On a good week the stars align and I’m able to get up early on Friday or Saturday morning and get down to a local river around dawn and spend the cool of the morning casting a line from my kayak in search of big, Texas largemouth bass. Fishing from a kayak has one huge advantage: you can get away from the popular bank fishing areas and get out to where fish haven’t experienced much fishing pressure. Plus, the sweetness of the morning on a river is intoxicating on its own. Even when the fishing is poor, the atmosphere is rich!
One thing I’ve discovered when out fishing in a kayak: your presence on the water makes a difference. If you paddle in a hurry, making loud splashes and crashing into overhanging branches, you’re going to tip-off the fish to your presence and you’ve lost the element of surprise. You’ve blown up the spot and the fish have taken off…because your presence really makes a difference out on the water.
We charted our course in the first blog post: making an impact right where we are through an idea of discipleship that is more than just “sit and learn.” Growing leaders requires that we lead disciples into more than an excellent church experience; we must give them personal attention that results in meaningful ministry participation. Why? Because people want their presence to make a difference.
John Maxwell and Lori Mazan recognize one of the generational shifts that has taken place in emerging generations. As the 20th century gave way to the new millenium, adolescents became less interested in supporting and carrying traditional institutions into the future. Rather, technology and culture have brought up a generation that desires to create and lean in to the future in a very hands-on, integrated way. For young people, participating in creation trumps carrying on tradition.
This is great news for the church…if church leaders can handle it. The goal isn’t to destroy traditions. Carrying on tradition is a strength of the church, but it’s not the mission. The mission is making disciples who conform to the image of Christ, who are equipped to make new disciples. If carrying tradition becomes a roadblock to disciple-making, we have a problem. The research shows that people today want meaningful involvement. Imagine if the church can equip young people to create new traditions, instead of just follow old, lifeless ones. It’s kind of wild, but the Bible points in the same direction. Will the church create the opportunity? Let’s take a look at God’s Word.
Exodus tells the story of Israel’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt. By the time we get to Exodus 18, Israel is free and clear of Pharoah, but Moses is overwhelmed as he leads Israel alone. Moses gets a visit from Jethro, his father-in-law (everyone’s favorite influencer), who recognizes the lack of leadership layers in Moses’ strategy. Jethro sees that Moses is before the people all day, every day, judging between their issues.
Jethro has wisdom and leadership experience as the priest of the people of Midian. It is clear that Jethro’s advice is confirmed by God. He makes a few points:
1) The current arrangement of Moses leading alone will eventually fail
2) Moses needs layers of leaders to deal with less significant issues among the people
3) Moses needs to be seeking God and teaching people.
With this in mind, let’s ask a few questions.
Why develop leaders?
Church leadership isn’t a solo task – for several reasons. First, there’s too much responsibility for one person to carry. Placing the burden of leadership on one person creates a pass/fail dynamic where it’s all on the leader to thrive or survive. Jethro saw this as risky business. Moses would burn out and the people’s needs wouldn’t be met. Working together creates unity and maturity, whereas leading alone can result in isolation and pride. Leaders are called to shepherd the people in their care, submitting to their needs and standing for righteousness.
Second, God made each of use with individual strengths and weaknesses that complement and complete one another. There is no perfect, human leader in the Bible. The best ones had help at their side and still had personal failures. God calls His church a body, a temple, and a family. All of the metaphors are made up of individual parts, pieces, and relationships. God is glorified when we rely on one another, submit to one another, and demonstrate unity.
Finally, the mission of the church requires it. Jesus declared that a rich harvest is ready, and that workers are needed. Sometimes our vision as leaders gets worn down to just the next week, next month, or next meeting. Keeping leadership development in view helps us expand our vision and successfully developing leaders multiplies the ability of congregations and church leaders to pursue Kingdom growth. It’s not a coincidence that the most successful church-planting network in the central Texas region is deeply committed to developing leaders.
Why equip every disciple for leadership?
Jethro teaches Moses to appoint trustworthy men as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. We see in Jesus’ parable of the talents that everyone has been gifted with some accountable measure of gifting. Why equip every disciple for leadership? Because leadership is essential, and there will never be an over-abundance of it, so long as people are given ministry responsibility within their capability. Future elders come from current deacons. Future deacons come from current disciples. If your congregation ends up with a leadership surplus…start thinking about multiplying or church planting.
Paul urged Timothy to lead with a sense of urgency. Paul writes, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2). Paul taught Timothy, and he urges Timothy to raise up disciples who can make disciples. Every disciple can multiply right where they are. Preachers can multiply preachers. Elders should multiply elders. Even a worshipper or visitor can multiply!
Why teach every disciple leadership concepts?
Every disciple of Jesus needs to have a solid grasp of biblical leadership qualifications. There is a good chance that at some point you will be selecting a minister, voting on elder candidates, or recruiting deacons. Every believer needs to know some basic, biblical qualifications of leaders. And not just for those reasons. We are also, each one of us, growing into the perfect, pure character of Jesus. Paul tells the Ephesian church, “we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” Every believer needs to know leadership qualities because we are growing into them.
Leadership Pathway #2 – Leaders create ripples through developing and discovering meaningful ministry roles for disciples. Don’t expect worship attenders to find a spot on their own – take joy in inviting them in and helping them discover.
Create ripples of your own: Did anyone disciple you into greater participation and activity in the church? How did they influence you and how can you follow their example? Are you creating positive ripples in the church – or taking on too much solo work like Moses?
Jesus multiplied His influence by equipping His disciples. Creating ripples of influence is good…but creating ripplers is better!