This may be a surprising title. However, I’m increasingly of the view that we have put too much focus on identifying and then training leaders. We look first at whether people show potential to lead and then we train them. Though of course sometimes we leave them to get on with it.
The risk is that we end up judging and training by secular, worldly criteria. The follow on is that we identify the wrong people. We identify those ambitious to lead, those displaying charisma etc. We also miss those who don’t see themselves in that way.
So increasingly my approach is to think about how we train the church and what we train them to do. We want everyone in the church to be able to handle God’s Word well, to exercise their specific gifts, to pray, to live godly lives and to look out for one another, encouraging, correcting, hearing burdens – in other words pastoral care and discipleship.
This means we train every member in those core things at a foundational level. We do this through Sunday teaching/preaching and then through midweek small groups. We also do it day to day as the church are able to observe our own lives. We teach by example.
Church leadership, if that is the right term is about leading in those things, in godliness, in pastoral care, in worship, in knowing and obeying God’s Word. So rather than being on the look out for people with leadership aptitude generically, we look first for those with aptitude in those concrete matters. Then we give them further training in those things. So what I would offer to a church member are further opportunities to learn and train whether it’s Bible communication, music ministry, pastoral care, evangelism or whatever.
When we see people taking a lead in a number of key areas, for example being proactive in discipling others, modelling a faithful prayer life, stepping out to evangelise and bringing others with them and when we train in those areas, then we have also identified and trained leaders.
Faithroots 