This may be more plausible in a small or normal-sized church, but one church leader can’t know everyone in larger churches. But that doesn’t mean everyone can’t be known.
The church I last led had 35,000 people on our active roster and 6,000–8,000 attending Sunday services. I know that being known matters, so we developed systems and structures to scale knowability. Growing churches must shepherd the current flock while creating a scalable structure for new sheep to engage. This can happen if the burden of leadership is spread across the organization.
Practically, we do this by delegating leadership and responsibilities. As a senior or lead pastor, there are things that you should do. There are things that only you can do, positionally and in skill set. But there are multiple other leadership requirements that others can do with you and for you.
I’ve previously written a lot about delegation: The Five Steps of Effective Delegation or take my leadership course, where I spend an entire module on delegation.
You don’t need to know everyone. You do need a system that allows everyone to be known.
Shepherd Away
As far as I can tell, leadership is the glaring gap in the church today. Strong church leadership addresses and engages the theological debates, cultural complexities, and organizational realities. If you want to lead a great church, the first step is to become a great church leader.
I pray that God will help you lead as a shepherd. Your flock desperately needs it.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
