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Images of Leadership: Sower
Leadership Skills for Effective Ministry
Leader’s Notes
Draft 11/25/2001
Overview
I recently went to a John Maxwell seminar entitled “The 21 Irrefutable Laws
of Leadership.” While some of the material and ideas were helpful, it left
me feeling flat. The nature of laws is they seem so black and white—they
are, after all, irrefutable laws. Yet leadership—certainly exhibiting it,
even teaching it—doesn’t seem so black and white. The advantage of
thinking about images, biblical, three-dimensional, look-at-them-from-
different-angles images is that they are not black and white. They have
texture and shape, they can be examined at a distance or in detail. And, in
fact, they are biblical. Most often, images are the ways the scripture
teaches about leadership. In one form, parables, they comprise the bulk of
Jesus’ teaching in the gospels.
Hence Images of Leadership. The nine images are meant to form a
package, a composite image, of leadership from scripture. One of the
strengths of the multiple images is that for various teachers, different
images will stand out as helpful and central, while other images may be
more unfamiliar. But the composite of images helps to avoid the danger of
over-generalizing. In other words, it is easy for a shepherding leader to
teach on leadership as if it is all about shepherding, while a visionary
leader may tend to teach on leadership as if vision is the only key
quality. So taking a broader survey of some of the biblical images and
depictions of leadership can broaden what might otherwise be a narrow diet
of teaching.
Each image, each chapter of the material, can easily stand alone and
doesn’t need the other material to make it understandable or useable for a
group. So a staff person working with a group may decide that the first
thing the leaders need is a teaching on the leader as sage, for example.
However, there is some logic or structure in the ordering of the chapters,
as I will outline below. I have taught the material over two days with
staff, and I have taught 3 or 4 sessions in a one-day seminar with leaders
in a church setting. My ideal schedule would be Friday night, all day
Saturday, two sessions, about 6 months apart. I would try to cover sessions
1-5 during the first weekend, and sessions 6-9 during the second. But of
course the advantage of the sessions being modular is that they can be
rearranged to serve the needs of the group or team.
Chapter Content and Flow
. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 form the introductory core material. When I have
taught this material on campus, I am eager to teach this early in the
year.
. In fact, I have tended to use the servant material (chapter 2) during
the spring of the year as an intro seminar for all students interested
in leadership for the following fall. I take 2 to 2.5 hours to go
through the whole seminar: an hour on the scripture studies, followed
by shorter presentation of the material in the notes, followed by small
group discussion of a campus-oriented case study (see the leader’s
notes for an example—the one in the printed material is more oriented
toward a church).
. The Shepherding material (chapter 1) can be taught over the course of
three weeks for on-campus leadership training of small group leaders
and other influence leaders in a chapter. Don’t rush the scripture
study.
. The Patient material (chapter 3) can also be taught in the Spring, as
people are deciding to be leaders, or else during the fall, as the
initial excitement about being in leadership is giving way to a job-
description approach. In this way, people need to be reminded of how
God is healing/developing them and their character through the
experience of leadership.
. Chapters 4 and 5 address influence dynamics. The sage image (chapter 4)
addresses the situation you have when people trust you and are asking (in
one way or another) for your advice. The sentinel image (chapter 5)
addresses the situation when the people you are seeking to influence or
lead aren’t coming to you looking for advice. They may need challenge or
exhortation, but for whatever reason they aren’t initially seeking such
influence. It is helpful to make a distinction between these two postures,
and to recognize that a full leadership role includes the ability to lead
through gentle questions and good listening at times, but also the ability
to challenge and “exhort one another every day” as is sometimes necessary.
. Chapters 6-9 form a body of material I tend not to use with new leaders,
but rather with leaders of leaders. Or another way to put it: chapters 1-5
addresses the leadership of groups, while chapters 6-9 speaks towards the
leadership of teams. On campus, this means I would use this material with
a new exec team, or other student leaders of teams of leaders (outreach
team, worship team, drama team, publicity team, mission team, etc). New
small group leaders may not really need the vision stuff, but the people
leading small group leaders do. If you are doing staff training with this
material, I would expect most staff are in the place where this material
will be extremely helpful. But younger students don’t need this latter
material—focus your training of them on the dynamics of shepherding,
servanthood, and influence.
. Chapter 6 speaks of vision. A crucial concept for anyone who would lead
any team trying to accomplish anything but the most rudimentary of
tasks.
