Here’s a universal truth about church growth.

Every growing church needs more leaders.

And another angle…

More leaders grow the church.

One more…

Growing leaders grow churches.

Got it?

One of the questions I frequently get asked is, “How do you develop leaders?”

Or rather, “How do you grow leaders?”

Because leaders aren’t created or made as much they’re cultivated and grown.

At Joy Church we don’t depend on leaders from other churches.

We grow our own!

At one point we were deeply in need of a kids pastor and I reached out to several churches within our network asking if they had anyone they could send or recommend to us…

And it was crickets…chirp chirp!

In my experience, even large churches with lots of leaders are usually not open to releasing them.

Almost like leaders are valuable…right?

From that point forward we committed to raising up our own leaders.

I once had to correct a fellow pastor because he complained he had no leaders in his church.

And he said, “Well, we’d grow too if God sent us the leaders He sent you!”

I replied, “He did send leaders. He sent you!”

I was a little upset with that pastor because he was ignoring his own calling as a leader to raise up leaders and expecting God to just miraculously parachute drop fully-trained leaders into his church!

But that’s not how it works.

Ephesians 4 leaders understand that their role is to equip, train, and release new leaders, disciples, and ministers.

Leaders have everything they need to make more leaders.

Alright, let’s look at the practical side.

Here’s how I think about growing leaders…

The Two Environments For Growing Leaders

Leaders are developed in two environments: Nurture and Challenge.

1) Nurture.

Just like a plant, emerging leaders need a healthy nurturing environment to grow in!

Nurture looks like:

• Establishing them in the Word.

• Showing them how to follow Jesus through Bible reading, prayer, and personal devotions.

• Encouraging them personally and as an emerging leader.

• Celebrating their accomplishments and each new step they take.

• Picking them up and dusting them off when they fall down!

• Equipping them with the tools they need to succeed in life and leadership.

• Free and flowing feedback.

• Consistent love and affirmation.

• Introducing them to other leaders that can help them (building their network).

• Grace to make mistakes and learn from them.

That’s the “nurture” environment.

It’s the soil that healthy leaders grow in.

But it’s not enough.

They also need…

2) Challenge.

No pain, no gain…right?

YUP.

Sam Chand, in his excellent book Leadership Pain: The Classroom For Growth, says it this way:

“If you're not hurting, you're not leading. Your vision for the future has to be big enough to propel you to face the heartaches and struggles you'll find along the way. You'll grow only to the threshold of your pain.”

Ouch.

Now, here he goes again:

“Difficulties are God’s curriculum for those who want to excel.”

And one more time…

“Pain is a part of progress. Anything that grows experiences some pain. If I avoid all pain, I’m avoiding growth.”

Thanks Sam.

I wish it weren’t the case but it is.

Leaders need to be challenged and face difficulty in order to grow.

If you look back at your own life and leadership you most certainly recognize this truth.

The hardest times (when we chose to let God use them) were when and where we grew the most!

And yet, many leaders remove the challenge factor from their prospective leaders…

So what does the environment of challenge look like?

Challenge looks like:

• Opportunities to lead real moments (meetings, groups, preaching a sermon, etc) that can succeed or fail.

• Giving honest constructive criticism and feedback.

• Helping emerging leaders to see whats holding them back in their life.

• Pushing them to pursue growth through learning (get a degree, read a book, etc).

• Correcting them when their attitude or behavior is bad.

• Challenging them to see themselves at a higher level (mindset and vision).

• Encouraging them to walk in greater faith in every area of life.

Conclusion and Questions:

Thats a brief look at the two environments that leaders grow in.

How you create and blend the two is the art of leadership!

Every leader leans a little to one side or the other.

I’ve definitely been more of a “nurturing” leader but I’m learning how to introduce the “challenge” factor in greater measure.

Whichever way you lean it’s important to know that…

Every leader can grow leaders!

You’ve already got the seeds and the soil you need to grow ALL the leaders you need to achieve EVERYTHING God has in store for you.

Here are some key questions to ask…

Alright, that’s all for today…

Hope it helps!

For more in-depth training on how to grow leaders and your own leadership check out the premium version of The Leader Letter which includes access to all past and future premium content, video training where I unpack and expand on these newsletters (in the vault), and access to private email coaching (ask me anything and get help ASAP).

Right now I’m offering 20% off annual subscriptions for life!

Click here to learn more about The Leader Letter (premium).

Thanks and God bless,

Pastor Jake