Reflections on leadership

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature,attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Eph 4:11-13

Eph 4 gives us a model of ministry that leans towards releasing and raising up others. Pastoral ministry can become a bottleneck. The role of the pastor is not to secure his or her position, it’s to raise up, equip and release others.

The ultimate legacy of our ministry is not our sermons, visitations, amf organisation, it’s in the ministry of multiplication.

It’s easy to find excuses for not delegating or releasing (“the people in the church aren’t ready”, “they don’t have the gifts” etc) but God isn’t looking for finished products. (You are not the finished product either). God expects us to be faithful with the little we have. Give responsibility incrementally and people will grow incrementally. Too much too soon can be damaging, but so can too little too late.