. Chapters 7 (Steward) and 8 (Sponsor) could also be renamed The Leader
as Manager and The Leader as Coach, respectively, though steward and
sponsor are more directly biblical concepts. But these chapters deal
with crucial questions of management, planning, and delegation (chapter
7) and training and empowerment (chapter 8).
. Chapter 9 (Sower) speaks to the topic of multiplication. The scripture
study on multiplicative ministry followed by the session on Leadership
Development is built on much of the previous material, especially the
Leader as Patient. It presents a powerful argument for the basis of on-
the-job leadership training (campus based during the school year versus
relying solely on summer leadership training at chapter camp). I almost
never use this stuff with student leaders, but it would be crucial for
staff, and would be very helpful for many churches.
More detailed leaders commentary.
Following these introductory remarks are leaders’ notes on each session.
These take the form of points that I have put on my manuscript or said in
discussion, without much editing or prioritizing. What immediately follows
is a summary of teaching strategies and teaching points for each of the
nine sections. This will give you a sense of how the session is organized—how 90-150 minutes is spent on each session.
Chapter 9: The Leader as Sower.
The culmination of the material, this section summarizes and highlights the
power of a consistent application of many of the themes of the entire
study. While the title image is that of the sower, I usually don’t do more
than reference that image before moving on to the heart of the material,
the short passages of scripture beginning with Mark 3. These 6 passages are
paired, two to a page. I usually give each small group a different pair to
study. I introduce the passages by defining “multiplicative ministry” in
contrast to “additive ministry”: “additive ministry adds value to the
recipients, but multiplicative ministry produces more ministers.”
Preaching, healing, feeding are examples of additive ministry; the passages
here illustrate some principle or another of multiplicative ministry. Once
that definition and examples have been given, I encourage people to find
principles of multiplicative ministry in each of these 8 passages, first
working on their own and then in their table groups.
Just one word: the last passage, Mark 2, is a little more obscure and
are difficult for groups to see the multiplicative principles embedded. I
will sometimes summarize this passage without assigning groups to study it.
In the large group, I try to move through the passages fairly
quickly, highlighting the various principles of multiplicative ministry as
outlined in the teaching notes for this section.
The second part of the session, then, is a lecture on leadership
development versus leadership recruitment. This again summarizes much of
what the entire course has been about. One of the key insights here is that
we don’t train people so we will have leaders, so we’ll get the work done,
but rather we put people into leadership so that we can train and invest in
them, for they are an end, not merely a means. It is, once again,
participation in the economy of God: they are blessed, while others are
served, while ultimately God, the source and destination of our ministry,
is glorified.
The power of this section comes in that so often we as leaders and
would-be leader developers take the short-cut, and are tempted to recruit
leaders rather than develop them, to use people to further the ends of the
ministry rather than to honor and treasure them as, even individually, more
important than any furtherance of the mission.
Finally, an article outlining a strategy for group disciplemaking is
given (after page 14). This is meant to be a further resource, beyond the
scope or timing of the course, but a helpful tool for follow up.
Sample Formats For a training day/weekend:
| One day Schedule: |
Friday evening: |
One day schedule, part |
| 9:00 Gather & intro |
7:00 Gather & intro |
2: |
| 9:15 Leader as Shepherd |
7:15 Leader as Shepherd |
9:00 Gather & intro |
| 9:15 Leader as Sentinel |
| 11:15 Break |
9:30 break for evening |
| 11:30 Leader as Servant |
11:00 Break |
| (abbreviated) |
Saturday: |
11:15 Leader as |
| 12:30 Lunch |
9:15 Gather |
Visionary (scripture) |
| 1:30 Leader as Patient |
9:30 Leader as Servant |
12:15 lunch |
| 3:00 Break |
11:00 Break |
1:15 Leader as |
| 3:15 Leader as Sage |
11:15 Leader as Patient |
Visionary (lecture) |
| 5:00 End |
2:00 Leader as Steward |
| 12:30 Lunch |
(abbreviated) |
| 1:30 Leader as Sage |
3:00 Break |
| 3:30 Break |
3:15 Leader as Sower |
| 4:00 Leader as Sentinel |
5:00 End |
| —or— |
| 5:30 End |
2:00 Leader as Steward |
| 3:30 Break |
| 3:45 Leader as Sponsor |
| 5:30 Dinner |
| 6:45 Leader as Sower |
| 8:45 End |
All these formats have the single advantage—people are there for a bulk of
material that they will find fits well together and is usually pretty
helpful and loaded with things to think about. The downside of anything
like this is that people will be pretty filled to the brim, perhaps well
before the end of the day. The best type of content schedule would be 2
full hours/week for 5 weeks during the fall, followed by another four weeks
of the same 2 hours/week about six months later.
