with them all.
Dr. Matt Carpenter, Strategic Advisor, Author, Conference speaker, Leadership developer, Certified Executive Leadership Coach, 5-Fold team Implementor