DEVELOPING APPRENTICE LEADERS
HI All,
If you are responsible in your ministry area for recruiting either workers or leaders, this post is for you.
One of the toughest jobs that I believe exist in the local church, but also one of the most important ones, is developing leadership apprentices who are qualified to take over and lead an existing ministry. Every church has ministries which somebody needs to lead. In many cases, there is one person leading the ministry and if s/he leaves, the ministry will be scrambling to find a replacement. Jesus has taught us a better way, and there is good guidance in Scripture for how this is done.
Here's the question: How do I develop leaders to take over my ministries?
The place to begin with this is by observing Christ in action. In Luke 10:1 Jesus sent them out 'two by two'. This was a technique used by Noah (joke), but Jesus uses it not to reproduce more people, but more leaders. Two by two is a great way to run a ministry. Instead of finding one person to lead a ministry, don't start it until you have two! If you do just this, your ministries will be more than twice as good, and your leaders will last more than twice the length of an ordinary leader alone.
Q: "What about all of my existing ministries that are already lead by just one person?"
A: The number one goal of every leader needs to be to develop new leaders who can replace them. If it is truly a priority, then it will impact the way they spend their time and energy. A leader needs to not only 'run the ministry' but 'develop the leadership of that ministry'. A leader needs to be spending at least 15% of his or her time, just on connecting with, praying for, teaching, training, and modeling for future leaders what is involved in making this ministry happen. But many leaders are too busy DOING the ministry to truly DEVELOP the ministry leaders.
Here is the guide from Scripture, 2 Timothy 2: 2 "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men [or women] who will also be qualified to teach others." (NIV)
How to develop leaders:
1st - WHAT are you asking them to lead?
Do you have a job description for your ministry? Don't ask them to lead something if you haven't defined what it is.
Here is a blank Ministry Description template, from HighPowerResources.com that should get you started.
2nd - WHY are you asking them to lead?
That question should actually be answered in the very first line of the "Ministry Description" template from above, under the title of "Purpose". What is the purpose of this ministry? What is it's relationship to the Great Commission? If you can't find out how it is to help the church to make disciples, then you may need to back up a little bit and take a big picture look at your ministry.
3rd - WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?
This is actually addressed in the second line of the "Ministry Description" template, under the title, "Description of Success". Dream a little bit here, and help your young protege to imagine what this would look like if everything was humming along like honey. How sweet it would be! Dream and give them a vision of what it is all about.
4th -- WHO am I going to approach?
Do some brainstorming here. Don't just go looking for someone with the word "leader" stamped on their forehead. You may have to look for a diamond in the rough. Here is another easy little form from HighPowerResources.com to get you thinking.
Meet with the person and cast the vision, you just worked on in the 3rd point. Make the sale!
5th - Assuming they tentatively agree to consider it, just ask them to watch you do it for a while. Don't dump the ministry on them the moment they say yes. Ease into it this way:
"I DO - YOU WATCH"
"YOU DO - I WATCH"
"YOU DO - I CHEER YOU ON AND SUPPORT YOU"
6th - Give them one or two small tasks to do.
Ask them to do just part of what you normally do. When you are fishing, and Jesus called us fishers of men, you let the line out a little bit and give them a taste of what the ministry feels like. Don't dump the whole load on them! Let them ramp up and get a feel for it.
People serving full-time in the ministry constantly overestimate what a person can handle, if they've never served in church before. Break it down into bite-sized chunks. You can always increase the size of the responsibility if they can handle more; but once you've scared them away by overwhelming them, they are not coming back.
7th - Ask them when they are ready for the whole thing.
Make sure that they are committing to it - to the ministry - and not to you. You do not want them to be doing YOU a favor. They need to be choosing to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in this ministry. They will stick with Him through thick and thin, a lot more than they may for you (no offense intended).
8th - When they are ready, do a formal handoff in front of the whole team.
Let all involved know that s/he is now the new leader. Invest your authority into them. Bless them!
Then get your hands off, and let them try it out, even if they wobble a little bit.
9th -- Maintain regular contact with you new leader
Do not dump and drive away! Be there as a support, helper, cheer leader, and confidante.
10th - Pray for them.