A three-day format for the material, which I am liking the more I
teach it (slow it down):
| Day #1: |
Day #2: Leaders |
Day #3: Leaders of |
| Pre-leaders |
Leaders |
| 9:00 – 9:15 |
Introduction |
Introduction and |
Introduction and Review |
| Review |
| 9:15 – |
Session 1: |
Session 4: Sage |
Session 7: Steward |
| 11:15 |
Shepherding |
| 11:30 – |
Session 2a: |
Session 5a: |
Session 8a: Sponsor |
| 12:30 |
Servant |
Sentinel |
| 1:30 – 2:30 |
Session 2b: |
Session 5b: |
Session 8b: Sponsor |
| Servant lecture |
Sentinel Heart of |
test and discussion |
| and case study |
Unbelief & Case |
| studies |
| 3:00 – 5:00 |
Session 3: Patient |
Session 6: |
Session 9: Sower |
| Visionary |
| 5:00 – 5:30 |
Closing Prayer |
Closing Prayer |
Closing Prayer |
These sessions might be ideally several months apart, giving people time to
digest the material before they receive more.
The Leader as Sower: Multiplicative Ministry
Multiplicative ministry: a leadership pie vs. a leadership factory.
Leadership is not a small, fixed pie, from which we must cut the staff-
leadership slice and the student leadership slice. (In which case, in our
commitment to develop student leaders, we should try to cut our own piece
as small as possible.) No! Leadership is a pie-baking process. Our job is
to make pies-the more pies the more opportunities for student leadership.
Our job is to make pies.
Mark 3:7-19: Selection- the ability to focus on a few for the sake of the
many:
. Undemocratic, non-egalitarian: Jesus prefers some over others, it isn’t
simply self-selected.
. Context: chaotic crowd, and it is getting worse. Jesus brings order
. [pic]
. with this structured approach. You cannot train a crowd. Preaching and
healing are not multiplicative ministry.
. Concentric circles of intimacy: he preached to the crowd – he called
those whom he wanted – he appointed the twelve – he renamed the three.
Each deeper level of intimacy allows him to focus on a smaller group, for
the sake of the larger group. Even the three became those who looked after
the twelve. (Luke 22:31-32)
. Jesus provides a structure which offers care for each person in the reach
of his ministry: inner circles reach out to outer circles.
. Crowd = campus; wanted = fellowship; twelve = leadership; three = leaders
of leaders, people to focus on. Only as an image: do not assign too
lightly a one-to-one correspondence in this situation.
. His call: to be with him. Two ways in which we understand this:
1. emphasis on being with Jesus, the unique Lord and master, savior:
Jesus is unique.
2. emphasis on being with the discipler or trainer: Jesus is our model.
Actually, preaching is multiplicative, for the partners you have with
you being trained to become preachers.
Mark 5:18-20: Flexibility- the ability to break “rules” of selection:
water everything and see what grows.
. Non-Jewish territory: this man was uniquely qualified to do ministry in
this territory. He had a powerful experience of Jesus’ mercy, a broken
spirit, notoriety.
. This man, if he had been in our fellowships, would never have fit into
standard categories of leadership. Within a focus on selection we must
leave room for God to bring to us unexpected partners for ministry.
. He doesn’t turn this guy into a Jew (he would have been terribly
ineffective) but rather sends him to his home community. The Urbana 96
poster: “What have you seen God do lately? A life transformed by Christ is
a compelling witness.” This man had one such witness.
. A model for multiplying evangelists: we call them to speak to their
friends of God’s great work, not sequester them in the context of
Christian community.
. Examples: Second semester junior who becomes a Christian, or who gets
committed to the fellowship after trying out several different groups for
two years. Didn’t follow the normal path of leadership, but sometimes can
become key leaders.
John 13:1-17, Modeling and articulation- both are necessary.
. He makes is explicit that he wants them to do exactly what he is doing.
. What’s hard about this? leading strongly while serving with humility. It
is hard to talk about yourself as a positive model of leadership.
. This is where we see one of the benefits of being on a team: we can
interpret the model of each other.
