The Leadership Bypass

by Tom Johnston

Very often when we discuss the issue of leadership development in the local church we are really discussing how a particular church develops leaders to serve within the context of that specific church. Most of us as pastors are engaged in leadership development for the needs of our own ministry. Certainly, such leaders are needed, but let us suggest to you a broader view, a Kingdom view. Jesus said,

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Luke 10:2 ESV

Leadership development in our churches must be about the harvest, not just about getting people to run our programs and church activities. Jesus’ concern expressed here is for the ingathering of people into His Kingdom, and not just the maintaining of those of the wheat who are already in the barn. As our good friend and mentor Dr. Bob Logan always says, we need to raise leaders from the harvest for the harvest.

While the care, nurture and discipleship of existing Christians are essential parts of the church’s ministry, and as such requires devoted leadership, we have allowed our leadership development track, to a great extent, to be driven by the needs of those already in the church. In doing such, we have spiritually neutered our “leaders,” validating their attendance at meetings and the performance of tasks within ministry programs. We have not, by and large, had the expectation that those called “leaders” should be involved in spiritual reproduction – sharing their faith and making disciples for Jesus Christ. Many of our leaders are nothing more than mid-level program managers in our local church organizations. Could it be that we need to let our developing leaders bypass serving the church through the myriad of things we seem to find to do (and some which really need to be done) and let them directly engage the harvest? We need an HOV lane on our development pathway for leaders, allowing them to zip by the slow moving traffic of the church ministry and operations, and let them engage directly in the harvest.

Another way we need to create a “bypass” for our leaders is to use developmental processes and sponsorship structures that empower people to go beyond us. We often find churches where the pastor uses the “Undergrowth Principle” – “you can grow as long as you’re under me.” Can someone get by you to a fuller expression of their gifting and calling, perhaps surpassing you in fruitfulness and effectiveness? Do you have an open-ended leadership development process, or does their road come to an end at the inside of the metaphorical door of your church? Robert Clinton has suggested in several of his works that we often encounter problems with people in the churches we care for simply because we are in the way of their further spiritual development. He suggests that many of those we call “rebellious” are actually people who have out-grown the current opportunities to learn and serve in our churches, and if we could facilitate them into new opportunities for both – perhaps in an expression of church beyond our own local setting, we would be serving the needs of the Kingdom more completely.

None of us have enough leaders – and the harvest awaits. We need to establish our churches as “leadership development engines” and see our role not just as shepherds but as equippers of the saints – and cut those saints loose in the harvest fields. Make leaders – lots of them, and give them over to Jesus, and watch what He does with them – in your local church and beyond.