[learn_press_profile]
Each summer the ECCC offers an Adventures in Leadership program that takes a group of high school students into the mountains near Banff for a few days of adventurous living. They get their backpacks, their camping gear and their courage all gathered up after a couple days of preparation and they head out to the trails. It is quite an adventure.
One of the best parts about the trip is that it is not just an adventure, but it is an adventure that is designed to invest in their leadership. Each youth takes a turn leading the group for the day by making all the decisions that need to be made as to when to eat, when to start/stop and when to camp for the night. The are also asked to lead a devotion for the team. This is stuff that most of them have never done, but we have yet to lose a group so far!! They manage to lead in spite of their fears, their inadequacies and their unfamiliarity with the place or the terrain they are navigating.
I often feel like this is what we are asking people to do when we invite them into leadership in the church. We are asking people to step up and lead in spite of their fears, their inadequacies, and their unfamiliarity with the terrain (church leadership) that they are navigating. Unfortunately, the place where we usually ask people into leadership is to join the Leadership Team, and they either feel dreadfully unprepared for that kind of role, or they feel that they don’t know enough about it to take the risk. Most people’s responses are that they do not have time, that they aren’t really interested right now, or they do not feel like they are the right people for the job. That is EXACTLY what most of the young people in Adventures in Leadership feel as they are told they will be leading the trip for the day.
I am going to admit that we need to do a better job at building leaders in the church! I am excited about the group of people who will be stepping into leadership at our AGM tomorrow, but I am also fully aware, based on the conversations that we have had, that we have not prepared people to say yes for this role. We haven’t built people who are ready to step in with excitement saying, “Yes, that seems like something that I could do.”
Part of the problem is that we aren’t giving people the opportunities to try out leadership. We aren’t asking them to step in and develop as leaders. We haven’t made taking leadership an expected part of discipleship and an expected part of life at GTCC. We are all called to be a part of the mission. We are all called to play a role, but we aren’t building people into bigger roles. Now, I am not the kind of leader who says that everyone must play some kind of leadership role at the church, but I do believe that we need to practice leading in safe environments as part of our discipleship. I do believe that we need to create training grounds for people to lead in the church and the world. I worry that we are not doing a great job of that.
I invite you to ask yourself now what you are doing to develop yourself as a leader. Where are you allowing God to use you for the church? What can you be a part of that would give you a chance to lead? What are you doing to serve others? What could you be a part of that would help you to grow as a leader and as a disciple? We don’t want people to fill leadership roles, we want people to develop as people and to thrive. Peter Scazerro in his book The Emotionally Healthy Leader demonstrates the dangers of focusing too much on building “leaders” without building “disciples.” “The emotionally unhealthy leader is someone who operates in a continuous state of emotional and spiritual deficit, lacking emotional maturity and a “being with God” sufficient to sustain their “doing for God.”
As we head into the AGM tomorrow, I want to us to imagine where we will be in 2022 when we gather for that AGM. Let’s assume that over the year we have developed new leaders who are ready to take the help of the leadership. Let’s assume that you are one of the people who will step into that leadership role. What have we done over the last year that has gotten you ready for that? How have we discipled you? How have we challenged you? What have we done to train and prepare you? Now that you can imagine that – let us know the answer to this question. We want to get you ready to be a leader, but we need to know what you need.
The people who go on Adventures in Leadership aren’t just being trained to hike a trail, or to lead a backpacking trip. They are being developed as leaders. What adventures do you need to go on this year to free you up to lead in the church?
These are things that we need to talk about at the church, and hopefully we will have some time to address this at the AGM tomorrow.
1. How can we do a better job of investing in emotionally healthy disciples in our church?
2. How can we do a better job of developing emotionally healthy leaders in our church?
3. How could we get you involved in leadership in the church?
These are important conversations!
