Off the Agenda: Conversations for Building Church Leaders

Care for your soul. The only legitimate place a leader can be selfish is in the care of his or her soul. Biblical reflection and daily prayer should be a leader’s top priority, resulting in deeper intimacy with Christ, clearer self-awareness, selfless attentiveness to the needs of others, and release of attachments that hinder one’s walk of faith.

Build a healthy team. It’s impossible to lead others in isolation. A healthy team bases its relationships on trust in God and one another; knows that each member needs to be empowered to serve out of his or her passion and gift mix; assimilates with one another in order to multiply their shared effectiveness; manages the resources entrusted to their care; and serves with joy—always for the glory of God.

Be relationally focused. Recognize that everything you “do” in ministry grows out of who you “are” in ministry. Leaders are called into a ministry of reconciliation, leading others first toward God and then toward community. In order for the whole organization to thrive, lead others into authentic, honest, life-giving relationships. When conflict occurs, welcome it as your friend and work diligently to learn from and resolve it.

Discern—decide—act—assess. It’s important that leaders know how to make both big and small decisions, and then hold them all with open, outstretched hands. Discernment leads to decisions and action. Then, in order to stay fresh in all you do, hold every effort up to the light, and don’t be afraid to assess your effectiveness. Make this a repeated pattern of prayer, thought, action, and reflection.

Keep the main thing the main thing. Know your vision and mission and stick to it with unwavering zeal. There’s nothing worse than getting off course and entering areas that lead you away from your primary calling. The leader’s greatest discipline is maintaining focus and guiding the team toward accomplishing God’s primary objective for your shared ministry.