4 Ideas to Help You Lead More Effectively

The last year has caused me to reflect a great deal on bivocational ministry. In my own church, I serve as a part-time minister, but know that I must dedicate energy to the strategy for our church. Here are a few of the ideas that I’ve been dwelling on to help me lead better.

Drop the buzzwords. Modern leaders in the church are just like ancient leaders in the church – we love our buzzwords. For the first century, it was the Gnostics talking about their secret knowledge. Today, we have made words like postmodern, Gen X, mission, and missional into junk-drawer terms. They mean everything and nothing at the same time. Don’t use hollow terms. Learn the vocabulary of your church and use it wisely.

Know the context. You are likely the only leader in your church that has done self-training to think missiologically. It is the default of most people to simply address a small circle of needs around them. Become a cultural expert about your city, your state, and the world. I know that I’m asking you to know a lot. But no one else is going to do it. I suggest you to make it a regular part of your teaching. Help your church to think about the application of biblical truths not just to their lives but to the life of their community and city.

See farther. In order to tell a better story, see you have to develop the discipline of seeing farther than others. It does not mean that you have to be prophetic in an Old Testament kind of way. As a leader, you need to find time for prayer and then planning that helps the church to see what they will do next, how they will minister going forward.

Seeing farther is not a normal skill possessed by most people in leadership. For those of us in bivocational work, it will require – like so much else – extra time. There are plenty of books and resources out there to help you with the process of setting the vision, putting together the strategy, and seeing farther. Let me give you a few practical suggestions to get the work done.

• Take one block of time at least each quarter to simply pray and dream. It does not have to be hard-core strategizing. You need to give yourself time to hear from the Spirit in an unhurried environment.
• Do it with the other leaders of your church. I think you need to have time between just you and God in order to prepare for time with the community of leaders in your church. But don’t ever think that they cannot also see farther with you.
• Discipline your reading. Pick out a book a quarter that will challenge you to think beyond the norm. Business books, theological books, novels, change theory – something that will stretch your mind.
• Interact with other pastors who are completely different from you. Get out of your normal network. Meet other leaders from other streams. I’m Baptist, but some of the leaders I’ve learned the most from are from Pentecostal denominations, AME Zion friends, and Anglican priests. They help me to see the wideness of what is happening in God’s kingdom.

Set the pace. Don’t ever just point in a direction for your church and say, “Go!” Go first and bring everyone with you. You simply cannot lead strategically without putting yourself into the strategy. The moment strategy degrades to just an assignment for others, you have lost your footing as a leader.

Philip Nation is the adult ministry publishing director for LifeWay Christian Resources. Find out more on his blog.