Introduction

A seminary president, when speaking about visiting congregations, once said, “As soon as I see the pastor of a congregation, I will know if that congregation will be sending anyone to seminary to study to become a leader.” This observation is consistent with a concept that writers on leadership like John Maxwell have outlined. Maxwell states, “It takes a leader to know a leader, grow a leader, and show a leader.”¹ Even more succinctly put, “leaders make leaders.” Leaders who recognize the capacity of others, honor their integrity, give them what they need to grow, and challenge them will raise up other leaders. When leaders are raising leaders, a congregation has an environment where mission can thrive.

 

Leaders Make Leaders

A leader makes other leaders prior to a time of challenge, so when a time of challenge arrives, the leaders have the capacity to address the challenge.

When the COVID pandemic hit in March of 2020, the leadership of congregations was challenged. The congregation I served faced those challenges too. If you were to ask me how well we did facing the challenges of COVID, I would say that we were successful.

Why do I think we were successful? I believe that we were successful because we had teams of leaders in place that were ready to take on the challenge. First, our elected leaders were ready to lead. Second, the church staff was ready to lead. Third, there were leaders in the congregation who had the capacity to serve as a response task force that developed and guided us through pandemic protocol.

This trifecta of leadership identified common values such as being relational, engagement through social media, and member safety. Their decisions and actions were based on those values. The result was safe navigation through the pandemic and a congregation that stayed strong as it emerged from the pandemic.

A congregation that has identified those with leadership capacity, recruited those potential leaders, and equipped them as leaders is a congregation that will competently face the challenges of ministry.

 

Leaders Know Leaders

Take a moment to rate your leadership on a scale of 1 to 10, knowing that the leaders you attract will operate at a similar place on the scale of 1 to 10.

The highest level at which leaders around you will function is the level at which you are functioning.²

In my former parish, I was the least competent person on my staff. That is, in certain areas of ministry, I did not know what to do. I did, though, have leaders in those areas of ministry who were highly competent.

Surrounding oneself with competency requires humility. I had to learn to allow my colleagues to question my requests and plans. I had to learn to have my ideas replaced with their ideas. Most of all, I had to learn to let them get credit for the work they had done. Over time, I found my greatest joy in the members of my staff being affirmed for their leadership.

I still remember the first recital performed by our new church musician. A member of the congregation leaned over to me and said, “He is a brilliant and amazing musician!” I had tears in my eyes, for I knew he was brilliant, but was deeply moved when others in the congregation recognized that brilliance as well.

Please note, the skill sets of my staff varied. We, however, shared the same values. The commitment to excellence, humility, curiosity, service, and the focus on what was best for the congregation were shared by every staff leader. In addition, each of the leaders had the capacity to engage others, challenge them, encourage them, and equip them to thrive at what they did—that is, identify and equip leaders as well.

 

Leaders Grow Leaders

A person may show little promise because they don’t have the capacity to lead, or because there is no room in the system for them to grow.

I think one of the scariest things that we as leaders do is to entrust an idea, program, or activity to someone else.

I once had a staff member who was responsible for the basic upkeep and maintenance of our building. Yet, I noticed a capacity in him to do more than that. Over time, I increased his responsibilities and put him in charge of more and more complicated tasks. I was thrilled, because he continued to grow and rise to the occasion. In the end, I had a staff member whose original responsibility was to make sure we had paper supplies in the building who grow to have oversight of projects costing tens of thousands of dollars. He grew as a leader and became one of my most important advisors.

How are leaders grown? Leaders are grown because leaders show leaders.

 

Leaders Show Leaders

We recognize skill development in our children in sports and music, but don’t seem to recognize the need for skill development for our leaders.

Don’t simply say, “Go do this.” Show them.

I had two custodians who were reliable staff members. Yet, I was regularly hearing complaints about how the bathrooms in the church building were never clean enough. For weeks, I did what leaders tend to do, I simply told the custodians they needed to clean better. It didn’t help. So, one day, I asked the 2 custodians to meet me at the restrooms. I then proceeded to show them how to clean bathrooms.³ We saw an improvement after that day. I also learned in that moment, that the church was not providing the custodians the necessary cleaning tools and chemicals to do the job properly. (For example, the custodians were not given brushes to clean the inside of the toilet bowls.) I was able to correct the problem of the lack of tools to do the job properly.

Mentor, coach, encourage, and challenge a person. Show others in the organization that you trust the person. Want the person to succeed. Sometimes, we want a person to fail so we can prove our superiority. Take the risk to set up leaders to succeed.

