I have a love-hate relationship with cooking. It’s so much easier to make an order and wait for someone else to cook it up and serve me, because cooking takes time, work, and practice. Raising up Spirit-fueled leaders is the same way. It is so much easier to tell people what I want and wait for them to do it. But developing leaders requires preparation — time, work, and practice. If we want a new generation of leaders, we are going to have to start cooking more and ordering less.
First of all, let me give you the ingredients for church leadership. One of my favorite meals is a rice bowl from Qdoba, and, in my world, we have a meal from there at least once a week. Here are the must-haves of a good rice bowl and great churches:
First a protein. This is like discipleship. Discipling someone provides the means to strengthen the leader in whom you are investing. Second is rice or starch or grain. I like to compare this to outreach where just as starch fuels our energy and ability to keep going, outreach continues to fuel our movement. Third is a liquid (oil, broth, water, or milk). This seeps into every corner of the dish and also provides refreshment. I liken this to community. Fellowship and community connections are refreshing and permeate us with positive influences like liquid.
Next are the veggies. I compare this to administration. Veggies provide necessary vitamins and roughage to keep things moving, and so does administration. (Yes, I said that.) And fifth and finally, we need some spice. This ingredient is like prayer and worship in the development of leaders. Now some of you only use salt and pepper — but I’ve discovered that the Holy Spirit likes to provide secret sauces from time to time. This makes a complete dish and complete leaders. We need leaders gifted in these different areas and leaders valuing and participating in these areas.
Now let’s move to the recipe and actions, because you don’t just set the ingredients on the counter in your kitchen and expect them to magically come together to make a tasty meal. Some of you have been ordering your meals all your life and are just now having an aha moment: “I have to do something with those groceries I paid for?” Yes, you do! Good cooking and good leadership development require us to get in the kitchen and start working.
Meal prep include recipes, chopping, dicing, shredding, and then the actual cooking, which involves knowing what ingredients to add when and how to cook them well. Of course, there is taste-testing along the way! In leadership development, the preparation skills include example, explanation, and experimenting or exploring.
Example
First, you must resolve to be the example to the up-and-coming leader. And you do that both in your character and your actions. “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1 MEV). You need to make space for the person to have a relationship with you so they can see up close who you are and what you do. You’ve got to provide the new leader time with you. Do you have time built into your schedule to be with new leaders? That together time follows a pattern:
- I do; you watch.
- I do; you help.
- You do; I help.
- You do; I watch.
Asking questions along the way is essential. Do they understand what you’re doing and why? Are they able to apply the principles to their own voice, approach, and leadership style? Are you checking in with them to evaluate their progress? Take time to reflect together and really listen to them. Ask, “How did that go? How are you feeling? Where was that tricky? Could that have gone a different way?” Also don’t forget to celebrate together all the ways your disciple is growing and leading!
Being an example is all about being face-to-face. When my kids were young, one of my pet peeves was when one of the kids would yell at me from another room. We sat down one day, and I said, “New family rule: We don’t yell from room to room. We talk face-to-face.” And from that time on, if one of them would yell, I’d yell back, “Face-to-face.” It slowed them down, eliminated my frustration, and reminded us to see each other as people not things to be ordered around. Relationships happen face-to-face. Remember, Jesus spent a lot of face-to-face time with His 12 disciples.
Explanation
The second part of preparing Spirit-fueled leaders is explanation. Jesus taught many principles over and over again, and Paul wrote follow-up letters of explanation to the churches. We also need to explain what we are doing and why we are doing it. Never assume that people know and understand what you know and understand. Don’t assume that people practice what they know and understand. Or know how to practice. If we only explain what we are doing, we develop followers. When we explain why we are doing it, we are training leaders. When we know why it is important to have all the elements, we can take responsibility for making our own recipe. We are also more careful to include all of the components of a great recipe, not leaving anything out — no shortcuts.
Explanation is clear, intentional, and educational. Explanation can come from many sources: directly from you, someone else who’s good at that particular part of their development, or basic education from books or classes. As you walk through the process of the up-and-coming leader watching, helping, and leading, it is important to have conversations for feedback.
Those conversations should include:
- Affirmation. “Wow, you did that really well.” “I appreciate the way you…” “I love how you said…” “That was so powerful, so well said.” “I never would have thought of that!”
- Corrective. “Another way to do that could be…” “It seems like you lost people at this point; let’s brainstorm different ways to do that.” “Here’s a resource to help with this.”
- Confirmation. “You love God and others so well. I see it.” “You have a natural way of connecting with young people.” “I see the ways God is working through you.”
Don’t forget to model this learning. Are you still being trained? Are you still growing? What have you read this year? What training have you attended? If you are “past learning,” then you must be perfect. And I’m going to be the one to break it to you: You are not perfect. Don’t expect others to be open to growing and training if you’re not modeling it.
Experiment/Explore
I learned to experiment and explore most clearly during COVID lockdowns. It didn’t take me long to realize that we as a church were stuck in one way of doing things, and yet we weren’t allowed to do things in that way. So as a staff team, we put on our thinking hats and said, “We still think these ingredients are the most important, so is there any other way we could do them?” And guess what? There were! And we found things that worked for us!
Let a new leader experiment with how they do their one part, their one event, their one ministry. Don’t insist that they do it the way you would do it. And, by the way, this is another way for you to set the example. When’s the last time you experimented? Because let’s face it, even the very best dish gets old if you are eating it three times a day, seven days a week. Here’s how you can set leaders free to experiment and explore:
- Give them the guidelines to help them dream.
- Be open to change — they might think of something you’ve never thought about!
- Assure them that you are fine with taking the risk. That includes being fine when it doesn’t work. Clearly explain that you expect some things not to work. The important thing is reflecting on what didn’t work and why, and being willing to get back up and try something new.
Another thing that may help is to set an ending date or deadline for an experiment. “Let’s try this for eight weeks and then check back.” Or, “You will be in charge of this for three months, and if you get done and realize it is not for you, that’s fine.” This is how we find what works and what works for who.
Which leads to my last point in preparing new leaders:
Expectations
Clearly define your expectations because clarity is kindness. Discuss and agree upon goals and objectives, and then hold each other accountable to those goals and objectives. Remember that people are human and will make mistakes. People will excel at some things and struggle with others. People will, at times, sin. Jesus dealt with sin in the development of His disciples and so will you. Even if people walk away from the development process, don’t give up. Pray for the next person to develop and pour into.
There will also be differences of opinion along the way. Some ideas will not work, and some people will not work out. There are some recipes we like while others we dislike. Our church is multicultural, so I remind our congregation that being multicultural means that there will likely be at least one thing in the service you will not like. Can we have grace for that?
Finally, be prepared for happy surprises. You never know when something new will sprout up from your development with a new leader. Enjoy the journey and celebrate unexpected good.
Preparing new leaders is what we’re called to and is essential for us to ignite a Spirit-fueled movement. The big question is: Who are you pouring into? If the answer is “no one at this time,” then begin to pray for God to bring you a person to invest in. Then open your eyes, and prepare to start cooking.
Joanna DeWolf is a superintendent of the East Michigan Conference and the lead pastor of Lansing Central Free Methodist Church. She’s particularly good at baking chocolate chip cookies.