If you are responsible in your ministry area for recruiting either workers or leaders, this post is for you.
One of the toughest jobs that I believe exist in the local church, but also one of the most important ones, is developing leadership apprentices who are qualified to take over and lead an existing ministry. Every church has ministries which somebody needs to lead. In many cases, there is one person leading the ministry and if s/he leaves, the ministry will be scrambling to find a replacement. Jesus has taught us a better way, and there is good guidance in Scripture for how this is done.
Here's the question: How do I develop leaders to take over my ministries?
The place to begin with this is by observing Christ in action. In Luke 10:1 Jesus sent them out 'two by two'. This was a technique used by Noah (joke), but Jesus uses it not to reproduce more people, but more leaders. Two by two is a great way to run a ministry. Instead of finding one person to lead a ministry, don't start it until you have two! If you do just this, your ministries will be more than twice as good, and your leaders will last more than twice the length of an ordinary leader alone.
Q: "What about all of my existing ministries that are already lead by just one person?"
A: The number one goal of every leader needs to be to develop new leaders who can replace them. If it is truly a priority, then it will impact the way they spend their time and energy. A leader needs to not only 'run the ministry' but 'develop the leadership of that ministry'. A leader needs to be spending at least 15% of his or her time, just on connecting with, praying for, teaching, training, and modeling for future leaders what is involved in making this ministry happen. But many leaders are too busy DOING the ministry to truly DEVELOP the ministry leaders.
Here is the guide from Scripture, 2 Timothy 2: 2 "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men [or women] who will also be qualified to teach others." (NIV)
How to develop leaders:
1st - WHAT are you asking them to lead?
Do you have a job description for your ministry? Don't ask them to lead something if you haven't defined what it is.
Here is a blank Ministry Description template, from HighPowerResources.com that should get you started.
2nd - WHY are you asking them to lead?
That question should actually be answered in the very first line of the "Ministry Description" template from above, under the title of "Purpose". What is the purpose of this ministry? What is it's relationship to the Great Commission? If you can't find out how it is to help the church to make disciples, then you may need to back up a little bit and take a big picture look at your ministry.
3rd - WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?
This is actually addressed in the second line of the "Ministry Description" template, under the title, "Description of Success". Dream a little bit here, and help your young protege to imagine what this would look like if everything was humming along like honey. How sweet it would be! Dream and give them a vision of what it is all about.
4th -- WHO am I going to approach?
Do some brainstorming here. Don't just go looking for someone with the word "leader" stamped on their forehead. You may have to look for a diamond in the rough. Here is another easy little form from HighPowerResources.com to get you thinking.
Meet with the person and cast the vision, you just worked on in the 3rd point. Make the sale!
5th - Assuming they tentatively agree to consider it, just ask them to watch you do it for a while. Don't dump the ministry on them the moment they say yes. Ease into it this way:
"I DO - YOU WATCH"
"YOU DO - I WATCH"
"YOU DO - I CHEER YOU ON AND SUPPORT YOU"
6th - Give them one or two small tasks to do.
Ask them to do just part of what you normally do. When you are fishing, and Jesus called us fishers of men, you let the line out a little bit and give them a taste of what the ministry feels like. Don't dump the whole load on them! Let them ramp up and get a feel for it.
People serving full-time in the ministry constantly overestimate what a person can handle, if they've never served in church before. Break it down into bite-sized chunks. You can always increase the size of the responsibility if they can handle more; but once you've scared them away by overwhelming them, they are not coming back.
7th - Ask them when they are ready for the whole thing.
Make sure that they are committing to it - to the ministry - and not to you. You do not want them to be doing YOU a favor. They need to be choosing to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in this ministry. They will stick with Him through thick and thin, a lot more than they may for you (no offense intended).
8th - When they are ready, do a formal handoff in front of the whole team.
Let all involved know that s/he is now the new leader. Invest your authority into them. Bless them!
Then get your hands off, and let them try it out, even if they wobble a little bit.
9th -- Maintain regular contact with you new leader
Do not dump and drive away! Be there as a support, helper, cheer leader, and confidante.
10th - Pray for them.
Labels: apprentices, Leadership development, show-how training
posted by Dr. Bill at
12:35 PM
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