Where are you headed and how do you plan to get there? This simple question could very well determine your future. This month's newsletter will help you visualize where you should be pointing your ministry and it will help you adhere to the biblical progression of a maturing organization.

While nothing I have written is earth shattering or a new revelation from the mouth of God, the article discusses truths that you must incorporate into your daily operations now if you are to lay the foundation and begin building the biblical value system that will enable you to achieve the outcome God desires for your ministry.

To some this short study may seem simplistic; to others it may be a startling revelation. Wherever you fall on this spectrum is irrelevant. The important thing to take way is that however simple the truths may be, they are the truths that must be embraced to fully develop the ministry God has given you to steward over.

Dr. Jeff Wade has over 30 years experience in the ministry. His passion is teaching leadership to church leaders to equip them to more effectively do what they have been called to do. He conducts leadership conferences and trains church staffs. He is the author of two books and has produced many leadership tools, available on:

Road Map to Organizational Success

Most of you receiving this newsletter have a desire to be successful in the ministry. If you are like most people I talk to, you are already doing all you can do and you realize that you can't go forward without enlisting the help of others. You remember with joy the time when you were completely in control and you could accomplish everything you needed to do by yourself. But now you labor all day long and at the end of the day you feel you haven't made a dent in your workload.

You have probably already tried delegating tasks to people you feel you can trust, but the needs of the ministry seem to grow faster than you can find people who are willing to do what you ask. You are most likely working long hours and falling further behind. People who need your help are being neglected and you don't have time to organize every event on your calendar. Things are happening so fast that you feel unprepared and you don't do as well as you know you can.

Don't be discouraged. Successful leaders have always faced this dilemma. In fact, success is what creates the problem in the first place. The reason you have more people than you can handle is because you have successfully created a growth environment. People have been attracted to your ministry.

The Apostles worked through exactly the same thing. The early church grew so fast that people who were once adequately receiving help were now being neglected. Moses quickly became so overwhelmed that he asked God to kill him. Good leaders have always grown their way to chaos.

All who grow will eventually outgrow the organization that facilitated the growth. This chaos is not punishment and God is not done with you. The chaos that results from growth is meant to be the catalyst that forces you to change gears. It is the impetus that causes leaders to move to the next phase of organizational leadership. It will cause you to ask questions and seek answers.

It is important to clearly see these different phases of organizational growth before you spend years cultivating the wrong expectations in followers. As any road trip begins with a review of the map, so must the leader clearly understand the destination and the landmarks along the way as their organization grows. As landmarks let you know where you are along your chosen path, organizational landmarks tell you where you are and when you need to alter course. The Bible clearly describes five organizational levels. These levels are not alternate leadership styles, but rather sequential phases of an organizations growth. The growth phases are as follows:

1.  The leader does it all: All organizations begin with the founding leader wearing all the hats. The leader draws upon the calling of God, hard work, tenacity, and excitement to create a ministry out of nothing. He or she must gather a crowd, begin recruiting help, teach, inspire, and personally ensure every task is accomplished, every event is organized, and every requirement is met. (Exodus 4:15-17/5:22) It is not uncommon during this phase for followers to challenge the leader's authority. (Numbers 16:3,18/Leviticus 10:12) At times, survival itself seems doubtful. Soon, there is more to do than you can possibly do without help. Leaders will often question their calling or wonder if they are the right person for the job. They may consider quitting or wonder if someone else could better provide the leadership the people need. (Exodus 5:22)


2.  The leader delegates tasks: As the pool of followers grows the leader begins developing people to help. The leader's main task at this stage is to prove prospective leaders. (1Timothy 3:10) Duties are parceled out and the leader watches the followers to see who is diligent and who does a good job. Direction at this stage is very specific and followers are told what to do and how to do it. This is a necessary step in the development of the ministry culture and will reap benefits long after the followers become leaders. Followers begin to exhibit their spiritual gifts and God begins to prosper their hand. (Proverbs 18:16) The leader watches their progress and prays for their development.

