By Dale Sellers

Have you arrived at a place in your leadership where you are now ready to acknowledge the warning signs that are before you? It would be so unnecessary to end up stalled out simply because you ignored the signs placed in your pathway to help you avoid it. Sometimes, it only takes a paradigm shift in how you view leadership and reevaluating your leadership priorities to move towards a place of ministry health.

Make this your first priority. If you’re like most pastors, attendance numbers really affect you. I understand. However, I encourage you to shift your focus toward measuring health instead of counting people. The truth is, if your church is unhealthy, you will only be adding to the problem by adding people. But if you can achieve health through building a competent team around you, then you will also create a structure that can handle steady growth. The sharper the team you build, the greater your potential for sustained growth. You will also find greater fulfillment in raising up others to do the work instead of doing it all by yourself.

The truth is, if your church is unhealthy, you will only be adding to the problem by adding people.

In case team building is something you need help with, allow me to share the basics from a resource I created for 95Nework titled “Eight Key Principles for Equipping Saints and Improving Follow-Through.”

1. Make your mission plain. Simply put, your mission explains why you exist as a ministry. There is no better way to communicate it to your volunteers than to put it in writing. You can also make a practice of writing down more specific objectives. This will bring clarity and remove any possible misunderstanding. Instructions not written down seldom get followed.

2. When possible, match roles with giftedness. This practice is not always possible in a small church due to the limited volunteer pool. However, as you grow, it is important to remember that people tend to follow through and serve faithfully when the mission connects with their passion and gifts. Try connecting people with their passion when possible.

3. Equip leaders with tools for success. Nothing brings greater frustration to volunteers than to be asked to do something without being given the resources to accomplish the task. They feel set up for failure from the start. It is better not to start an initiative than to launch something without the tools for success.

4. Resist the urge to manipulate and intimidate. It still amazes me to see how many leaders use manipulation and intimidation to run organizations. Not only does this leadership style wear out the volunteers, it also wears out the leader. Guilt and hype are only temporary ways to motivate people.

5. Release responsibilities incrementally. Jesus taught the principle that faithfulness over a little leads to more responsibility (Luke 16:10). As desperate as you are for volunteers, don’t allow yourself to release too much too fast to new volunteers. Overwhelmed volunteers will eventually quit.

6. Identify leaders of teams and empower them. Remember when Moses’s father-in-law advised him to share his load (Ex. 18:14–23)? His advice was predicated on empowering leaders based on their ability to handle leadership at certain levels. Paul told Timothy to release leadership to followers who were both faithful and able (2 Tim. 2:2). Once you have identified and recruited your leaders, it is imperative that you let them lead. Micromanagement will only lead to turnover.

7. Inspect what you expect. One of the difficulties of leading a volunteer organization is that you can never assume that folks will follow through. However, this reality does not mean you need to be cynical or down on your people. It just means you have to constantly stay in tune with your leaders to make sure things are running smoothly. Good communication is not always about passing or failing. Sometimes it’s simply about tweaking and offering direction in order to achieve your goals.

8. Provide positive reinforcement. Great leaders are awesome encouragers. We should always make it our goal as leaders to be the biggest cheerleaders and supporters for both volunteers and staff members. I once had a pastor I worked for who would personally hand out our paychecks every two weeks. He always said, “Thank you for being a part of our team.” That encouragement meant so much to me. I would have done anything to help him fulfill our church’s vision!

Implementing these eight equipping principles will foster an atmosphere of consistent community and follow-through. Just remember that the best growth happens incrementally.

Just remember that the best growth happens incrementally.

Special note: It’s so important for you as a small church leader to understand that you simply can’t offer everything larger ministries offer. The lack of resources and people makes it impossible. So the best thing to do is scale back to doing a few things really well. Your impact will be much greater if you do a few things well than if you attempt to do a lot of things poorly.

Sellers, Dale. Stalled: Hope and Help for Pastors Who Thought They’d Be There by Now (pp. 70-73).

What are you doing that is working well? What is not going so well? Let’s connect and have a conversation about it. At 95Network, we are here to support and serve you in anyway we can. If you feel like you’re in a season where your stalled out and can see the way forward then please reach out to me at [email protected]

• Website: 95Network.org
• 95Network – Soul Care Essentials
• 95Network – Healthy Church Assessment
• Read Stalled: Hope and Help for Pastors Who Thought They’d Be There By Now

Be sure to stop by our 95Network.org/online store to find helpful resources designed to encourage and strengthen your ministry leadership.