. It’s in our nature to imitate: “follow me as I follow Christ.” We don’t
simply model ourselves after Christ, we can also use imperfect (but more
tangible) models to grow to become more like Christ.
. Modeling servanthood is one of our deeply ingrained values. But
articulation is a much harder thing. “Actions are not self-interpreting.”
Jesus could have said, “I did this to you, so you should do this to me.”
Or they might have understood him to mean that. He asks, “Do you know what
I have done to you?” The correct answer, at that point, is “We haven’t a
clue.” So he tells them, “I’m not treating you this way so that you’ll be
nice to me, but so that you’ll learn what it means to serve one another.”
Reciprocity is not multiplication. We won’t multiply ourselves if we don’t
communicate the blessing involved.
. “Teacher and LORD” from John 13: Jesus is both the unique LORD of all,
and also a model for human disciplers (“teacher”).
Acts 20:17-38: Modeling must be: Accessible and Attractive
. “You know how I lived among you.” Incarnation. Transparent ministry,
living close to campus, with students or staff, living an accessible
lifestyle (not separated from the people to and with which we minister).
Paul’s lifestyle, as radical as it was, had to be something that they
could have aspired to. He calls them to it: “Those who so live.” Examples:
summer mission teams, intense ministry experiences when people can see
exactly how you live 24-7.
. Both Jesus and Paul stress that living this way is more blessed. This is
crucial. Implied in Paul’s comment: “and my life was attractive.” Nothing
more important in multiplying leaders: leaders have more fun. They are
more blessed, not more noble. We won’t multiply ourselves if we
communicate only the hardships, not the joy and blessing.
. Another way to put this: staff development most easily will happen from
staff whose lifestyles are attractive and accessible as models. If staff
live 10 miles from campus, focusing on “balance” and “boundaries” those
staff may be effective in working with students, but they’ll have a hard
time seeing lots of people come on staff out of their ministry.
. The importance of closure with Paul’s disciples: a sense of passing the
baton, impartation of the vision, and commissioning, affirmation and
blessing. Multiplicative ministry involves actually turning over the
ministry to those who have been raised up.
Mark 6:7-13: Delegation with partnership.
. Delegation to partners: the twelve don’t go out alone.
. Specific training: he gives them words to say, helps them think through
difficult situations. Challenges them to rely on those they do ministry
to.
. Priorities in ministry:
1. Partnership over coverage. They are sent out in pairs though they
could have covered more ground. BS co-leaders vs. having a bible study
for every dorm, led by a single leader.
2. Relationship over coverage or Depth over breadth. He tells them to
stay in one place: They might be tempted to go from house to house, to
try to cover more ground. Jesus says, invest in one place, go deep. So
SGLs who have 10 people in their SG may be tempted to spend 20 mins
with each person per week, vs. really trying to focus on a few who are
able to relationally “host” the SGL in the dorm. Again, focus on a few
for the sake of the many.
. He tells them to move on when they meet up with unresponsiveness. Don’t
try to make up for lack of responsiveness with sheer effort. Move on.
Trust God to bring you to responsive people. Even Jesus met up with
unresponsiveness (see the previous passage).
. The powerful experience of trusting in God together, taking risks with
doing a missionary task: summer project, spring break in Florida, etc.
Group risk taking is a powerful multiplicative ministry experience.
Acts 6:1-7: Empowering Delegation
. Willingness to broaden leadership: if they were going to reach the world,
they were going to need diversity. Minority empowerment. They submit to
the people who are complaining, and over whom they have authority.
. Empowering delegation: it is very possible to delegate in a way that
doesn’t produce multiplication. Delegate a vision, not just a procedure.
Don’t simply delegate a task for the sake of efficiency. We measure
efficiency not simply by how long it takes to get the job done, but by
what actually is accomplished, at a deep level.
. They gave honor to the new leaders, by authorizing them and praying for
them before the entire group.
. Problems lead to growth in ministry, not simply obstacles: Started with
one leadership team and we end up with two! (They made a new leadership
pie.)
. Example: social justice complainers in my fellowship: asking them to
research options for service involvements that the fellowship could
undertake. Turned critics into partners.
John 1:35-51: Vision
. Jesus tells Peter and Nathanael that they will see great things if they
stick around. “There is stuff going on here in this fellowship that you
can’t see. But stick around. It will be worth it.”
. Perception: the ability to see in people things that others don’t.
“Simon, the Rock? Ha!” Andrew might have said, but Jesus sees more. Also
sees what is unseen in Nathanael.
