Bold Vision Takes Better Leaders

Work yourself out of a job.” You’ve heard this before, but why is it often so difficult to do?

Work yourself out of a job.  What does that really mean?

On several occasions, staff have approached me and asked, “You don’t literally mean, lead so well that I don’t have a job anymore, do you?” My answer is of course not. But I can understand how that might be confusing, especially if a staff member is new to a leadership development culture.

What does the phrase “Work yourself out of a job” mean to you on a practical level? Could you explain it to someone? Is it part of your personal practice?

Let’s unpack this a little.

A bold vision requires more and better leaders. If the vision is big, it continually requires more leaders to help carry the growing weight and responsibility of leadership. The current size of your church determines whether or not you need one more leader or one hundred more leaders today.

If these new leaders truly are to help advance the mission, they must be empowered. To empower leaders to lead, you have to let go. It’s necessary to give them the keys and let them drive. Empowerment doesn’t mean they do whatever they want. Like driving a car, there are rules of the road and training is required. But you/we must let them make decisions and figure out how to make progress.

Essentially, working yourself out of a job is about making progress and advancing mission so that you are needed to do a new role, and someone else takes part or all your current role.

This transition requires letting go of the old to take hold of the new. It involves trusting someone to do what you did.

Why is it so hard to let go?

1) It’s your baby.

Whether you’ve led a killer big project for two months, directed a team for two years, or lead the whole church for twenty years, you’ve no doubt poured your heart into it. You’ve got blood, sweat, and tears invested. Bottom line. You care! That makes it incredibly hard to let go.

Kevin Myers is the founding pastor at 12Stone. And I’m still impressed how he handed me the keys 16 years ago for half of his job! The church is his baby, but he let go!

2) You’re not convinced they can do it as good as you can.

Don’t feel guilty, in fact, join the club. It’s natural to think the person you hand the keys to can’t or won’t do as good a job as you. But here’s what I’ve learned over the years. They often do a better job, especially if you train and develop them well.

3) You might feel threatened that you are no longer needed.

Because there is always so much to do at any church, there is more than enough leadership work for everyone! There is a condition. You must continue to grow, keep improving and making a real contribution so that you remain a valuable part of the team.

The reason you, (or a team), selected the person to hand part or all of your job to is that they were rising in skill and ability. You have to do the same.

4) Change is difficult.

No matter how long you have led, or how good you are, change is difficult. We all experience the same thing on a feeling level. “What will they do with my baby?”

I remember Patti and me spending thousands of dollars, and investing huge time and energy to have Mexican Saltillo tile placed throughout our home in San Diego. The whitewash and glaze made our new flooring stunningly gorgeous. The new owners jackhammered it all out, filled a huge dumpster with it, and put in carpet! WHAT?!

I’ve experienced a similar thing in ministry many times. Change is part of the process and necessary for progress.

5) You don’t feel appreciated.

You may not feel like you received all the honor, attention and appreciation deserved for all you did. Getting honest with yourself about that is OK. But, if you will allow me to be a bit blunt, you must get over it. Let it go. Confide with a close friend, talk to God about it, and then let it go. God knows, and that’s what counts. If a few others close to you know, you are blessed. That’s enough.


Set your eyes upon and focus on the new that is before you. Keep developing new leaders.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dan Reiland

Dan Reiland

Dr. Dan Reiland serves as Executive Pastor at 12Stone Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia. He previously partnered with John Maxwell for 20 years, first as Executive Pastor at Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, then as Vice President of Leadership and Church Development at INJOY. He and Dr. Maxwell still enjoy partnering on a number of church related projects together. Dan is best known as a leader with a pastor's heart, but is often described as one of the nations most innovative church thinkers. His passion is developing leaders for the local church so that the Great Commission is advanced.

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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Amen!!
 
— Scott Michael Whitley
 

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