This week I’ve been traveling through South America with Bill Hybels, who has been sharing leadership coaching and teaching to thousands of leaders.
During one stop in Brazil Bill was asked this leadership question:
“How can I raise up leaders in my church, when I’m struggling with my own leadership?”
Here is Bill’s answer.
I see this all over the world, and most recently in India and China.
The average little church in India or China used to be about 100 people. Now there are thousands of churches with three or four thousand people in them.
So, the pastor cannot possibly wrap his arms around three thousand people. But he’s never been taught how to raise up leaders. He doesn’t know how to manage staff members. He doesn’t know how to organize the church in a new way. And so these pastors are overwhelmed.
This is something we try to do at the Global Leadership Summit; we try to teach leadership and management and organization. Because it’s not being taught in seminaries.
Now, here’s a challenge to all of you around the table.
It’s easy to say, “I’ve never been trained, so I’ll never be good at any of this.” You can train yourself. The materials and resources are out there.
Read one hour a day about leadership and management. Your skill at this would go up dramatically.
But some pastors would rather complain and play the victim. I have no sympathy. Because this stuff is available. So discipline yourself. And meet with other pastors who are trying to grow like you are. Go to places where leadership is taught. And you will learn these skills.
What’s your self-leadership plan?
