As promised, here is the follow up to last week’s post on Discovering and Developing Missional Vision, where we shared some questions to ponder on setting a good foundation of a leadership culture within your church, focusing on releasing vision especially in those who might not look like a ‘typical’ leader. Today, here are some practicals.
“Here are a few tips for releasing vision in the non-pioneers, the under-encouraged or those lacking in confidence:
- Get to know people’s passions, dreams & desires, especially those who are less ‘obvious’ as leaders. Make some time for those who don’t seek you out to tell you their new vision or idea – look for those who are putting away the chairs, or serving coffee. Often these guys make brilliant missionary leaders because they know how to serve and love others.
- Help potential leaders to clearly articulate their vision – writing it down or talking it through with friends can help with this. It doesn’t have to be complicated, just clear. If it helps, get them to think about what they want to see in the UP-IN-OUT of their community. It can (should!) be that simple!
- You can’t encourage the unconfident too much! They need to know you believe in them. Take plenty of opportunities to let them know what gifts/skills you see in them and how you see God’s call on their life. However….
- Don’t let them get away with procrastinating about getting to grips with vision and/or getting started. Hold them accountable and pin them down to a plan of writing a vision/plan/asking team/etc, or they might well never bite the bullet and get on with it!
- Give people space to experiment and fail. Sometimes this might be easiest / feel safest for them within the context of a larger community from which they can then be released at the right time.
- Train them to lead in their own style/giftings rather than in yours or someone else’s. They stand a much better chance of succeeding! Help them to develop team who will balance out their giftings.
- Good coaching is key to their success. They might well need more coaching than a ‘natural’ leader. Concentrate on encouragement and helping them to make decisions for themselves rather than giving them all the answers (or telling them what you would do!)
- Don’t necessarily expect their communities to grow as quickly or easily as other more experienced leaders – after all, they are just learning how to be a leader and how to lead with a vision. This will be especially true if their vision is quite ‘specialised’ or has quite a narrow focus.
- Keep them missional! It’s easy to get overwhelmed with leading people so keep their eyes on why they’re doing it.
- Celebrate success! Share testimony, encourage (again!) and remember that mobilising a whole variety of leaders across the body into missional vision and leadership is worth your time and effort.”
