Most church leaders I talk with want their church to grow. But few of those same leaders are willing to change and do things differently in order to grow. Unfortunately, it’s impossible for your church to grow and everything stay the same. I know, it would be nice if everything could stay the same as the church grows, but it can’t.
There are a lot of things that a church out grows as it grows. One of those things is often the church staff team.
Pace
The growth of your church has the potential to outpace the growth of your team. Beginning a new ministry, adding a new service time, building a new building, or starting a new campus all have the potential to be catalytic to growth at your church. The problem is that people don’t grow as fast as churches have the potential to. I’ve heard all kinds of stories of churches doubling over night, but when is the last time you doubled your personal leadership capacity over night?
Development Culture
Building a development culture will help you keep pace with growth for a while and will provide opportunity for your greatest capacity and highest potential leaders to rise to the surface. Development doesn’t happen in a classroom but in the “heat of battle.” Giving a young leader a big opportunity by throwing them in the deep end of the pool is a great opportunity to teach them how to swim. Preparation, opportunity and coaching are the greatest tools in the arsenal of development.
Outside Acquisitions
If you’re leading in a growing church eventually the pace of growth at your church will force you to recruit talent from the outside to add to your team. Don’t be afraid of hiring people who have more experience, more expertise, more exposure, and a greater capacity than your current team. Great hires should intimidate you a bit and push you to grow. To keep pace with growth you’ll need to bring in outside talent or you’ll allow your team to be the lid to growth.
Leave a Reply