The Church is not giving rise to many leaders. In fact, we aren’t finding enough younger leaders to replace retiring Boomers. Again this week, I got a call from a good friend, a great pastor (age 59) who asked if I knew any young leaders to recommend as his eventual successor. As he put it, “We’ve talked for years about getting someone to follow me; oops!”
I do NOT believe the current lack of leaders-on-the-horizon is a generational phenomenon. It’s not as though pastors have been generating a surplus of leaders over the last 30 years. Instead, they’ve been praying for God to send ready-made leaders to them. As a pastor whose modest-size church daughtered 37 congregations over 22 years, may I share my perspectives about finding and releasing leaders?
First of all, I never understood church as a place where believers go primarily to worship and be fed. Those are vital components, but church is a training venue to prepare believers for practical and spiritual ministry to people of world (Acts 10:38). Church is for cooking lessons, not great meals.
Secondly, God seems to entrust His work to unlikely, inadequate candidates like Moses, Mary, and Paul. I doubt they ever thought of themselves as leadership-material. That’s why I didn’t classify people as either those with or without leadership potential. The least in the kingdom of God is (potentially) more of a spiritual powerhouse than the prophets of old (Matthew 11:11). If we define a spiritual leader as someone with a Hollywood personality and a commanding stage presence, then I will concede that we are not all leaders. But if spiritual leadership is more akin to being a parent than a performer, I rest my case in saying that every believer is capable of becoming a capable spiritual leader.
Third, I do not believe leaders are sent from heaven; I think they are made on earth. It’s a “good thing” for anyone to aspire to spiritual leadership (1 Timothy 3:1). Anyone who is faithful in little things can become “master of more” (Matthew 25:21). Leadership is developmental, not innate. Intended to grow into “oaks of righteousness,” disciples should eventually gain a reputation as “priests” and “ministers” because God uses them to restore others (Isaiah 61:1-6). My assignment was simply to put more ministry into the hands of an increasing number of more spiritually-capacitated people. That led to our surplus of leaders at every level of our church.
