Replacing Myself

Andy Stanley and the staff of North Point Community Church talk about the idea of Replacing yoruself. It's the idea that you should always be training someone to do what you do. We should always have someone that we are apprenticing, training and teaching to do what we do. This is part of discipleship.

This morning I had the opportunity to be a part of this. A young man in our church led worship this morning. I usually lead worship, but I got to step back and just play guitar while he led. It was great to be a part of his leading worship and watch this young man who has really grown up in Christ lead our congregation in worship.

In the past I've had him lead, but I've always been off-stage, watching him and just letting him do it on his own. This morning I was a part of his leadership. There are things you don't learn about someone just by watching them do something, you need to be a part of it. This is a critical part of replacing myself. I can't just have someone take my place, but I need to be a part of their leadership. In doing so, I can encourage them, build raport with them and then I will have a better understanding of what they might need to work on.

I'm learning a lot about leadership, I know that I need to replace myself, so that I can free myself to do the things I do best.

What is leadership?

John Maxwell always says "If you think you're leading, yet no one is following you, then you're only taking a walk." He also says that leadership is influence.

So at its core, leadership is using your influence over someone to get them to follow you.

I would like to define leadership, and come up with a simple way to grasp the whole concept of leadership. Any helpers?

Additions to what leaderhsip is:

Leaders delay their emotions.
Leaders give credit for accomplishments to the team and take blame for failures personally.
Leaders are aware of their own stregths and weakness and work on them.
Leaders communicate with their followers.

Here are some leadership do's and don't I have come up with. Tell me what you think and add to the list.

Leadership Do’s and Don’ts

Leadership Things to Do:

I will Always be bold.
I will be a good thinker.
I will always finish what I start.
I will say no.
I will meet with my staff on a weekly basis.
Give them leadership training
Keep them accountable
Make sure what they are doing in their department is in line with the direction of the whole.
I will always give staff priority over secretaries and parishioners.
I will lead the church through the staff.
I will lead the leadership of the church not be led by them. (Recognizing that they can teach and give guidance and wisdom, but that I am responsible for leading the church.)
I will always be training leaders.
I will always Replace Myself.
When leading staff meetings, stay on the task at hand, don’t take bunny trails.
I will always evaluate events to make sure they are reaching their potential.
What was the win for the Halloween Family night? Did it succeed?
I will be effective at what I do.
I will do a few things well.
I will cut out things to make sure I am doing a few things well.
I will have a staff that does a few things well.
I will use steps not programs.
I will have yearly, one week long Staff Retreats to “Work On It.”
I will have monthly one day Staff Retreats to “Work On It.”
I will require every ministry to have yearly 2-3 day Staff retreats to Work on it.
I will require every ministry to have monthly/weekly work on it meetings.
I will clarify the win for every aspect of each ministry.
I will have a positive attitude.


Leadership Things Not To Do:

I will never allow the voices of a few people drown out the voices of the rest of the people.
I will never say I’m going to do something and not do it.
I will never allow a person to complain to me about a staff member without that person first talking with the person they have the conflict with.
I will never invite a non-staff person on a staff training event.
I will not hold on to anything too tightly.
I will never make a decision too quickly.
What I decide with staff, I will promote to the church leadership, and not allow the church leadership to change it without first talking with the staff.
I will never make a promise without writing it down.

I will never hire someone to do a job that a volunteer has been doing, and then not let the person I hired do the job because the volunteer doesn’t want to step down.
Never start a meeting with someone else right before a previously scheduled meeting.
Don’t bump a meeting for another person.
Don’t expect Staff members to do more than a couple of things.
Don’t ask staff members to do something and then not take any input from them.
Don’t ask a staff member to revise their job description, then don’t take input from their changes.
If you want a staff with a bunch of employees, just tell them what to do. If you want a team you have to figure it out together.
I won’t be afraid of big change.
I will not require 100 percent agreement on all decisions.
If 4 out of 5 staff members are in agreement, I will make the decision.
I will not be afraid to cut something that’s not working.
I will not be afraid to cut something that is working to make a more efficient step work better
I will cut Sunday School to make Small groups work better.
I will not allow insiders to be the focus.
I will not preach a sermon with more than one point.
I will always have practical application for every sermon.
The problem isn’t that people don’t know the Bible, the problem is that people don’t apply the Bible.
I will not Schedule a meeting with a published agenda, and then not cover the agenda in the meeting.

What is church leadership all about? Unfortunately for most churches it's either about management (which is not leadership) or no leadership. The funny thing about church leadership is that we are supposed to be leading people in their spiritual journey, but we resist leadership.

If you don't like leadership in the church, this blog is not for you!

Churches in America need a drastic change in their leadership. The current form of leadership involved leading only the people you can personally lead. So Senior Pastors are trying to be the sole spiritual guide for everyone in their congregations. Regardless of the size of your congregation, this should not be the case. But, as this happens, the amount of people one person can lead will become equal to the amount of people in the organization. So, if you can acutally lead 100 people by direct contact, your organization will be no greater than 100 people. If you can lead 50 people by direct contact, your organization will be no greater than 50 people.

Churches need to change their leadership style so that the Senior Pastor is leading people who are leading the people. In my church, (about 480 regular attenders) our Senior Pastor is trying to lead everyone on his own. Therefore our church is going to shrink down to the size that our senior pastor is capable of leading. What needs to happen is to have our senior pastor lead a group of people who will lead a group of people. Maybe even lead a group of leaders who will lead a group of people who will lead the people.

It's different, but it's necessary.