Recharge Session 3

Leadership

Session Agenda

1. Reconnect with your coaching group (if applicable).

2. Share a devotion and prayer.

3. Record the names of your Church Leadership Team and share them with a ministry friend (or your coaching group). Discuss your team progress:

What form did you choose for the team? (existing group or new group)
What challenges do you foresee as you walk through the vision and strategy planning process?
When will the team meet? How often will they meet?
What’s your agenda for the first meeting?

Church Leadership Team Job Description

1. Pray for God’s vision.
2. Review the church’s current health.
3. Write mission, vision and core values statements.
4. Develop a strategic plan.
5. Lead the church to implement the plan.
6. Communicate with the church body.
7. Overcome roadblocks as a team.

4. Everyday Leadership by Drew Dudley

We’ve all changed someone’s life—usually without even realizing it. Drew Dudley calls on all of us to become everyday leaders and serve others in big and small ways. This talk was presented at TEDxToronto 2010.

Watch for these key moments:

0:14 | The Importance of Leadership
1:10 | Personal Story of Redefinition
4:20 | The Power of Leadership
5:50 | Overcoming Fear of Leadership

4. Deep Change Discussion

What are the 5 most important changes you’ve made in your life?
How do you respond to Quinn’s statement: “Bringing change in another person is dependent on change in the leader?”
When you think of leading your church through change and reaching more people for Christ, who must make the biggest change—the congregation or the pastor?
In leading the congregation, do you ever feel like a victim? Discuss this point.
Assess the validity of this statement as a description of your congregation: “Stable church culture, embedded conflict and personal time constraints are barriers to change that exist within most churches. These pressures are not the result of bad intent; they are the natural consequences of the structure of the church. Given these barriers, no matter what pastoral leadership suggests about the need for change, the normal person receives a clear message about what to do: conform, don’t rock the boat, choose peace, unity and, often, experience slow death. Consequently, the church becomes a well-structured, but declining, congregation and mission.”
What changes did Moses make to effectively lead the people of God? (See Exodus 18:13-26)
What changes did Simon Peter make in his personal life to serve Cornelius in Acts 10?
What do we learn about change and leadership from these two biblical characters? How can we apply it to our lives?

Deep Change Summary

Slow death occurs when the choice for deep change is rejected.
Deep change necessitates courage, motivation, and discipline.
Deep personal change is at the heart of deep organizational change.
Only when people are prepared to take risks will an organization be able to adapt to the changing external demands.

5. “What Kind of a Leader Can Grow a Church?” Discussion

Do you agree with the statement: “An effective pastor must have a profound sense of God’s call in his life?” Has that happened to you? Do you still have that divine call today?
What are you passionate about? Being recognized as the pastor? Leading the church forward in mission and evangelism? Or something else?
What is your personal vision for the church you serve? Are you sharing that dream with your team?
How comfortable are you in creating new methods of reaching and making disciples for Jesus? Have you ever created, with your team or church leaders, new methods for reaching people? How comfortable do you believe Simon Peter was when he went to the home of Cornelius?
Is the place you are serving as pastor similar to the place where you grew up? Is the context changing? Is that change slow or rapid?
Normally, do you lead church leaders to plan for the future or do you follow the standard church program?
What books are you currently reading?
How do you empower others?

What Kind of Leader Can Grow a Church?

1. A leader must have a profound sense of God’s call.
2. A leader must grow in his relationship with God.
3. A leader must be compassionate.
4. A leader must be passionate.
5. A leader must be visionary.
6. A leader must become entrepreneurial.
7. A leader must be contextual.
8. A leader must be a planner.
9. A leader must be a lifelong learner.
10. A Leader must be a delegator and empowerer of others.

10. To Do Items

Meet with your Church Leadership Team and set the stage for the road ahead. Outline the strategic planning process with a focus on the first steps you’ll take: mission, vision and core values statements.
Distribute Advanced Strategic Planning by Aubrey Malphurs to each member of your Church Leadership Team.
Prepare a summary of your church and community research for the Church Leadership Team. Discuss the data and ask the team for their takeaways.
Begin personal work on new or renewed mission and vision statements. What scripture, phrases, words and ideas capture your imagination and have traction for your church and community context?

Meeting 4 Prep

(to be completed in preparation for Meeting 4)

Read Chapters 1-5 in Advanced Strategic Planning by Aubrey Malphurs.

Prepare to discuss mission and vision at the next meeting.

Resources

Leading Change Without Losing It by Carey Nieuwhof