Leadership
Holistic Leadership Development
You want to develop leaders who will do what Jesus called us to do, leaders who can take the church forward into the 21st century. You look to the fields and see them, as Jesus does, ready for harvest — and you know that’s where your ministry needs to concentrate.
What’s needed is holistic leadership development — the kind of leadership development that comes from the harvest and leads people back into the harvest, resulting in subsequent generations of new believers and new leaders living as Jesus called us to live.
We can help you develop leaders the kind of leaders you need in a way that is both relational and intentional… and ultimately effective in helping your church accomplish its mission.
Vision whiplash
Have you ever experienced vision whiplash? You’re part of a church or a faith community and the focus seems to shift every 6 to 12 months. For a season, the church is “all about small groups.” Then, without warning or explanation, you begin hearing that the church is...
Where is your Samaria?
Immediately before his ascension, Jesus said this to his disciples: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the...
Knowledge in service of character development
Jesus only trained people up to the point where they were already living out what they know. He gave his disciples a little bit to go on and expected them to act on it. (See Mark 9:14-29 or Luke 10:1-24 if you’d like an example.) Training people beyond their obedience...
A core “curriculum” for leadership development
What are the core things a leader needs to be able to do? In most cases, they simply need to be able to do the things any growing disciple can do: engaging with God, serving, evangelizing, and making disciples. At the core of what’s needed are people who are able to...
Education for transformation
What’s the goal of education? Of training? It’s transformation. The traditional approach is to give a lot of information and hope they apply it. Sometimes a more avant-garde approach is that part of passing the course is implementing the information. But what we’re...
Rethinking education: a competency-based approach
The core issue with developing people is to identify the outcomes you’re trying to accomplish. The challenge in the formal education field is thinking in terms of curriculum-- what the students need to know-- instead of in terms of outcome-- what the students need to...
As senior leader goes, so goes the church
I’ve done a lot of consulting, coaching, and writing about trying to help churches develop leadership farm systems (developing leaders from the harvest). One observation I’ve made is the churches that are able to raise leaders from the harvest have pastors who are...
Alignment with how God has made you
Yesterday I wrote about how you need to be spending at least 60% of your time in areas of strength and passion. But what if you’re not sure exactly what those areas are? I believe that every five years or so, we need to spend some time reflecting on how God has made...
Are you giving it your 60%?
When I’m coaching people and they’re not feeling fulfillment in what they’re doing, I usually find that less than 60% of what they’re doing is in their areas of strength and passion. For basic fulfillment in your life and ministry, you need to be spending at least 60%...
A shortcut for your group leaders
Ever wish there was an easy way to prepare your leaders to facilitate a group discussion on scripture? Many people are so afraid that they won’t know enough about scripture that they won’t even sign up for the job. Here’s the easiest way I’ve found: give them...
Getting kids serving
A church in Denver recently did a Kids4Kits fun run. Denver Presbyterian Church held a kids’ race in a local park to raise money for medical supplies to build caregiver kits to help those affected by AIDS. (Details available through World Vision.) A couple of weeks...
Multi-site tip #10: What about the preaching?
This blog entry is part of a series of reflections on the multi-site model of church. After the whole series has been posted, you can do a search for multi-site within the blog to pull up the whole series. This is hands-down the most contentious issue for multi-site...