Why Leadership Development is Easier Than You Think.

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Ken McGarity, One of Thousands of Christian Coaches on Noomii.

Within many Churches today there is a leadership deficit. The need for quality leaders greatly out-ways the current amount of fish in the leadership tank. Often times this can be a reason for frustration and discouragement to the staff and Pastor as they become disillusioned with their congregation and begin to feel as if “no one is getting it”.

However, if we take a step back and look at the larger picture we must ask ourselves “Do we as a Church provide an atmosphere where the Holy Spirit can easily call and develop leaders ?”. Let’s not forget that it is the work of the Holy Spirit that produces leadership in a person. All we can do is provide a path of least resistance for our people to partner with and journey together with Him. Leadership development is not about a need that we have or a spot we need to fill. It is about God calling people to be a part of a ministry opportunity. Our Father has a greater desire than you will ever have to see His people grow and develop. Are you making it easy for them to answer that call?

Here are some ways of thinking differently about leadership development.

• Are we greedy with leadership? Do we really want complaint worker bees when we say we want leaders?
• Is your leadership development philosophy geared towards intellectual education instead of ministry opportunity?
• Discipleship is leadership development. We don’t see Jesus going over systematic theology with the Disciples.
• Do you have a true definition of what you would qualify as leadership or a developed leader?
• Have you made “Team Building” one of your core characteristics as a ministry?
• How often do you invite the unequipped into ministry opportunities?
• How often do you and your team model leadership for your ground level leaders, walking side by side with them as they learn?
• If someone wanted to move up the leadership ladder in your current structure, how easy would it be for them to intuitively figure out their next step?
• What support and encouragement specifics do you have in place to help them and walk with them as they take that next step?
• What are you doing today to instill confidence and self esteem into your congregation? Do they believe that you truly believe that they all could be great leaders?
  If you don’t believe that, why not? If God could call and use you, well then …

These are just a few questions to shift your thinking into a new gear if you are struggling as a Church body in this area. And there are many more that we could ask to challenge our current assumptions about leadership development.
I challenge you to take some quiet time and think back through the times when you made a move forward in your own leadership development. What was the catalyst? What did you require during those times to move forward? Who helped you and how did they offer you support? Was it an education of the mind only or did it include the great teacher of experience?

It may be time to reconstruct your leadership development strategy. We invite you to partner with us and work together to change the landscape of your ministry. It is going to be easier than you think.

How does this challenge your current structure for developing leaders today?