I have noticed a tendency of ministry leaders, and it’s an understandable one: We think that if we could just spend 30 minutes more on our knees every day, we would be ready to usher in huge ministry growth. Or if we just got deeper into the Word or walked closer with Jesus, our ministries would thrive.
We believe—or at least we act as though we believe—spiritual formation is all that is necessary to lead churches and ministries well. And spiritual growth and formation are important elements. But leadership skills aren’t only for the business world. They are often the missing ingredient in taking a ministry to the next level.
To be fair, this doesn’t only happen in the church world. How often are people promoted to leadership in the business world for their expertise in a particular product or service but aren’t then equipped with vital leadership skills, such as conflict resolution, vision-casting or decision-making? We assume they will just pick up those skills as they go.
The same thing happens in ministry: We elevate someone to leadership because of their close relationship with the Lord, but then we don’t equip them to lead.
My Leadership Journey
When I first began leading LCBC Church in Manheim, Pennsylvania, it was a small, struggling congregation of 150. We went through some really challenging times, especially in those early years.
But our clear vision was to bring Jesus to our community. And over the course of my 32 years leading the church, God blessed us tremendously. By the time I stepped down, LCBC was a thriving congregation of more than 22,000 people.
That didn’t happen because the people in our church were extra spiritual. It also didn’t happen because I was somehow more godly than other pastors. A huge part of what made such phenomenal growth possible was having a clear vision of where we wanted to go, and then building a leadership culture to bring that vision to fruition.
Focusing on leadership development became a huge part of our church’s strategy to ensure we could bring the love of Jesus to as many people as possible.
Build a Leadership Culture.
Leadership development isn’t a one-off act. It’s not a conference you attend one year or a course you take once. I believe if you want to see sustained growth you must build an intentional long-term leadership culture in your church or ministry.
Here are three of the steps I have found to be most helpful in building a leadership culture in ministry.
1. Invest in leadership development.
At LCBC, leadership development opportunities are a part of our DNA. Our leadership team would often listen to a leadership development resource together once a month. Back when I started, it was cassette tapes, but for you it’s probably podcasts. This only needs to take 30 minutes a month to start building your leadership culture.
The next thing we invested in was getting off-site together once or twice a year for leadership development. We started in the 1990s by attending John C. Maxwell leadership conferences. We later invested in the Global Leadership Summit, hosting it now for more than 20 years. There’s just something about getting away together that allows what you learn to sink in much deeper, and helps everyone grab onto the same vision.
2. Paint a grand vision.
When I was developing a new leader at LCBC, I wanted them to know that their potential was much higher than they might realize. I would tell them, “You can be way better than I am at this. You can be an expert, to the point that other people want to come from all across the county to see and learn from what you are doing.”
Together, we would visit other churches that were excelling in a particular ministry to see how they were doing it. This gave leaders a specific goal and a clear vision, and helped them see their capacity was higher than they thought. It gave them a vision to say, “Wow, I could be the best at this in the whole country.”
In your own journey, what might that look like? Pick a ministry you’d like to emulate, and then go to visit them. Ask them how they approach ministry, and learn what they are doing differently from you. Decide which aspect of their strategy could work in your context. You might not be their size yet—and it doesn’t guarantee that God’s going to take you there—but I would never want God not to bless your ministry just because you didn’t plan for it.
3. Provide leadership opportunities.
This step can be painful for some of us if we have a hard time delegating: We must trust new leaders. How often as leaders do we not delegate because we secretly think we can do it better?
God gives us the people to do the work he wants us to do, but we often don’t trust them to do the work. Sometimes we get stuck looking for the perfect volunteer or leader. But they aren’t going to be as good at that task as we are—yet—because they haven’t had the opportunity to develop their skills.
I believe that when we refuse to delegate, we are robbing the people we lead of the possibility of becoming great at something God has designed them to do. We have to loosen our grip. We need to give new leaders room to learn, fail and grow.
If you want to see huge growth for Christ, you need to have a pool of people waiting and prepared to lead so that when you’re ready to take the next step, you can. This starts by offering progressive opportunities for people to lead, to prove themselves faithful in the small things so they can move toward the larger opportunities.
Keep Your Leadership Skills Sharp.
We know that God listens to prayers. We know that he wants us to seek him daily and walk closely with him. But I believe God also wants us to be serious about sharpening the tools needed to execute our craft: leading others with excellence.
If you want to influence more and more people for Christ, yes, seek God. Yes, pray. Yes, seek wisdom from his Word. But also prepare yourself and your ministry with the leadership skills and strategies necessary to be ready for growth when it happens.