Learning and Leading in Ministry: Chapter Fifteen

Grow Leaders

Learn inspiration.

Their names were Peter, James, John, Matthew, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, James (son of Alpheus ), Thomas, Thaddeus and Judas. Unremarkable and typical, they probably would not have achieved much notoriety in life. Some were rough, some were refined, some were gullible, some were skeptical, some had a servant’s heart and at least one was greedy. All of them were common novices, with issues and baggage, desperately in need of teaching. Jesus chose them to follow him. He could have had better, at least by the world’s standards. But the Master refused to cherry-pick sophisticated, learned achievers to make his job easier. He bypassed the choice men and chose humble men who were teachable and capable of submitting to leadership.

Contemplating the mission of Jesus staggers me. He came to save an entire world from eternal darkness. He came to fulfill ancient prophecies, to engage the religious hierarchy in substantive dialogue, to perform signs, wonders and miracles, to teach thousands true doctrine, to offer himself as a spotless sacrifice and to be a light for dying humanity. The enormity of these tasks would seem to have left little time for mingling and fussing with people, but Jesus carved out large chunks of time to develop and train leaders. In fact, deliberate discipling occupied center stage in the ministry of Jesus and the Apostles of the church. Their insistence on growing leaders preempted all other items on the divine agenda.

Despite his or her show of humility, a loathing to develop leaders reveals a leader’s inverted arrogance. Some can’t bear to see anyone else in positions of influence and prestige but themselves. When they do judge someone capable of leading, they nitpick their foibles or sometimes deliberately poison the waters so that the up and coming leader will fail. Jesus, the one individual who could have monopolized all the leadership positions in the fledgling church knew that his soon departure from the world demanded that he organize, equip and train leaders to evangelize the world. His model was then used by the apostles and later church leaders. True leaders grow leaders. Leaders who fail to grow leaders fail at leadership. It’s that simple.

Do not confuse developing leaders with delegation. Delegation involves assigning a task to subordinates who remain accountable to their supervisors. Growing leaders involves replacing yourself with another person, or permitting someone to do the same thing you do, perhaps in another place or another business. Growing leaders requires a commitment to the future, a specific plan and the willingness to let others get some of the credit. Leaders who claim they are too busy to grow leaders sabotage their own success.

This is where the Apostle Paul excelled. He knew how to choose leaders. He knew how to train leaders. He knew how to inspire leaders to give their best.  And he knew how to commission leaders to take over the work.

“And so this is good-bye. You’re not going to see me again, nor I you, you whom I have gone among for so long proclaiming the news of God’s inaugurated kingdom. I’ve done my best for you, given you my all, held back nothing of God’s will for you. Now it’s up to you. Be on your toes—both for yourselves and your congregation of sheep. The Holy Spirit has put you in charge of these people—God’s people they are—to guard and protect them. God himself thought they were worth dying for.” [1]

Fear of letting go must be overcome by faith in the process. Ultimately, each of us will answer to God for our own work. We may not be able to control the future, or even the way future leaders will respond to their own challenges. We must, however, let them have their day.

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^[1] Peterson, E. H. (2002). The Message : The Bible in contemporary language (Ac 20:25). Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress.