Your best leaders are probably hiding in plain sight. How can you spy them? Beginning on a philosophical level, you might be off to a good start by upending the rubric through which we typically think about good leaders. We judge a book by its cover far too often. James says, “Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith?” And then, “Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?” (NLT-SE). We humans can’t help ourselves. Even for we who are mature in faith in Christ Jesus, we have a persistent propensity to evaluate potential leaders through all the wrong lenses. Jesus prophesies in Mark 10.43 “But among you it will be different.”
We’ve been trained to identify potential leaders in our congregation in any number of ways—do they have any academic degrees (especially theological or pastoral)? Are they extensively involved in our church? Do they have broad respect within the congregation? Are there legitimate church-politics reasons why they need to be in leadership? Are they business leaders in the public sector, or clearly demonstrate other leadership acumen? How long have they been at our church and how well do we know and trust them? Even, perhaps, is this person exceptionally gifted or do they have an irresistible charisma? And, of course, we would first make sure they agree with our statement of faith and align with the requisite biblical prescriptions for leadership. While all of these criteria are good, they might collectively cause two problems: 1) they might cause us to miss “poor in this world [but] rich in faith” leaders, and 2) in the small church, they might net exactly zero hits!
Perhaps there are only two crucial criteria for potential leaders within the church. First and primary, they must be thoroughly in love with Jesus. Next and secondary, they must have discernible leadership instinct. How many of our popular and extremely gifted leaders might fail the first test? How many of our most loved and well-intentioned leaders would stumble on the second test? These two tests allow for someone brand new to the faith, with little knowledge of Scripture or doctrine, to nonetheless start in the queue of your leadership pipeline. And if a potential leader meets these two tests, they can learn or be taught all the rest in on-the-job training. Jesus’ three-year ministry was one continuous on-the-job training for the disciples. Reducing our criteria to just these two also solves the two problems we mentioned above: it gives the “poor” a leadership opening, and it almost guarantees a populated leadership pipeline even in the smallest of churches. It catches “the quiet ones” within the din of the gregarious.
It’s probably better to plug in potential leaders before they are ready. In some cases, doing so could wreck their faith, or wreck them psychologically—so discernment is called for here. But in most cases, giving them a platform super early communicates to them “you’re an owner-employee,” “it’s ok if we make mistakes and learn from them,” and “we all want to be witnesses of how God is gifting you.” It platforms them. It gives them the keys. It elicits their ingenuity, unique personality and calling, and it’s often the key to attracting youth and young adults. Will this result in messes? It’s a certainty. But the messes are a small price to pay in the end for a full leadership pipeline and a priesthood-of-all-believers internal culture.
As you take risks on these potential leaders, they’ll start to prove themselves out. Some of the ones you were so sure of, will fade out. Some of the ones you figured were the biggest risks will shine with a brilliance that makes your heart burst with pride. You’ll start to be able to see which ones meet Patrick Lencioni’s crucial trifecta of hungry, humble and smart (The Ideal Team Player). “Hungry” refers to personal passion for the mission, “smart” to EQ, emotional intelligence, or the ability to interact well with others, and “humble” is self-explanatory. By this point, you’re well on your way to amazing leaders and high performance teams.
One caution: I’ve pastored a church of 120, and I’ve pastored a church of 5. In small churches, if you’re picky, you may never have any leaders other than yourself. This is where the reductionist criteria of 1) love of Jesus and 2) leadership instinct comes in handy. I know a pastor of 50 who has never had any elders, though he badly wants some. Are his initial standards too high? Is he missing the quiet potentials because his mental image of an elder blocks them out? Probably, early in the pipeline we should have low standards and later in the pipeline we should have high standards.
Some churches have a plan for leadership development that looks exciting to them from an insider perspective, but to leadership potentials looking on quietly from the congregation, it might seem unattractive. To them, the reward might look nowhere near worth the hassle. To remedy this, put yourself in their shoes. Do they have a stressful job and lots of weekly commitments? Consider taking the really-long view on their training: consider stipulating very lenient training requirements. Ensure that any meetings they attend are on-point, to-the-point, and have an unyielding endpoint. Demonstrate that you have their six, even if the messes they make leave egg on your face. For a few, you’ll have to hold their hands or they’ll wilt; most will shine brightest when you give them free reign. Do everything possible to reduce obstacles, gift authority, and make it painless for them. And for all your trouble, you will multiply your own leadership calling and gifting in your congregation, and feel God’s smile of “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

Written By:
Shawn Keener
Consultant
Shawn writes and consults in a variety of areas including: Revitalization
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