Leadership. This is a topic that I have much vested interesting for (1) being a pastor of a church, and (2) trying to find ways to raise up new, godly leaders. Ultimately, I am of the persuasion that each church needs a plurality of pastors (preferably homegrown) and a group of deacons that have servant hearts, as well as other mature men and women who lead and disciple without any “official” title. Presently, in my church situation, one of the constant concerns I hear from people is about our lack of leaders, and so I’m just trying to identify and build up others who can serve as good leaders whether officially or not.
Through this process I have discovered something, though: I’ve been pastoring for nearly a decade; I have a masters from one of our Southern Baptist seminaries, and I’m working on a doctorate from another; I have been mentored by various men along the way; and I’ve read many books. Through all of that, the space between my ears has been flooded with volumes of information about church leadership, but nowhere along the way has anyone truly modeled leadership development and involved me in the process. I came to the conclusion that I know a lot about leadership and the theories behind developing leaders, but I don’t know much practically.
I’ve noticed the trends in other churches with which I am acquainted; they typically fall into one of two categories: (1) Like mine, there is a lack of leadership and the pastors struggle with what to do; or (2) there is dysfunctional leadership and a lot of egos that get in the way of ministry and the pastors struggle with what to do.
So I’m curious, and I’d like to see some good discussion: How does your church raise up leaders? Is your church going against the tide of lack or dysfunctionality? Etc. and so on…