Tyler Braun #Leadershipweek
This post was written by Tyler Braun. I want to thank Tyler for participating in this week long series of posts on leadership. Please check out Tyler’s blog and Twitter.
Look through most lists of best-selling books and it will become quite noticeable that leadership is a hot topic. Maybe even the hottest topic. Everyone is trying to get on the edge of how to be the next great manager of resources and people. Men such as Jim Collins, John Maxwell, Gary Hamel, and countless others have made a living by writing books, teaching upcoming leaders, and speaking at conferences on how to provide effective leadership in today’s world.
I could name well over 8 church conferences that focus on providing leadership within the local church. The great thing is that this is a hot topic because it is an important one. BUT it is changing. The way leaders operate within the local church is changing from a senior pastor model to a shared leadership model.
For too long churches have operated with the understanding that they need one well qualified leader to present the Word every week and make decisions for them. This sets up that senior leader and the church for complete failure.
(To clarify I would describe shared leadership as what many would call an eldership model and is outlined in Acts 14:23 and Titus 1:5. The idea that leadership of the church is meant to be shared by a team of people who each carry the same amount of decision-making power is something the church has completely gotten away from as it has adopted a CEO-business style-of governing the church.)
This change will have 2 key implications:
- Limitations are minimized. Every pastor has limitations and blind spots. And too often senior pastors have no one that has enough power to point out those areas without compromising their already limited power to do so. Church leadership needs more accountability within the key decision making process.
- More key ministers of the gospel. Sharing the load of leadership will certainly lighten the load of those who carry far too much weight. It will also allow those who are capable and qualified to carry more weight, allowing for more to share in the ministry spreading the good news.
Ok, thats really good.
“Church leadership needs more accountability within the key decision making process.” If you are reading this, does your church have this? It should. Tyler thank you.
I would say that this process is getting better at my church, but is still a long ways away. I continue to pray for progress though.
IF this process had been in place in a number of churches that I grew up in, then the church would have had much less fall out and reached far more people.
Great thoughts Ben !
One thing that I would add, this “council of equals” also has a fatal flaw. God given vision is almost always resident in a “Set Man”, often called a Sr. Pastor. We see that clearly in the N T church. If there is not a set man, the council of equals soon begins to lose momentum. The church is very good and well managed, but it doesn’t have the cutting edge that vision gives it.
(You may have covered this elsewhere, obviouly I’ve only read this small piece of your work)
The council of equals then must be: 1./ comitted to the vision of the set man 2./ at peace with who they individually are 3./ know that they are individually called to serve each other and the set man 4./ be more loyal to what God is doing than to their own careers.
This is a tall order and not one that get’s put into place very often.
Blessings … Allen Lake
Good stuff Tyler. I love your honesty and then perspective on leadership.
I agree with you on this model, what I wonder about is how this style of leadership makes decisions? Is it very majority vote driven? Or does a natural leader surface inside of shared leadership?
Here is to hoping that is not a vote. (At least in my opinion), but there must be a balance in terms of the main leader having people around him who are able to tell him that he is wrong.
re: decision making – i think it would probably depend on the situation. sometimes there might be a vote (whether formal or informal) and in other cases, there may be designated areas of expertise/responsibility? not too different from a church with separate teaching/executive/staff/counseling pastors – but just not in a vertical hierarchy…. at least that’s how i imagine it.
i really do hope that someday this model would encourage people to let go of power – or the need to centralize power… but i’m not holding my breath (o ye of little faith…)
Got to love the way Paul sees it huh?
We just launched a church (www.whybloom.com) w/a co-pastorship…total equals…and it sets the tone for selflessness, servant leadership, collaboration and empowerment. It’s a beautiful thing.
Dawn-
That is great. I wonder if having 2 people who have all the leadership is that much better than 1 person though? Couldn’t it just result in the same problems when there isn’t a team of leaders involved in decision making?