Other Leaders Are in Your Church
Many leaders feel they must carry the burden of ministry alone. This is especially true if you’re a pastor at a small church and you’re the only full-time staff member. You may spend most of the work week by yourself, and that physical isolation can deepen the sense that you’re alone.
But even if you’re physically alone, you’re not spiritually alone. God is already raising up elders, staff, volunteers, and ministry champions within your congregation. Sometimes we simply need the eyes to see them.
Eric Geiger shared wisdom in a recent webinar that I think every pastor needs to hear. He said, “Your role is not to do ministry; it’s to equip others to do ministry. If you make an idol of ministry, you’ll crush leadership development because you’ll want to hoard ministry for yourself and not give ministry away.”
Sometimes we hesitate to release leadership because:
- It feels easier to do it ourselves
- We worry someone else might do it differently
- We fear losing control or identity
But just like Eliud Kipchoge needed pacesetters, you need people running beside you in ministry.
The Solution: Develop Leaders Around You
Leaders thrive when they are developed, empowered, and invited into meaningful responsibility. Pastors who develop leaders in their church distribute the weight of ministry and cultivate stronger mission alignment.
Here’s what leadership development could look like practically:
- Identify faithful leaders. Who in your congregation demonstrates spiritual maturity and servant-heartedness? Don’t wait for perfect people; invest in faithful ones.
- Schedule intentional development time. Put recurring meetings on the calendar. For me and the other elders of our small church in Allen, Texas, we meet consistently. Meetings shouldn’t be saved for emergencies; they should be a part of your regular rhythm.
- Create structures for shared decision-making and prayer. Give your leaders real responsibility, real authority, and real voice in the direction of ministry.
- Delegate meaningful tasks to trusted leaders. Delegation is hard—but it’s one of the most life-giving gifts you can give to your church and yourself.
- Celebrate wins together. When God moves, make sure your team knows they were part of it. Shared victories create shared ownership.
Your Calling Can Be Renewed
The last few years forced pastors into survival strategies. Everything became about keeping the doors open, people connected, and ministries from falling apart. With some margin returning, now is the moment to rebuild your rhythms.
Barna reported the following as one of their top trends of 2025: “Pastors who report strong relational support, clarity of role and alignment with their church’s mission are significantly more likely to describe themselves as thriving—not just surviving.”
It’s never too late to experience joy in ministry again. Let the words of Isaiah 43:18–19 remind you that God is always doing something new: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (NIV).
Now is when you can shift from merely surviving to truly thriving in your calling.