 

Recognize the Capacity of Others

“If you as a leader look for and find traces of gold in your people, start digging.”⁴

John Maxwell recommends looking for the following qualities in a person:

• Positiveness: the ability to work with and see people and situations in a positive way.
• Servanthood: the willingness to submit, play team ball, and follow the leader.
• Growth Potential: a hunger for personal growth and development; the ability to keep growing as the job expands.
• Follow-through: the determination to get the job done completely and with consistency.
• Loyalty: the willingness to always put the leader and the organization above personal desires.
• Resilience: the ability to bounce back when problems arise.
• Integrity: trustworthiness and solid character; consistent words and walk.
• “Big picture” Mind-set: the ability to see the whole organization and all its needs.
• Discipline: the willingness to do what is required regardless of personal mood.
• Gratitude: an attitude of faithfulness that becomes a way of life.⁵

I believe that basic techniques can be taught to a person who demonstrated the above qualities needed for a leader. I also recommend that each of us look at these qualities to determine if we demonstrate them ourselves. If not, maybe we should attend to some of our own growth.

 

Honor the Integrity of Others

If a person means something to a leader, the relationship the leader has with that person will be meaningful.

Throughout my ministry, I have had leaders take new jobs or retire. To be honest, I hate change, so I didn’t enjoy these transitions. I also didn’t enjoy these transitions because those leaving had come to be special and important in my life. For my, the hardest part of ministry has been saying goodbye to people that I love.

I also noticed something about myself when a person shared with me that they were leaving. I quickly removed my investment in that person. Embarrassingly, I started to act like they were already gone even before they left. I spent less time and engaged with that person less. It took at staff member saying to me, “I’m still here! You can see me, can’t you?”

I had gone from honoring the value of that person with my time, attention, guidance, and support to removing all that honored them. It was then that I noticed how important it is to honor the integrity of others. It is important for them to thrive, and it is painful when it is removed.

 

Give Others What They Need to Grow

What you don’t want them to grow, your leaders won’t grow.

The lead pastor of a congregation is not the creative one. Nor is the job of the lead pastor to do the ministry. As a lead pastor, I learned that my job was to make sure that my leaders had the resources they needed to do their jobs—that is, to make their ministry work.

How does a leader give other leaders what they need to grow?  Here are some ideas:

• Give them permission to grow;
• Tell them you believe in them;
• Create an environment in which they can grow;
• Provide opportunities to grow;
• Make sure they have the resources they need for growth;
• Support their ideas and speak well of those ideas with others;
• Be an example of how to grow by modelling how you grow;
• Show your confidence in them.

 

Challenging Others

Challenging a person doesn’t diminish them, it tells them that you want them to grow and expresses your personal investment in their growth.

One day, early in my ministry, I was processing a problem with my mentor, Frank. He listened carefully, asked good questions, and pushed and challenged me. I got a little touchy when he was challenging me, because my feelings were getting hurt. Noticing this, my friend and mentor said, “I wouldn’t be spending so much time working with you if I didn’t care about you and want the best for you.”

John Maxwell talks about challenging others by saying, “Care enough to confront.”⁶ For him, confrontation is “a chance to help and develop” a person.⁷ He offers some guidelines for confrontation.

Here are 7 of those guidelines:

• Confront ASAP-The longer a person waits to confront, the less likely it will happen.
• Separate the Person from the Wrong Action-Support and encourage the person while addressing specific actions.
• Confront only what the Person Can Change-Confrontation does not contribute to growth if the confrontation calls for impossible results.
• Avoid Sarcasm-Confrontation is done to honor the person, not to diminish them. Sarcasm can diminish another person.
• Avoid Words Like Always and Never—Words that have an absolute nature to them do not allow room for the other person to engage in thoughtful decision making.
• Give the Person a Game Plan to Fix the Problem-Many times a failure is due to the inability of knowing where to start with a project, what direction to take a project, or the process to be used to accomplish the project. Map a process for the person to make changes that lead to different and more beneficial results.⁸

 

Conclusion

I have a son who will turn 21 in a few months. It has been my greatest joy to watch him grow and mature into the man he is now. When he shows good judgment, is caring and compassionate, when his decisions are made on his passions and values, I am overwhelmed with joy.

I have the same passion when I watch the people with whom I have worked over the years. I am so excited to see those with whom I have worked serving as faithful, and talented, and extraordinary leaders themselves.

Leaders make leaders. That’s what we do.

 

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Endnotes:

¹ Maxwell, John C., Developing the Leaders around You, 1995. Injoy, Inc. USA, page 9.
² Maxwell, John, page 9.
³ I have this skill set because my parents operated a campground; one of my jobs growing up was to clean the bathrooms. For what it is worth, I am now the chief bathroom cleaner at home.
⁴ Maxwell, John, page 24.
⁵ Maxwell, John, page 23.
⁶ Maxwell, John, page 121.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ Maxwell, John. Pages 122-123.