Don’t Let Fear Sabotage the Development of Your Ministry Leaders
What would happen if the Christ Centered leaders in your church began to pour into and develop new leaders? The impact on your church and community could be massive.
You can’t argue with the power of multiplication. It just makes sense. We’ve all heard the mathematical logic for the development of leaders. For example: If one leader develops two new leaders over the next six months, then those two leaders join the first one in developing two leaders each over the next six months, you suddenly have 9 leaders. If this continues for just one more year you end up with over 80 leaders in two years! Imagine the possibilities of what might happen with 80 new leaders!
Yes that’s exciting. Yes that makes sense. But why isn’t it happening? Because we allow fear to out reason logic. While leaders give many excuses I believe the one overriding reason they don’t develop others is fear. Most leaders are so focused on growing themselves that they don’t feel adequate to develop others.
The truth is we can be hard on ourselves. Our fear is nurtured by our leadership weaknesses, imperfections, and inadequacies. We’re painfully aware of our leadership mistakes and failures. So consciously or subconsciously we question: What qualifies me to teach someone else to lead? How can I answer others questions when I have so many questions of my own? How will they respect me once they see my weakness? What if I don’t know what I’m doing? What if I fail them? What if I steer them wrong? What if they know more than me? A million questions can run through our minds. And even though we know the math makes sense…fear out reasons logic so we avoid developing leaders.
The best leader developers I know acknowledge their weaknesses. They use their failures and mistakes as teachable moments and a tool for others to learn from. Great developers recognize that ultimately it’s not about their strength it’s about their surrender to the Holy Spirit to be used to help others along the leadership journey. If you wait until you’re the perfect leader then you’ll never take the first step toward developing others. But if you trust what you have, what you’ve learned and who you are to be used by the Holy Spirit then He can use you to start a leadership development revolution.
So replace the fear driven questions with faith driven questions: What if I took a chance on ____________ (you fill in the name)? What if I spent the next six months pouring into two new reproducing leaders? What if I allowed a couple of potential leaders to take some of my responsibility? What if I invited a couple of young leaders to shadow me throughout my week? What if I faced my fear and started developing leaders instead of just doing the ministry myself? What if I embraced Paul’s mentality when he said, “imitate me as I imitate Christ.” What if I trusted the Holy Spirit to use my experience and my gifts to pour into the lives of others?
Imagine the possibilities. Sometimes it’s not logic that helps us outwit fear…it’s allowing ourselves to imagine a better future. Imagine what could be and determine to take a risk starting today.
What are your next steps to start a leadership development revolution in your organization?
Read more from Mac here.
Tags: Mac Lake, Staff, Staff Leadership Roles