. Bold hope: “You haven’t seen anything yet!” Are we able to say this to
people we call to follow?
Mark 2:18-22: New wineskins
. Baking pies: needs to be a radical ministry. We aren’t just multiplying
pie bakers to join our team, but also to attract others outside of our
bakery. New situations need new contexts, and so you need new wineskins.
We aren’t done multiplying ministers until they learn how to think and
depend solely on God for themselves.
. We are training others not to rely on our training / old structures, but
to innovate, be creative.
. We are not done with multiplicative ministry until we have trained people
we work with not simply to rely on the wineskins we have given to them.
New wine is for fresh skins.
Contrast multiplicative and additive ministry:
Additive: Multiplicative:
staff leading dorm talk students leading dorm talk
with staff prep
Urbana (for many) Urbana (for some)
Worship worship jam/practice
preaching leadership training
healing prayer, staff for student prayer ministry
training, team praying for a student
talking to students re: parents talking to leader re: Bible
study members
Multiplicative Ministry
Contrast multiplicative and additive ministry:
| Additive Ministry |
Multiplicative Ministry |
| Preaching to a crowd. The leader |
Training a few leaders. The leader |
| focuses on the needs of the weakest |
focuses on developing the most |
| members. |
faithful leaders. |
| Leading a Bible study. The leader |
Leading a Bible study prep session |
| enjoys teaching. |
for leaders. The leader hands over |
| teaching and empowers people to |
| lead. |
| Leading a prayer meeting. The leader |
Helping a person lead their first |
| stays at the spiritual center of the |
prayer meeting. The leader is |
| group. |
willing to get out of the way. |
| Leading worship. The leader looks |
Gathering a team of worship leaders |
| for opportunities to use his/her |
for a jam session to learn songs and |
| gifts. |
styles. The leader looks for |
| opportunities for others to use and |
| develop their gifts. |
| Praying one-to-one for a small group |
Leading a small group in concerted |
| member. The leader expects that |
prayer for one of its members. The |
| his/her relationship with a member |
leader looks for ways to help group |
| will be key. |
members to develop trusting |
| relationships with one another. |
| Talking to a follower about |
Talking to a leader about his/her |
| lifestyle issues. The leader uses |
team members’ growth and |
| his/her insight to help others. |
development. The leader tries to |
| help younger leaders develop insight |
| into the people they lead. |
| Serving people: the leader is |
Calling people to commitment: the |
| special and available for anything. |
people are capable and available to |
| try anything. |
| Everyone thinks, “I could never do |
People think, “I think I’d like to |
| what he/she does.” Ministry is |
try to do that.” Ministry is |
| daunting and distant. |
accessible and attractive. |
The Leader as Sower: Leadership Development
Begin with open discussion: What are the barriers to leadership development
in your fellowship?
. lack of time, lack of availability: junior year abroad
. lack of commitment; people have too many commitments
. lack of community: leadership doesn’t look attractive; the group doesn’t
engender loyalty or commitment to it
. burnout and the fear of burnout
. relational conflicts-people leaving leadership or not as effective
because of conflict with other leaders
. lack of people-too many people, too few leaders: leaders become
overworked.
. lack of training, short-term focus, crisis orientation. Getting to focus
on leadership character and skills that yields long-term growth and
development, not simply short-term solutions to problems.
. fear; lack of faith in God, that “God could work through me.”
. No sense of a body of material people need to learn; convictions people
need to gain.
. Approval or achievement orientation in potential leader motivations-why
is that a barrier? because if immediate status or approval is what is
fundamentally driving the desire to be in leadership, then people won’t
pay the costs of long-term and often unheralded servanthood which are
necessary to offer true leadership.
Leadership development is not the same as leadership recruitment.
While we have a leadership recruitment mind set we will not have leadership
development or a growing leadership team. It is easy to fall into or back
into a leadership recruitment mentality.
