Leadership = Stewardship
The fall is often a time of the year when churches teach on the topic of stewardship. We encourage our people to invest their time, talents, and treasures into God’s Kingdom. However, after reading Jesus’ Parable of the Talents in Luke 19:11-27, I began to wonder if our application of Jesus’ teaching on stewardship falls a little short. For instance, as a church leader, when was the last time you thought about the people in your church as resources you’ve been entrusted with?
Think about the people God’s placed under your care. How are you helping them grow not only in their character, but also in their leadership capacity? How are you helping them become leader of leaders, making disciples who make disciples? I’m afraid far too often we are content to feed our people with good Biblical teaching, plug them into a ministry team and small group, and think our job is done. However, what if the person you placed on the greeting team has the potential to start a church or a world-changing non-profit? What if they need our encouragement to realize their full potential? Are we being a faithful steward of their gifts?
As church leaders, I don’t think Jesus is only going to judge us on the basis of what we’ve done with our personal time, talents and treasures. I think he’s going to ask us what we’ve done with all the people under our care – how we’ve equipped and mobilized them to use their gifts to saturate the world with the gospel.
We believe God is surrounding you with future leaders. We encourage you to identify those potential leaders, invest in them and help them reach their Kingdom potential. That’s why we’ve packed this newsletter full of resources designed to help you grow the people God’s placed under your care.
-Dale Spaulding, Director
November 2018 – Contents
- 3 Leadership Development Tools
- Free Resources For Developing Leaders
- Leadership Development Template
- Made For More Resource Kit
3 Leadership Development Tools
If you’re a church leader you’re in the people business. According to Ephesians 4:11-16, one of your main responsibilities as a church leader is to equip believers to use their gifts and passions for the sake of Christ’s church. However, where, when and how does this equipping take place?
Most of your people have busy lives. It’s not as easy as scheduling a staff development day for training. You’ve got to be creative and innovative in order to equip your current and future leaders. To help you think creatively about how you can invest into your leaders, read Bobby Williams’ 3 Underused Leadership Development Tools and start expanding your leadership toolbox.
Free Resources For Developing Leaders
In the late 1990s Mac Lake planted Carolina Forest Community Church in Carolina Forest, SC. While the church grew, Mac could sense that God hadn’t called him to start a church, but to launch a movement of healthy new churches. Mac knew this would only be possible through developing healthy leaders. That’s why for the past 30 years he’s been helping younger leaders grow in their character and leadership competencies. Now he’s making his leadership development content available to you and your church.
Every week, Mac publishes leadership training videos designed to help you and your staff invest in future leaders. His videos include helpful tools, tips, and techniques you can use to grow as a leader and invest in the leaders around you. Access his free videos here: Mac Lake Channel.
Leadership Development Strategy Template
How does your church develop leaders? Do you have an intentional strategy to help future leaders grow in their competency, character, and capacity? Don’t feel bad if you can’t answer that question with confidence. Most churches don’t have a defined strategy that guides them in this endeavor. That’s why we’ve designed a Leadership Development Strategy Template. It will help you set the course for how your church will invest in its future leaders.
Don’t rely on the few leaders that show up to your church to carry out the church’s ministry. Be a good steward of all the people God brings you and help them grow into their full potential for God’s kingdom. So how does your church develop leaders? Answer that with confidence by developing your strategy. Then implement it.
Made For More Resource Kit
As a church leader, do you look at the people God’s place under your care and wonder if you’re helping them fulfill their potential? Do you ever wonder if you’re stewarding well the collective gifts and resources your people have to offer? God’s placed a calling on every Christian’s life. According to Ephesians 4:12 one of your main responsibilities as a church leader is to equip and mobilize them to fulfill that calling.
How do you do that? In other words, how do you unleash believers to fill every crack and crevice of society with the gospel? Explore how with the help of Exponential’s Made For More Resource Kit featuring insights from Todd Wilson, Dave Ferguson, Michael Frost, Danielle Strickland, Léonce Crump and many more forward thinking church leaders.
This free kit is designed to take you and your leaders through a study of the book of Ephesians to rediscover Jesus’ vision for His Church and how you can mobilize God’s people in God’s way.
Photos by Rawpixel and Thomas Drouault from Unsplash.