Growing your Leadership Capacity

When it comes to starting a church or trying to bring about change, what does it look like to you? Can you describe the end result with great detail? One of the most important disciplines you can do to help ensure your success in these areas is to write down on paper what’s in your head.

Over the years, I have written out my goals in three specific categories of my life: physical goals, professional goals and spiritual goals.

Most people never write out their goals. Instead they drift through life going wherever the current of circumstance takes them. However, committing your goals to paper isn’t the magic wand…it is just the beginning.

Here are five quick reasons why you should write out your goals:

1. It brings clarity.

When you take time to write out your goals, it forces you to be certain about where you are and where you want to be. That small exercise brings great clarity and lets you know when you are actually moving, and if you are moving in the right direction.

2. It inspires action.

Writing down your goals is only half of the battle. The next big thing requires execution. You have to take action to see the goals achieved. When I write my goals down and then review them regularly, it inspires me to take the next most important step to achieving it.

3. It creates a filter.

The more success you achieve, the more opportunities will come your way. If you are not careful or have something that grounds you, these opportunities can easily distract and rip you off course. The one thing that has helped me to stay moving in the right direction is to have written goals that I can frequently visit to evaluate every new opportunity that pops up.

4. It elevates courage.

Resistance is just a part of life. Every meaningful intention you have will face resistance in some form. The moment you set a goal, resistance rears its ugly head. When you focus on the resistance it grows in strength and its ability to distract you. The best way to overcome the resistance is to focus on the end goal.

5. It creates avenues to celebrate.

Church work, leadership and life are hard when you don’t see tangible progress. It can feel like you are working day after day and getting nowhere. However, written goals can serve as markers on a highway. They enable you to see where you were, where you have come and how far you have to go. The best part is that they provide the opportunity to celebrate when the end has been reached.

Writing out your goals doesn’t need to be a long and drawn out process. Don’t over think it. Refine the goals as you go. I think you will find the effort and the discipline are well worth the time.

3 Great Reasons to Start New Churches

I remember the sentence that changed everything for me, like it was yesterday: “The most effective way to reach people for Jesus is to start new churches.” That was all I needed to hear to launch me into the exciting and scary world of church planting.
    In those early days, I underestimated the difficulty and the pushback we would receive from other Christians and even Christian leaders. They would look at me puzzled as I would share our vision for a new church. Then, without provocation, they’d ask, “Why would you start a new church when so many of our existing churches have a need and are declining in impact?” They’re referring to the idea that it would be better to reach people using the resources and churches that already exist. That is completely an understandable point of view and something to think about when a new church planter comes asking for help.
    However, the pushback usually comes from seeing the world through a simple economic model of supply and demand. When there is a seemingly limited demand for churches, why supply the community or region with more of them? As easy as that model is to understand, I think it is the wrong model. Using the model of supply and demand fails to recognize some important underlying reasons concerning the kingdom of God, community engagement and the call of discipleship.

What’s at stake
Let’s talk for a moment about why these three areas are important to understand in the context of church planting and why we do it.

1.    The kingdom of God

The very first command in the Bible is “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:22). God, from the beginning, commanded all living things to reproduce, that is, “according to its kind.” For lions that meant “reproduce lions.” For plants that meant “reproduce plants.” For Adam and Eve that meant “have lots of children.”
    Throughout the New Testament we see the church described as alive and a living body. Just as everything that is alive will grow, mature and reproduce, the same is true for the church. A church reproduces itself by starting another church. This is all a part of God’s kingdom work. God is passionate about his kingdom with the desire that his kingdom will encompass every community and every tribe ― and will reach every person.
    Fred Herron adds to this thought in his book, Expanding God’s Kingdom through Church Planting(1), when he states: 

“God intends the church to proclaim and demonstrate the kingdom so that his kingdom will spread to every people group on the earth. The passion in God’s heart for the expansion of his kingdom is a desire for all nations to glorify God the eternal King. He has given the church a kingly commission to go into the entire world and make disciples who are loyal worshippers of the King. The heart of God for kingdom expansion is the foundation for planting new churches.” 

