I believe we often have a deficit not only of laborers for doing the work of the ministry, but also of leaders within the Body of Christ. Simply put, the more laborers there are, the more teams and leaders there need to be.
When we only ask people to participate, it doesn’t automatically create the desired outcomes. We must prepare and develop in ‘Church Building’ and increase our Church Leadership skills.
(BUILD = Better Understanding In Leadership Development)
Being a respected and experienced minister doesn’t automatically mean a person is also an effective or wise leader. So often we associate leaders with what they do (doing the work of the ministry themselves). Instead, we should look at how they steer and develop the church people and the organization, and see how a Godly vision is being turned into a collective mission that multiple teams accomplish together.
Too much ministering (doing) and too little leading can get us out of balance. This will result in not seeing the issues or gaps within the organization or not being able to adequately deal with them (trying to fix every gap ourselves).
More doing than leading means the church will experience a lack of direction.
More doing than leading means lacking the oversight of what’s going on.
More doing than leading means getting stuck in details (micro-management).
Personally, I was known for the way I preached and taught the Word. Leadership was something I felt necessary, but not really something I was focused on so much. It sounds quite dumb now, but after I held 5 leadership positions (in different churches and ministries), I actually saw and accepted myself as a leader, not just a minister.
Perhaps I was more comfortable operating as a go-getter or goal-getter; like, "give me a challenge and I will make it happen”, but it was “ME” doing it. And when I was operating this way, I filled leadership positions with other goal-getters. Rather than any of us actually leading, we were basically doing our own thing, just kind of in the same direction. This created silos*; we were on our own “islands”, we were not a team.
What I needed to learn was not “ME” but “WE”. Rather than approaching decisions with the mentality that “I call all the shots”, I needed to ask: “How can WE make this happen?” Switching mentalities means I no longer do all the thinking and doing myself; it’s now the team that works together to make it happen.
Wise leaders are great team players — and “together” is how the Body of Christ should function. Ephesians 4:16 says “He [Christ] makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” (NLT).
“It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
Harry S. Truman
As the team works together, and the leaders are leading in a way that trains, develops, and empowers the team, then leadership skills will be passed on. Otherwise, each generation of leaders would have to reinvent the wheel! Organizationally that isn’t effective. Consider the impact of that ineffectiveness on our overall mission here on the earth: it would hinder us from reaching the lost and making disciples.
SOME TIPS FOR STEPPING INTO EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP:
Find out what your ministry purpose is. Are you called to minister and/or to lead? Ask your Pastor, spouse and/or others close around you, what they see.
Find out about your leadership style. What can you do to become a wise leader?
Make sure you keep developing yourself in your leadership ability and skills. The more experienced a leader is, the more secure the organization will be.
I like to define SILOs as “Super Isolated Ligaments + Opportunism”.
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