Leading and managing a church organism (because it is alive) is a multi-faceted responsibility requiring many areas of expertise. Leading Leaders™ strength in this arena is to bring health and vitality to the areas that concern both the spiritual and natural leadership of people.

At its core, a church is a body of people, serving other people. Since the people are the primary focus, their individual contributions are what make up the strength of the whole. To improve the strength of the whole, it is necessary to improve the strength of the individual. Which is one of Leading Leaders™ true & unique specialties: identifying and optimizing Identity.

The Body of Christ cannot fulfill what needs to be done, until we understand who we are, and how we are equipped to do it. These days, Identity is even more critical than ever, because there is so much to be done.

Improving congregation vitality

Regardless of church size, the vitality and engagement of the congregation, is a strong indicator of the health of that Body of people. It is luring to think that better programs and more impressive audio or video will get people more engaged in God. However, research shows that engagement is more strongly related to personal Identity, which makes figuring out who we are, more important than buying an HD projector – for this objective.

Leadership and management

Many confuse the roles of Leadership and management. All too often these words are used incorrectly, sending a mixed message to the hearer. Leaders run ahead and plan a course, then come back and communicate that to the managers and the Body. The managers then help the Body walk out the course, interacting with the leaders for minor corrections along the way. Leaders may not be able to manage, and managers are not necessarily leaders. Understanding each persons unique contribution, is the key to getting optimal performance from the Body – paid or unpaid.

Current relevance and future planning

If a church looses it’s relevance in the community, it looses its voice. To be relevant the Church must make a contribution in the community that matters and is measurable. In short, we should serve. The area that a church chooses to serve in should be a reflection of the community’s culture because culture always wins. Ignore the culture in your community to your own peril. It can cost you your voice.

Staff selection, cohesion and optimization

Two common ways to hire staff are; find the candidate that is the best match for the hole you have to fill or hire a strong candidate and find a role for them to play. Regardless of the path chosen to get to the hiring, optimal output and cohesion comes from helping that person understand who they are first, then how they fit into the Body. Identity first, then everything else makes sense.

Initiating & managing culture change

Changing the systems (as Andy Stanley puts it) or the culture in any Body, seems like a traumatic and drawn out experience that few will boldly embrace. We are all resistant to change, but if there is to be an undoing of some culture, then there must simultaneously be a doing of something else to replace it. Along the away, most will feel willing to endure and adapt to the change, if the vision remains clear and the commitment to the new outcome is upheld.

Empowering Volunteers

They are the Saints, and God said to equip them for the work, for their work. Lasting commitment from a volunteer only emerges when the volunteer connects personally with where they are serving. Helping volunteers understand their God given life-mission and then connecting them to volunteer in that arena, inspires phenomenal levels of engagement and commitment

Revealing your God inspired life-mission

Historically the Church has steered away from trying to identify a life-mission on a personal basis, because they are as varied as there are people in the world. The benefit for the Church and the volunteer, of uncovering their life-mission, is unmitigated commitment to a God inspired outcome. It is volunteerism on Steroids and is highly contagious. It drives engagement and produces committed Followers.

Strengths Development

When choosing between weakness fixing or Strengths development, research shows that a Strengths focus outperforms the former, dramatically. Talent equips a person for world-class productivity. Imagine an environment where everyone knows their talent and is leveraging it for Strength within the same organization. Productivity, engagement, enjoyment, satisfaction, fulfillment and hope are the kinds of experiences that people in that kind of environment enjoy.