Mistake #3: Inadequate Leadership Development
Nothing stunts the growth of a ministry faster than inadequate leadership development. It’s a mistake almost every young leader makes. If you don’t handle leadership development well, at least three things happen.
• Things that start small stay small.
• Even if you grow, you keep hitting unnecessary growth barriers.
• You miss the potential of the ministry God has given you.
I made three critical mistakes in the area of leadership development.
I tried to do too much myself. Many leaders are afraid to release leadership to others.
I used recruiting leaders as a substitute for developing leaders. The problem is that it creates an artificial growth barrier and expects people to go elsewhere to develop.
I didn’t articulate expectations clearly enough. This frustrates you when they are missing the mark they don’t know exists, and it frustrates leaders because they can’t see their goal.
Ultimately, you will limit your potential unless you address all three. So how do you move into a place where leadership development happens?
Train leaders, don’t just teach them. Teaching people tells them what to do. Training helps leaders acquire the skills they need to do what you’ve asked them to do.
Clarify parameters in writing. You need to create a position description for every volunteer that clearly outlines what to do. You might even want to go further than that and create a “win” for their area.
Mentor key leaders. This is where it gets personal. I try to always have a half-dozen people I’m building into personally. The point is to help them grow as people as much as leaders—to share life together around a common cause.
Mistake #2. Tying Self-Worth to Progress
As a young leader, for things to go poorly didn’t just mean I was doing a bad job (which might actually not always be true); it meant I really wasn’t good for much. Don’t get me wrong. I probably never would have said that out loud. But I felt that way. However, it might mean the mission has become less important to you than your personal success.
We all have to go through some tough seasons in which: decisions didn’t translate into immediate growth; decisions that were arguably good for the organization were unpopular at first; and, hard work didn’t translate into momentum. It takes more leadership to lead through a difficult season than it does to lead through a great season. But it also takes a huge hit on your self-esteem if you’ve hitched your personal sense of self-worth to the progress of the organization. So how do you decouple self-worth from progress?
Root your devotional life in Christ. In ministry, it’s easy to confuse your work with your walk. Don’t.
Think of myself as a child of God first and a pastor second. To get into that space, just ask yourself a simple question: If you couldn’t do ministry starting tomorrow, what would be left of your Christian faith?
Have great people around you who love you for who you are. Yes, you will always be “the leader” to many. But cultivate a few deep and real friendships where you’re just you.
Take the long view. Truly great leaders manage to find a way when it looks like there is no way. Don’t just look at tomorrow. Think about where you could be five years from now if you persevere.
Mistake #1. Handling the Pressure of Ministry
Of all the mistakes I made as a young leader, I think the most costly mistake was knowing how to handle the pressure of ministry. Ministry brings pressure that seems to be unique to the calling. Ministry combines three areas of life that are intensely personal: your faith, your work and your community. Because of that, it gets confusing. Throw your family into the mix (because they believe what you believe and are friends with the people you/they lead and serve) and, bam—it’s even more confusing. Because of this, things that normally happen “at work” very seldom stay “at work.” And there’s a lot at stake.
These four strategies will help you learn to handle the pressure of ministry well.
Understand the perfect storm of work/faith/community. Church world is the only place I know of where what you believe is what you do and the people you serve are also your friends. You need to understand this. Understanding why something is emotionally confusing is the first step toward untangling the confusion.
Find friends who aren’t in your church or organization. Be friends with the people you live with and serve, but find some friends you can talk to about anything. An easy choice is to find a peer (pastor or key volunteer) in another church or community.
Seek a Christian counselor. I’ve gone to a counselor numerous times over the last 12 years. I’m pretty sure it’s why I’m still in ministry and why I’ve got a solid marriage today. Don’t think of it as an expense. Think of it as an investment.
Develop a devotional life that has little to do with work. One of the common casualties of serving in the church is your devotional life. God loves you for who you are, not for what you do.
So those are at least five mistakes I made that you don’t have to. I’m praying. It helps.
This article originally appeared here.
