My assignment from yesterday’s CECL session was to write up a
preliminary plan for leadership development in a church. Considering that
I am preparing to start a new church, I thought in terms of developing
leaders from the “ground up” so to speak.

It’s a rough draft, but this is what I have so far. I’d love to see your
comments on it.

Creating a leadership development strategy:

What do I really want to accomplish when it comes to leadership
development?

When it comes to leadership development, I really want to help people
become fully committed followers of Jesus who are capable of using their
unique giftedness to lead others in identifying and taking next steps
unique to them.

Being a fully committed follower means:

1. GOD-CONNECTED: Having a deeply intimate personal relationship with
   God that incorporates key disciplines of spiritual renewal and works out
   in a desire to proclaim the greatness of God both to him in worship and
   to others in personal testimony.

2. COMMUNITY: Having a real sense of love and camaraderie with others in
   the various levels of interpersonal relationships: a few spiritually
   intimate relationships, 10-20 spiritually supportive friendships for
   care, counsel, and fellowship, a sense of unity and love for the 100 or
   so in my circle of concern, a commitment to the corporate cause of
   Christ, and a desire for those outside the family of God to join.

3. GROWTH: Having a strong desire to identify areas of spiritual
   weakness or sin as well as areas of practical possibility and taking
   strategic steps to grow: education, training, experiences (risk taking),
   and even teaching others.

4. MINISTRY: Eagerly pursuing God’s goals for my life in a way that
   makes full use of the person he has made me to be to give full expression
   to God’s love for others.

Full commitment has the upward, inward, and outward components
balanced.

The Development Process

The church will be structured around a cyclical process that carries
people through the four characteristics of a fully committed disciple
according to their gifting and calling by God.

Level one:

<

ul>

Taking a class or attending a retreat to introduce the concepts and
life transformation associated with each step of character development.

Getting into a relationship that builds the character traits into my
life.

• Mentor
• Small Group
• Class
• Ministry Team

Developing a core habit / behavior associated with that character
trait.

Sharing what I’ve learned from this class with someone who hasn’t
taken it.

Level two:

• Convert current mentor relationship to a coaching relationship.
• Mentor another person all the way through level one

Level three and on:

• Lead a small group and develop leaders
• Coach small group leaders
• Teach a class and develop teachers.
• Coach teachers
• Lead a ministry team and develop leaders.
• Coach ministry team leaders
• Launch a new work of God
• Coach other launchers

My hangups with this method so far:

<

ul>

It’s too complicated

It’s too formalized

It covers too much ground

I want to retain the simplicity of “next step” thinking.

• Yes, there should be some standard steps for anyone to take,
• But, there will also be unique steps.
• Serious care needs to be taken to track which steps are the essential
  ones.

Should priority be given in the structure to the person’s individual
connection with God or to the person’s connection to the Christian
community?

My hangups with the purpose driven model:

• It fails to directly address the centrality of God / worship in the
  developmental structure.

• It splits ministry from mission and discipleship from evangelism.