Why Reclaiming Leadership Development Can Be An Absolute Game Changer
“The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.”
John Maxwell
The church is full of good people. And for the most part, those good people are busy doing good things. Unfortunately in the life of the church we often are so busy doing good things that we don’t often take the time to evaluate if we are doing the “right” good things or if we have the “right” people doing the “right” things. In other words, we just keep doing those good things for the sake of us good people being busy doing the things we have always done simply because we’ve always done them.
In working with organizations, the words intentional and strategic have become my two most favorite words. Not just because I like and thrive on systems, but because of the meaning and action behind these two words. When a church acts with intention and strategy, they live out their transformational disciple-making mission with more focus, clarity, and effectiveness. In our ever-changing world, leaders need help navigating their culture and context in how to lead their churches. What worked effectively a decade or even a year ago does not necessarily work today or tomorrow to reach people for Christ.
Just like how we do ministry has to adapt, how we go about equipping leaders must also adapt. However, churches can’t expect to raise up leaders without also investing in leadership development. That investment includes time, dollars, and mentors inside and outside the church. What is your leadership development line item in your budget for your pastor, staff, ministry team leadership, and board members? What conferences are your leaders being sent to for intentional development? What mentoring and coaching is being provided? What expectations are set for leaders for leadership development? How is leadership development tied into the church’s goals and evaluations process for the pastor and staff or the nominations process for ministry team leaders and board members?
Since the Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development is responsible for the leadership development in your church, what is their intentional leadership development process? How are existing leaders being equipped on-going? How are new leaders identified, recruited, and equipped for future leadership? How are current leaders pouring into the next class of leaders? What mentoring is occurring at your church?
No one wants to be thrown into a leadership role where they feel ill-equipped and unsure what is expected. It is better not to launch a ministry than to place someone in a role without training. Furthermore, no one wants to attend a meeting where no decisions or impact are made. That’s a sure way to keep people from serving or leading.
If your church is looking to reclaim leadership development, here are some game-changing resources to help you take your leadership development to the next level:
On-demand training for Committee on Nominations & Leadership Development LINK
Launching Leaders – Leadership development process Book
Launching Leaders – Leadership development process Small Group
Launching Leaders – Taking Development to New Heights On-demand Webinar
Strategic Ministry Planning -On-demand Webinar
Strategy Matters – Book