With this in mind, church planting becomes more than a novel idea. It comes with urgency. It is through planting new churches that God’s kingdom and God’s reign are extended into communities around the world that are under the reign of darkness.
    We fulfill both the first command of Scripture and the Great Commission by multiplying churches. By planting churches, we take Jesus into the lives of needy people, we become partners with God’s mission, and we are actively expanding God’s kingdom. God’s heart beats for church planting and so should ours!

2.    Community engagement

Planting churches is about reaching people, who seemingly feel unreachable, for Jesus. The stark reality is that most “lost” people are best reached in a community that is similar and somewhat comfortable to them. This is true of groups separated by language, geography and even core identity. With this in mind, we start churches driven by biblical convictions of reaching those who are far from God. We start churches because it’s a God thing.

3.    The call of discipleship

The journey of discipleship is a journey to go. The more we pursue Jesus, the more we become like the one who came to “seek and save the lost.” This mission is a mission that requires us as Christians to go. We go to our neighbors. We go to our friends. We go to our families. We go to our co-workers. We go with the intention of carrying Jesus, the light, into our communities, cities and world. To follow Jesus is to embrace his commission, and his commission is an expression of love.
    Disciples are ones that have been captured by the love of Christ. When we really begin to understand what that really means, then we too must go. Starting new churches is an extension of that call to go, an extension of following Jesus.

My hope and prayer is that as the future unfolds, Converge will become known as a family of churches that are about starting new churches in your community and around the world, no matter what the cost. The hope of the world is Jesus, and he chose the church to exist as his vehicle for achieving God’s redemptive plan.

(1) Herron, Fred.  Expanding God’s Kingdom through Church Planting (Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, Inc. 2003), 19.

Creating a Culture of Leaders

Where do I find high-capacity leaders? That’s a question and challenge any organization leader has asked. When it comes to leadership, you can’t recruit high level leaders without first developing a culture to do so.

Finding, empowering and reproducing leaders is critical to the success and health of any organization. In the church world, our “Kingdom growth” is greatly impacted by the number of leaders we raise up and send out.

Therefore, we must work tirelessly to recruit more leaders and we accomplish that by having a culture that lends itself to multiplying leaders. So how do we develop that type of culture? What does it look like? How does it function?

Here are eight ways to have a multiplying culture of leaders:

Prioritize the Vision

It’s almost impossible to convince people to buy into something you don’t believe in. As a leader, you have to first believe that multiplying leaders is of value and worth elevating to an organizational priority.

Lead Intentionally

For this to work multiplication must be a part of an organization’s overall strategy. Leaders must be taught and empowered to raise up other leaders with the intention of replacing themselves.

Don’t Wait

This is an easy area to put on hold until the need presents itself. Don’t wait until you have a hole to fill. Begin raising up leaders before you actually need them, this way you’ll never lose momentum if a gap arises. Cultures that effectively multiply leaders never wait until they actually need them.

Invest in Becoming a Better Leader

It’s very difficult to take new leaders where the current leaders haven’t been or aren’t willing to go. Don’t try.

Foster Humility

Leaders must not be afraid that new leaders could potentially lead better than them. When leaders allow people to shine under their leadership it advances their overall ability to lead. The good news is today’s generation likes honesty. They will gladly follow a leader that they feel they can trust.

Pay Attention to your Environment

Leaders never fully develop under a dictator. If people are afraid to have an answer under the current leadership for fear of being wrong, they are less likely to try to have an answer. As a result, the real leaders will disappear quickly in environments that are too controlling–or where it’s not safe to share and try new ideas.

Recruit

The best quality people are almost always personally recruited. Look how Jesus recruited—even with a coming betrayal. Find tainted leaders and ask them to join you.

Lead for Life

Many leaders find their greatest growth when they are leading others onshore in leadership responsibility. Walk alongside potential leaders knowing part of their maturity will be developed while leading others.