If you really think about it, what exactly does it take to become a leader for God? Is it talent or skill? Maybe it’s knowledge? Well, the truth of the matter is that while those three aspects are important to becoming a great leader, it may be time to consider the role that character plays in the essence of leadership.
At the most basic level, character is a collection of personality traits each individual has that is a reflection of our behaviors to show who we are as a person. However, it is something that is also far deeper. In true essence, character is something that can be learned and taught as we grow and develop our own relationships with Christ, which is manifested back to Him, and then to others.
So how can a leader’s relationship with God be manifested to others? Through your own character, whether humility, responsibility, or urgency, it can be reflected in this five-step process.
1. Build Relationships With Individuals With Leadership Potential
Leadership training and development starts with the power of building relationships, and it’s something that should never be underestimated. Pastors and other church leaders need to devote time to getting to know church members one-on-one. Find out their hobbies and interests, what makes them happy, sad, or angry, ask what their goals are as a Christian, and other defining questions. After spending time with individuals, you’ll have a clearer view of which individuals may be interested in serving and also be able to see their true character. The result of building relationships is that once the time has been invested, those members will feel trust and a connection with you, making them more invested to accept your invitation to serve.
2. Assess and Identify People’s Gifts
Everyone has talents and gifts, of course, but do the individuals you’ve gotten to know showcase gifts designed for serving? Sure, you can conduct spiritual gift inventories or classes as a more formal route, but to be as organic as the relationships you built, simply paying close attention to a person’s strengths will work just as fine. Your ability to see the gifts in individuals will allow you to steer them towards opportunities for them to recognize their own gifts and tap into their strengths to see for themselves what they have to offer.
3. Train and Nurture Through Mentoring and On-the-Job Training
Have you ever worked a job where you felt you kind of just got “thrown in with the sharks” due to not being properly trained for the position you were in? Well, this same issue can happen in Christian leadership. Too often we see potential in individuals that we get overly eager and place them in roles with responsibilities they’re not equipped for or ready to handle. That’s the worst thing to do and the best way to overwhelm them. Simply take them under your wing so they can learn by doing. Observing an existing leader will “show them the ropes” so to speak, and can also be the foundation for reverse mentoring as well.
4. Extend the Invitation to Be Part of a Group
Books, podcasts, and seminars are great tools to utilize for Christian training, however, they don’t provide human contact. Forming Bible study groups, ministry teams, and fellowship groups can serve as “breeding grounds” for growing and emerging leaders. It’s in these groups that budding leaders are able to converse with others about how they put their faith to work. These groups essentially reveal the potential in some of the group members, which then leads to personal invitations.
5. Extend Personal Invitations Into Leadership
A personal invitation is framed around steps one through four and will feel more genuine, and even deserved because the individual will know and understand why they received a personal invitation to serve. The observations you make of the individuals and the relationships you built allow you to see their strengths and aptitudes. Based on that, you now have proof and experiences as to why you’re extending the personal invitation. For example, “Sarah, I’ve noticed how you love children and teach Sunday school lessons in a way that the youth understand. I think you’d excel at taking on a leadership role in our new afterschool program.” This type of personal invitation is one that Sarah will likely take and feel honored to take on such a role because of the time she’s invested and that she truly would enjoy serving in that way.
These five steps to growing leaders for God may seem very simple, and that’s because they are. They are organic strategies that focus on the foundation of building relationships first, which can multiply leadership versus a foundation of building leaders without building relationships first.
