Friday, April 29, 2011
How to Lead All the Time Without Leading All the Time
This article gives good advice about how to prepare a ministry team to help lead so the head pastor is able to rest at times to avoid burnout. The main idea here is to rotate the leaders as time and projects progress. The suggestions given are these:
• Give young leaders small projects so they know how to carry the full load
• Make organization-wide campaigns, and let another take the lead
• Turn meetings over to other leaders to help others follow someone else
• Make another leader the point man for a season
• Form a leadership team on a project and rotate the leaders
This is not a long article, but the information here is essential. We have been hearing about the percentage of pastors who leave the ministry. There are many reasons for this fact, but one of the most prominent seems to be burnout. So many times pastors think that they are indispensible. They are afraid that the church will fall apart in their absence. Many times this does happen if the church has not been prepared to follow a variety of leaders. In this article we are reminded that we should prepare the church to follow other leaders, as well as, to help in leading.
By realizing that we need to teach others to help us lead our congregations, we are able to take much needed breaks throughout our time of ministry. The hardest thing mentioned here may be for us to realize when we need a break.
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ReplyDeleteI have found out a very important lesson: I cannot do it on my own. I see great value in facing tasks as a team and have found an incredible amount of blessing in the ministry I am currently serving in through forming a team to lead alongside me. Working on a team has released much of the stress of ministry along with some of other great side effects. For one, this opens up the door for others to use their spiritual gifts in the church. If I am doing everything, then others are not being given the chance to use their gifts, and then are not actually growing. Perhaps one of the best ways to revitalize the spiritual lives of the congregation is to form teams that lead ministries and get people into positions where they are using their gifts on a daily basis. Another great thing about team work is that the same load that was being carried by one person is now being carried by a group of people, which makes it much easier to handle. Leadership in the team can move around depending on what project you are working on, which opens up an opportunity for each team member to gain vital leadership experience.
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