Delegation is the act of entrusting or empowering another person to act. Delegation is one of the most difficult yet most necessary skills of leadership. Without delegating, leaders cease to lead and instead become bottlenecks.
Delegation is a biblical concept. From God who first delegated the care of this world to mankind (Psalm 8), to Moses who delegated the judging of the people to officials (Exodus 18), to Jesus who empowered His disciples to baptize (John 4:2) and gave us the ultimate delegated responsibility of the Great Commission (Matthew 28), delegation is a part of God’s design for healthy leadership.
Yet as vital as delegation is and as overwhelming as the task of pastoring a church can be, many pastors still have difficulty delegating. They do not ask for help.
There are many reasons for this hesitancy:
Instead of delegating, the pastor takes more and more responsibilities onto his shoulders. This leads to ineffectiveness and burnout. But I’m convinced that when it comes to delegating, what pastors need most is a reframe. Delegation is not scalping your responsibilities onto staff or volunteers. Delegating is the very ministry to which God has called you.
Delegation is discipleship.
Perhaps your hesitancy to delegate comes from being burned by the half-joking response from a would-be volunteer, “but isn’t that what we pay you for?” But this attitude belies a fundamental misunderstanding of the pastor’s calling. The pastor’s unique role isn’t that he is a professional minister. Instead, the pastor’s specific ministry is to equip others for ministry.
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” (Ephesians 4:11-12).
You are not fulfilling that call to equip if you aren’t delegating. In other words, when you empower staff members or volunteers to direct some area of ministry, you aren’t shirking your ministry; you’re doing it.
Delegation equips your people for ministry because delegation is discipleship.
We avoid delegating because we fear it will slow things down. And this is true—in the short term. It takes time to hand someone the ropes of a ministry they’ve never done before. At first, they probably will not do it as fast or as well as you. But in the long run, it’s putting off the work of delegation that slows the ministry down. When we hoard responsibilities, we stagnate God’s design for growth through multiplication.
The apostle Paul’s famous instructions to Timothy serve as a model for discipleship for all of us, “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2). This is the pattern of multiplying discipleship that should mark every church.
But if we want to see our ministries multiply, it will mean letting go of some things. It means entrusting responsibility to others. It means delegating. And it means trusting that the Christ who promised “I will build my church” doesn’t need you to lay every brick yourself (Matthew 16:18).
Delegation leads to multiplication because delegation is discipleship.
Refusing to delegate is choosing to develop an unhealthy church. First, when you don’t delegate, you silently communicate that ministry is reserved for professionals. This creates congregants with a consumer mindset toward the church. They start to believe they are there only to be served and not to serve. Second, not delegating suppresses the expression of spiritual gifts within your church. If you are not delegating ministry to people within your church, you act like the eye that says to the hand, “I have no need of you” (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).
The body of Christ works best when every member works and takes advantage of the spiritual gifts the Lord has providentially placed in your local assembly. But if the pastor does not ask, many members are too shy or humble to request ministry responsibilities for themselves. What a tragedy it would be if God filled your church with people eager to serve and received no help because you did not ask. The people would also lose the opportunity to serve the Lord with the gifts He gave them.
When pastors delegate, it creates a thriving church because they can focus on the ministry God has called them to, and the body of Christ can flourish in the unique way the Spirit has gifted them.
Delegation creates a healthy church because delegation is discipleship.
Here’s a simple framework for doing delegation as discipleship:
Delegation is the simple process of empowering people to serve and evaluating them so they can improve and grow. Doing so equips your people, leads to multiplication, and creates a healthy church. Because delegation is discipleship.
The post Delegation is Discipleship: How to Stop Being a Do-It-All Pastor appeared first on Focus on the Family.
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Delegation is a biblical concept. From God who first delegated the care of this world to mankind (Psalm 8), to Moses who delegated the judging of the people to officials (Exodus 18), to Jesus who empowered His disciples to baptize (John 4:2) and gave us the ultimate delegated responsibility of the Great Commission (Matthew 28), delegation is a part of God’s design for healthy leadership.
Yet as vital as delegation is and as overwhelming as the task of pastoring a church can be, many pastors still have difficulty delegating. They do not ask for help.