| Mindset |
Leadership recruitment |
Leadership development |
| The focus |
Filling empty slots or |
Investment in the people |
| supplying people for needed |
involved, providing tools, |
| roles |
training, support, and |
| partnership. |
| Top |
The task, the ministry, the |
Leaders’ growth and |
| priority |
program. |
development. |
| People |
The fringe at the expense of |
The core for the sake of the |
| focus |
the core. If newcomers are |
fringe. While vitally |
| having a good time, then the |
concerned about the |
| costs leaders pay are all |
experience of newcomers, |
| worthwhile. |
unwilling to sacrifice the |
| support and development of |
| the leaders. |
| Evidence |
”We really need you.” “You |
People want to be leaders; |
| haven’t served as _ in |
they hear about the |
| a while.” Guilt, |
experiences of previous |
| manipulation, getting people |
leaders and want to |
| to do what they don’t want |
experience leadership for |
| to do. People do a year of |
themselves, not to achieve |
| ministry leadership then |
status but to grow. People |
| want out. When people even |
get into leadership and don’t |
| think of ministry, they get |
want to leave. People fall in |
| tired. |
love with ministry. |
| Recruitmen |
Lower the net so everyone |
Ask for big commitments and |
| t strategy |
can get over: make |
make it worth their while. |
| requirements for leadership |
Take the people who’ll make |
| as low and as flexible as |
those commitments and give |
| possible. Use extrinsic |
everything you can to them to |
| rewards or threats: “You |
make their experience strong. |
| cannot be a leader if you |
Intrinsic rewards of |
| don’t go to this retreat.” |
leadership and commitment are |
| stressed. |
| Result |
uses leaders ? burnout |
serves leaders ? growth |
. Leadership development is based on the premise that leadership should be
good for the leader, not essentially a sacrifice or a duty. We don’t say
to someone, “You’ve received for a while, now it is time to give something
back.” (And we don’t allow people to become leaders because of that
motivation.) Rather, we invite people to receive even more-joy, life,
growth-by giving and serving as they learn more about leadership in the
Kingdom of God. We also don’t say, “We really need you.” (God doesn’t, and
we don’t). Rather, we want people to desire for themselves the kind of
experience leadership offers to them.
Leadership recruitment uses leaders. ? burnout
Leadership development serves leaders ? growth
. Staff’s job: fundamentally, to make sure that people who enter into
partnership with you have a good year, regardless of the short-term fruit
in the lives of the younger students. (Not that we don’t care about fruit.
We care about leaders for the sake of the fruit.) Any ministry (whether of
staff or students) that is running at the expense of leaders (staff or
students) is not in the long-run serving anyone, and will ultimately
undermine people’s confidence in the goodness of God. “I’d rather have
three people not decide to be leaders and regret it later than to have one
person decide to be a leader and resent it later.” That is different from
saying that people who are in leadership should always stay. Sometimes
what God does for people in leadership is raise issues which then need to
be addressed by leaving leadership: motivation issues, fear, approval,
etc.
. As an area director, I am more committed to staff than to chapters. For
the sake of the ministry.
. I am more committed to leaders than to SGs or to fellowship members.
For the sake of the group.
. Any ministry that is running at the expense of the minister is not
serving anyone. It is modeling that God uses people, that ministry is
not life-giving, and that leadership is ultimately costly. all false.
. That also is not to say that we are risk-averse in leadership selection.
A student’s motivation is key: we will take risks on people who want to be
leaders (when there our instincts tell us they are worth the risk) but we
will not try to talk people into taking a role of leadership in order to
fill slots.
. We are not fundamentally selling something-rather we are inviting people
into a process that will change their lives and grow their faith. Our hope
is that people fall in love with loving God and loving people, so much so
that they want others to join them in the enterprise and never stop.
. One implication of our commitment that leadership is good for the leader:
we are more committed to partnership than coverage. A leadership
development strategy places six leaders leading three small groups in
pairs rather than having six small groups each led by an individual, even
if it seems that there is a need for six small groups! A leadership
recruitment strategy says, “We need to find more leaders to cover all the
leadership roles.” A leadership development strategy says, “We need to
give the few leaders we have the best experience possible, which means
some slots may be left unfilled.” Then we will see the number of leaders
grow to the point that we have enough to handle all the people God has
brought to us.
. Leadership Development yields a knowledge of spiritual gifts- it does not
depend on people knowing their gifts to begin with. (And it is extremely
difficult for college students to have a good working knowledge of their
own spiritual gifts.) For example, we begin with interests: worship team,
prayer team, SG leadership, outreach team. Then we begin to discern gifts.
A SG leader may have pastor-teacher gifts, or apostolic/ missionary gifts
(working with frosh or in a new area of campus), or service/helps or
mercy. An outreach team member may have evangelistic gifts, or may have
more apostolic/missionary gifts. A prayer team member may have gifts in
intercession, prophecy, physical/emotional healing, etc. We begin with
interests (and a sense of basic aptitude), add experience and then discern
gifting. This is, in fact, one of the ways we help people to enjoy their
leadership experience-they learn more about their own gifts by working in
the context of teams.
