Changing The Way We Think
Changing the way we think is essential. We believe that behind every healthy church is a team of strong leaders willing to do what it takes to impact their community. Developing leaders is essential for churches to reach their fullest potential.
So why isn't leadership development on the top of the ministry to-do list? What you can’t see, touch, or feel is often overlooked, and good leadership development happens behind the scenes.
Ministry means leadership
The most difficult thing about being a church leader is everything. In ministry, you do the biggest jobs and the smallest jobs. You do the creative jobs and the mundane boring jobs. You do the hottest jobs and the crappy jobs that no one else wants to do.
The greatest thing about working in ministry is that everyday you get the chance to reconnect to your passion. But you can't do it alone, you need solid people around you to help create a great ministry. This is why developing leaders is just as important as developing ministry programs, outreach, and starting churches. We want to help people begin to think about it this way: “Ministry development means leadership development!”
Mentoring like Jesus
Jesus led people in different ways. He didn’t treat everyone the same way, which allowed Him to truly develop each person to their core need. We can learn a lot from the way the creator of the universe developed leaders.
Often times, leaders think that the only and best way to mentor people is to give a lot of information to a large group like a class or congregation. But Jesus mentored on all levels - the crowd, his followers, his 12 disciples, and his inner circle. With each of these groups, he communicated differently, treated them differently, and got different results. Scaling down your mentoring model to individuals or small groups gives you the freedom to tailor one’s discipleship.
When we look closer at Jesus's ministry, we see a lot of personal and close interaction with the people around Him. Jesus didn't only mentor at Sunday morning church, he lived it out with his disciples! Jesus had the ability to "fold" people into his life. Because people have messy lives, folding them into your life can be hard work.