There are many reasons for this hesitancy:
- It’s faster to do it yourself
- Fear of relinquishing control
- Guilt that because the church pays you, you should do most of the work
- Lack of confidence in the abilities of those to whom you might delegate
Instead of delegating, the pastor takes more and more responsibilities onto his shoulders. This leads to ineffectiveness and burnout. But I’m convinced that when it comes to delegating, what pastors need most is a reframe. Delegation is not scalping your responsibilities onto staff or volunteers. Delegating is the very ministry to which God has called you.
Delegation is discipleship.
Delegation equips your people
Perhaps your hesitancy to delegate comes from being burned by the half-joking response from a would-be volunteer, “but isn’t that what we pay you for?” But this attitude belies a fundamental misunderstanding of the pastor’s calling. The pastor’s unique role isn’t that he is a professional minister. Instead, the pastor’s specific ministry is to equip others for ministry.
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” (Ephesians 4:11-12).
You are not fulfilling that call to equip if you aren’t delegating. In other words, when you empower staff members or volunteers to direct some area of ministry, you aren’t shirking your ministry; you’re doing it.
Delegation equips your people for ministry because delegation is discipleship.
Delegation leads to multiplication
We avoid delegating because we fear it will slow things down. And this is true—in the short term. It takes time to hand someone the ropes of a ministry they’ve never done before. At first, they probably will not do it as fast or as well as you. But in the long run, it’s putting off the work of delegation that slows the ministry down. When we hoard responsibilities, we stagnate God’s design for growth through multiplication.
The apostle Paul’s famous instructions to Timothy serve as a model for discipleship for all of us, “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2). This is the pattern of multiplying discipleship that should mark every church.
But if we want to see our ministries multiply, it will mean letting go of some things. It means entrusting responsibility to others. It means delegating. And it means trusting that the Christ who promised “I will build my church” doesn’t need you to lay every brick yourself (Matthew 16:18).
Delegation leads to multiplication because delegation is discipleship.
Delegation creates a healthy church
Refusing to delegate is choosing to develop an unhealthy church. First, when you don’t delegate, you silently communicate that ministry is reserved for professionals. This creates congregants with a consumer mindset toward the church. They start to believe they are there only to be served and not to serve. Second, not delegating suppresses the expression of spiritual gifts within your church. If you are not delegating ministry to people within your church, you act like the eye that says to the hand, “I have no need of you” (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).
The body of Christ works best when every member works and takes advantage of the spiritual gifts the Lord has providentially placed in your local assembly. But if the pastor does not ask, many members are too shy or humble to request ministry responsibilities for themselves. What a tragedy it would be if God filled your church with people eager to serve and received no help because you did not ask. The people would also lose the opportunity to serve the Lord with the gifts He gave them.
When pastors delegate, it creates a thriving church because they can focus on the ministry God has called them to, and the body of Christ can flourish in the unique way the Spirit has gifted them.
Delegation creates a healthy church because delegation is discipleship.
How to delegate
Here’s a simple framework for doing delegation as discipleship:
- Identify what needs to be done. This may be an administrative task or an entire ministry initiative.
- Select the best person for the job. This may take some asking around to other church leadership or Bible study leaders. Don’t be surprised that when you tell people about the task, you start hearing the same name repeatedly.
- Clarify the desired result. A clear outcome is essential to delegation, even if it’s a volunteer. It lets them know what they’re getting into and gives them a clear target to aim for.
- Point out potential pitfalls. Even if they seem obvious to you, give the person you’re empowering the best possible chance of success by identifying where they will most likely get tripped up.
- Equip them with the resources they need. Don’t pray for more laborers for the harvest, and not give them a sickle when they show up. Maybe it’s empowering them to build a team, granting them a budget, or giving them access to certain technology.
- Set an appointment for follow-up and evaluation. If we want to treat delegation like discipleship, this part is critical. Look at the model of Jesus sending out the seventy-two and debriefing with them afterward (Luke 10:1-23).
Delegation is the simple process of empowering people to serve and evaluating them so they can improve and grow. Doing so equips your people, leads to multiplication, and creates a healthy church. Because delegation is discipleship.
The post Delegation is Discipleship: How to Stop Being a Do-It-All Pastor appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...