. Leadership development addresses the heart: it gives people an experience
of loving God and loving people such that they fall in love. with ministry
itself. They become, not experts, but lovers. Not professionals (seminary
can produce professionals) but “amateurs” (from the latin, amator, lover).
Once people fall in love with ministry, their lives will be indelibly
imprinted with this love, which they will carry with them into whatever
career or path they choose.
Leadership development involves leadership training.
It is impossible to have effective leadership development without
leadership training.
. If you could only have one kind of training, which would you have:
leadership training before someone becomes a leader (with no ongoing
training) or ongoing training with no training prior to their entrance
into leadership? Which of the two would you pick if you could only do one?
On-the-job (OTJ) training is crucial to leadership development.
. Why is OTJ training so important? Because we want people to have an
experience of leadership that develops them, in which they feel they are
learning all the time, that the more they do it the more they learn. If we
rely on training that happens only at Chapter Camp, then usually after one
or at most two semesters people feel that they have learned all they are
going to learn, and so they are tempted to drop out of leadership. Once
people in your fellowship join leadership, do they stay in leadership
until they graduate? If not, it is often because they feel they are no
longer learning or growing as a leader.
. We don’t train people so we’ll have leaders, rather we bring them into
leadership so we can train them. Training is what we’re up to. We want
people in leadership for a long time (2-3 years). It takes that long and
longer to make a good leader, and ultimately to fall in love with loving
God and loving people. This should be our goal.
. We focus in leadership training on both character and skills. Definition
of leadership role in IV group:
Leadership role = task role + influence role
We train for both the task role (SG leadership, prayer team, worship
prep, outreach skills, etc.) and the influence role (listening skills,
servant leadership, shepherding, etc.). Separating the components allows
for 1) people who take on task roles but who aren’t leaders because they
have no influence role in the group (on-ramps for new people in the group,
etc), and 2) the reality that people can contribute with widely divergent
gifts for task roles but they still must take initiative in relationships
(influence role) in order to be considered leaders. So prayer team members
can be leaders, if they see themselves as taking an influence role in the
lives of some members of the fellowship (perhaps their small group, their
prayer group, or a few people new to the prayer team).
. Implication: we focus most of our training, and for all leaders, on the
influence role portion of leadership. Otherwise, it might be possible for
people to feel that they are doing their job as SGLs if they simply
remember to prep the passage each week and come with snack to the SG
meeting.
. We want each person in leadership to have such a strong experience that
once they enter leadership they never want to leave it. Fundamentally
leaders need to know that they are not alone. So we want each person to
experience:
. teamwork and partnership: relationships with other peers who are
working with them
. training and supervision: each leader has a leader of leaders caring
for and developing them
Leadership development involves calling for commitment.
Leaders don’t have more time, they just spend it differently. But as their
commitment grows, so does the value of the experience. Ask for 5
hours/week, and you will get it from a few people, but not for more than a
year. Perhaps counter-intuitively, ask for 20 hours/week from people, and
make it worth their while, and they will keep coming back for more.
. “make it worth their while”: i.e., don’t ask them for arbitrarily large
amounts of time, but just the amount of time it would reasonably take to
live out the commitments you are making to one another and to the
fellowship, to their small groups or ministry teams, etc.
. How do we communicate the value of OTJ leadership training? By making it
high-density.
. Focus on scripture, make the LT time in scripture meaty.
. Spend a lot of time preparing for LT meetings-take them seriously. Make
the time great! (Temptation to spend lots of one-to-one time with
students, which is very immediately rewarding, over spending time on
the computer preparing a LT session. Yet one powerful LT time can be
much more influential than several two-hour one-to-ones, and it can
also set up more of those influential two-hour conversations.)
. Interactive learning-Scripture study, case studies, small & large
groups, presentation and discussion. People are learning from
scripture, from their own experience, from one another, and from the
trainer.
. For example, leadership training shouldn’t essentially be “sharing.”
Sharing is important, and has its place in a fellowship, but not as the
basis of a LT core. Sharing in a LT time is more like the squad
captains reporting back to their field commanders how effective the
tactics they have been trying to implement have been. It should be
focused around the training topics and pointed, representative not
exhaustive (hearing from a few, not expecting to hear from everyone
every week). Mission oriented, vision-minded sharing. For example, we
might share creative ideas we have tried, resources we’ve brought in,
social events that worked, etc. But not sharing about tests, family
problems, etc. That happens at other times.
