Who Are You Raising Up?

Leadership guru and former pastor John Maxwell says, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” Do you agree?

Obviously, we know that Jesus is King and that He is ultimately the one who determines success. But when we look through the lens of our responsibility to pastor churches, where would you prioritize leadership? For me, I’m seeing the wisdom of Maxwell’s statement more and more.

It was the first Sunday at the first church I pastored. It also happened to be the day of the church’s Annual Meeting. To this day, more than 25 years later, I will never forget how that meeting ended. We were voting on new deacons, and there were still a number of positions unfilled. To my shock, the chair of the nominating committee stood up and asked if anyone wanted to volunteer.

Thoughts and emotions swirled in my head: “What?! No vetting? No questions about character, spiritual maturity, or leadership? Are we really going to allow just anyone to do this?”

True to form, some people nominated themselves while others were pressured into accepting the position. As you can probably guess, some of them turned out to be some of the worst choices in the room.

Over the years, I’ve heard other pastors share similar struggles with leadership in their churches. Whether it happens at an Annual Meeting, a nominating meeting, or somewhere else, the church’s choice of leaders can sometimes be very different from the pastor’s. Too often, the church settles for a warm body. Even worse, it may choose someone with an agenda. Meanwhile, the pastor looks around and wonders, “Who can I trust to lead key ministries?”

Does that describe your church?

I wish I could say I corrected the situation that first year. I didn’t. I struggled to find good leaders who would help the church grow. I had hits and misses. I learned a lot at that church, and I’m still learning today. But over the years, I’ve found two things especially helpful: watching how Jesus developed leaders and embracing the truth that He called me to this role.

While we could say many things about Jesus’ approach to developing leaders, I want to focus on three areas that I hope will help us develop leaders in our churches.

1. Jesus went to them and recruited them.

Jesus went looking for people. He called Peter after a miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5), spent time with Nathanael (John 1), and went to Matthew’s house (Matthew 9). He didn’t wait for them to come to Him, He pursued them.

We don’t know exactly what Jesus saw in each of them as potential leaders. But we do know that Jesus regularly spent time with His Father in prayer.

As I’ve watched Jesus’ approach to leadership development, I’ve recognized that I need to go to people and recruit them rather than simply waiting for them to come to me.

2. Jesus gave His leaders His time.

Jesus didn’t simply recruit the disciples and then send them off to lead. He gave them His time. He allowed them into His life, His thoughts, and His heart. He shared His vision with them. He revealed His struggles. He taught them by letting them watch His life up close.

I think this is so important for us to understand as pastors.

Potential leaders want to spend time with you. They want to hear the vision. They want to know what is moving you, what is challenging you, and what you are learning. They want to be part of what God is doing through your church.

Sometimes leadership development looks as simple as sharing a cup of coffee or sitting together on the porch. We need to be with our leaders. I love what Paul says to Timothy:

“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings…” (2 Timothy 3:10–11)

Paul’s words reveal that Timothy didn’t just learn from Paul’s teaching. He learned from Paul’s life. Paul showed him what life was like behind the curtain.

One question I’ve had to ask myself about this truth is: If Jesus spent so much of His time with His disciples, what does my calendar say about how I am developing leaders?

3. Jesus raised up disciples who became leaders.

Leadership is about discipleship.

It’s about spending time with leaders and helping them grow into the men and women God has called them to be. It’s about seeing and affirming the grace of God in their lives and encouraging them to keep moving toward God’s calling and purpose for their lives (Acts 11:23).

Jesus not only shared His heart with the disciples; He taught them how to pray, speak, serve, and lead. He sent them out to heal and proclaim the Kingdom, and then He brought them back and talked with them about what they had experienced and learned.

My sense is that the church is at its best when its leaders are leading the way in growing as disciples.

That pushes me to create environments where discipleship can happen. It pushes me to ask leaders how they are growing and who they are discipling. Leadership development isn’t simply about finding people to fill positions. It’s about helping people become more like Jesus and then helping them lead others to do the same.

The hardest person to lead is me.

As I’ve tried to raise up leaders, I’ve learned one hard truth: the hardest person for me to lead is me.

Like Moses in Exodus 3–5, I’ve had to work through questions of identity. I’ve asked God if He could send someone else who could do a better job. I’ve struggled to embrace my calling and my role.

I’ve also realized that my identity struggles affected the way I developed leaders. At times, I shied away from raising up leaders because I was afraid they would discover that I wasn’t good enough to follow. (Well, that’s probably still true.) It was only when I began to embrace how God viewed me and accept that He had called and empowered me for this role that I was able to move forward in raising up leaders. I’m still learning. But slowly, I’m getting better.

How about you? What do you find difficult about leading yourself? Whatever it is, can I encourage you to be like Jesus and raise up leaders?

He has uniquely called you to this work. He chose you to lead your church. You are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

And your church needs more leaders if it is going to become the church God wants it to be.

So look around your congregation.

Who is God calling you to begin investing in?

Who needs you to go to them, spend time with them, disciple them, and help them become the leader God has called them to be?

Everything may not rise and fall on your leadership. But much more of it may depend on it than you realize.