3.  The leader delegates decision making authority: This stage begins with the leader giving specific and limited decision making authority to a few proven leadership prospects. (Exodus 18:21&22) This limited decision making authority usually revolves around spending limits, specific event related problems, and even routine ministry problems of a repetitive nature. At this point new leaders are learning the principles that guide the senior leader's decisions. The senior leader utilizes ministry problems to teach the new leaders how they think, what they would do under similar circumstances, and to what standards they expect the job to be performed. It is important that leaders develop a method of monitoring their progress and performance.

The leader must also ensure that they do not make a habit of making decisions for the leader in training. They must control their urge to jump in and make the decision and they must not permit those who disagree with the decision to demand that the senior leader make the final call. Whoever has the final call is the one that owns the problem. The reason you give decision making authority is so that your helper can have ownership. As long as you have ownership you are the one bearing the load. If the new leader continually makes decisions you would not make, change the leader, not the decision. Before people can be released to act in your best interest and make the decisions you would make you must allow them to actually make decisions and work through the fallout of poor decision making. They need to learn the same lessons that you learned and need the opportunity to shoulder the responsibility and deal with the accountability that comes with being in charge.

Many leaders think this is the last stage of organizational development. Most ministry leaders never progress past this point for a number of reasons. Most do not know there is anything else they can do. Up to this point they know everything that happens in their ministry and they have a sense of control. They are unprepared or unwilling to take the next step. Awareness of the next level, and willingness to proceed, will determine if the ministry grows past this point.

4.  The leader develops other leaders with the same spirit: Once you have developed a group of leaders who think like you and show the same level of care you would show, you can turn them loose to act in your behalf. (Numbers 11:14-17, 25) This is when multiplication occurs. Prior to this point your leadership team has been as big a burden as they have been help. You had to closely supervise them and be involved in almost everything they did. You expended a great deal of energy making sure everything was done the way you wanted it done.

Up to this point the organization revolved around the senior leader. The organizational structure was constructed with a single leader at the helm. When the spirit of the leader is instilled in a group of elders, the leader can reorganize the organizational structure around them. The elders now embark upon the same journey the senior leader has traveled up to this point. They begin developing their own staffs and progress through the same steps we have just discussed. The leader is now free from the day to day operation and can now focus on the big picture. They now focus on inspiring their leadership team, casting vision, and creating momentum. They begin to have more time for purely spiritual endeavors.

5.  The leader's leaders develop their own staffs: At this stage the elders are motivated by love and loyalty to the senior leader and to each other. Over the years, the senior leadership team members have learned each other's strengths and weaknesses and consider each other more like family than peers. The leader considers the elders to be his friends. (John 15:15) Now they all bear the load together without worrying about who works for whom. They long ago learned that they need each other if they are to complete the job the Lord called them to do.

Each "elder" has developed a team of leaders who deal with the routine operations of their respective ministries. The respective leadership teams are highly organized and efficient and there is a culture of leadership development throughout the entire ministry. Over time, the senior leadership has created a process for ministry building that is easy to understand and replicate in each new organization that is created.

This roadmap for organizational development will enable you as the senior leader to fully engage the people that God brings to you as your ministry grows. Please realize that God gives us ministries to build to help Him build people. God is not impressed by the size of a ministry or the value of its property. Leaders are cautioned that they have not been entrusted with the lives of other people to be "lords over God's heritage." As Christian leaders we have been given a sacred duty to use the ministry God has given us to develop others. We are to invest our lives creating opportunities for others to complete God's will for their lives. When our motives for ministry building are in agreement with God's will for the lives of His people, He will multiply the fruit of our labors far beyond anything we can ask or understand. Best of all, this is the stage where the senior leader is free to pursue the most important work of all-the ministry of the Word and prayer. (Acts 6:1-6)
 

Jeff Wade, DBS
BibleLeader.com