. I focus on this because if we got a handful of students together and
said, “What should we do for our leadership team meetings?” Most of
them would probably say, “I hope we can really support one another. I’d
like to emphasize sharing.” If we focus on support, then we won’t end
up doing much for which we need support. If we blow the trumpet and
call people to costly commitment, then when we need support, it’ll be
there.
. It is a myth that students don’t have time for 20-hour/week fellowship
commitments. Anyone on the crew or football teams or the newspaper can
disprove that myth instantly.
. People who are always worried about burnout are more likely to burn out.
If your fellowship has a history of burning out its key leaders then
something is wrong with your leadership development strategy. Ministry
with Jesus, at his pace, with partnership and training, doesn’t produce
burnout. We don’t have to fear ministry if we aren’t doing it alone and
our partners are looking out for us.
. This underlines the importance of a multi-year leadership development
strategy. What is optional for leaders now may be expected next year and
will be a prerequisite for leadership in two years. For example, Chapter
Camp, Mark Study, 2+ evangelism, training conferences, etc.
. You cannot get Biblical leadership without modeling it. Mosaic vs.
Aaronic leadership. We need to be intentional, authentic, risk-taking,
willing to go forward with the few who will go. Don’t lower the net so
everyone can get over it-but make it worthwhile for each one who is
willing to do it!
Exec and Student initiative:
. We must find ways to give the ministry, its direction and substantial
leadership, to students in such a way that their failure or success is
material to the overall strength of the group.
. It can be tempting to want to help students learn only from success, but
when we were students we learned from failure.
. This will be a moving target; never become complacent.
. Definition of exec = the team of leaders of leaders. When you have
students who lead student leaders (either in partnership with staff or
with other students), then you have an exec. Don’t call the team of five
leaders of your small fellowship the exec, they are simply the LT. Don’t
call your exec an administrative team—hopefully your key decisions are
being made by pastors, who are in touch with the pastoral concerns of your
leadership team, and not simply by pencil-pushing bureaucrats.
. Implication: don’t pick frosh for exec, or even sophs. People need to be
served before they are asked to be leaders, and they need to lead before
they are asked to lead (and serve) leaders.
Leadership Development and Culture Change:
If you are not where you’d like to be, don’t move there by making new
requirements of leaders. Don’t be in a hurry—it will just alienate
current leaders. Instead, make higher commitment optional this year—and
reward it highly with your own time, investment, prayers. For example,
offer a Mark Study or a prep session for leaders who would like help with
their Bible study prep. Not required, just an opportunity. But don’t lower
the net so everyone can play—making it optional every week, encouraging a
lack of commitment. Rather, ask for a commitment from the people who are
inclined to take advantage of the opportunity, and then make your
commitment to them that the teaching will be strong and the experience
together great! As the year winds on, their experience of Mark or the prep
session will be so positive that they will help recruit others to it next
year. By then, it will be recommended or slightly expected; the following
year, required; and the year after that: a pre-requisite. For example, LT
meetings, BS prep sessions, Mark Study, summer missions experiences, etc.
Invite people into higher commitment, make it good, and the experience will
sell itself.
The Gravitational Pull Model of Fellowship Growth:
The more gravity a fellowship has, the more able it is to deeply impact the
lives of its folks.
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Gravity is built by growing in one or more of the following ways: 1)
quantity of leaders, 2) personal maturity of leaders, 3) skill and
experience of leaders, and 4) commitment of leaders. Fellowships will grow
if the gravity of a fellowship is growing, up to a point. I personally
believe that other forces become significant when fellowships grow beyond a
certain ambient upper limit. At that point, it may be best to split,
differentiate (segment the target market), and continue to grow.
Structures for leadership development:
. Bible study prep sessions for all the Bible study leaders
. Bible study leader teams, at least in pairs with experienced-novice
pairing
. leadership training time weekly for all leaders, focusing on the
relational influence dynamics of leadership
. Mark study on campus for new students (pre-leaders) and new leaders
. Global project teams, Florida Evangelism Project (FLEP), Urban projects
. Worship teams, prayer teams, outreach teams (each with a training
component)
. Pre-leadership training sessions open to any who are interested.
. Investigative Bible Study leadership, dorm talks or other evangelistic
risk-taking.