Leadership can be inspired in a weekend, but it cannot be formed in one!
I have seen thousands of church teams come back from a great conference with inspiration bubbling over. Their notes are full of insights and they’re ready to go do something amazing. But six weeks later their notes are tucked away in a drawer and they look the same as they did before. They were inspired, they just weren’t given enough time. Formation takes time and it can’t happen in a flash. It is deep and it determines how we lead, make decisions and serve.
That is why multi-year leadership training for church teams is so important. Let’s start with how God shapes people.
Formation Takes Time
We are told in Scripture that “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV). Notice the phrase “from one degree of glory to another”. God doesn’t make leaders in a flash. He makes them slowly, progressively and in stages. A leadership program that ignores this pattern is going against the way God shapes people.
Short term leadership programs try to develop leaders by transferring information. But leadership isn’t so much about knowing as it is about who you are. Character takes time to develop. You can’t just download character. You have to spend time developing it.
For years I’ve said that “everything rises and falls on leadership”, but I’ve learned that leadership in church is based on whether those leaders have been developed or just informed. Informed leaders know the principles but developed leaders can be trusted with people.
Why Short Term Fails
Church teams often go for one-off events like annual conferences and weekend retreats. They’re easier to plan, budget and know how many people attended. But they fail for three reasons:
- They don’t provide any opportunity to practice. Leaders simply aren’t applying the principle in their ministry before the next session, which might even be up to a year later.
- No one is holding them accountable. They need someone who can walk with them and spot patterns in their growth.
- There’s no progression. The information is always the same and at the same level.
Leaders who have only been shaped through one-off events will plateau at the level they were inspired at. But leaders who have been shaped through a multi-year process will continue to grow because it is designed to help them grow.
The Biblical Argument
Paul didn’t tell Timothy to go to one seminar. He told him to invest in him over years. “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, ESV). This verse shows us that Paul had four generations of leaders: Paul, Timothy, faithful men and others. This multiplication doesn’t happen in a workshop. It happens through covenant relationships.
This is what stewardship is all about! God has given you a team of people to steward (staff, volunteers, elders, small group leaders) and asks you to steward them well. If you are doing a one-off event then you are treating it as a transaction, whereas if you’re doing it in a multi-year way you’re entering into a covenant. Churches who steward their leaders well know that developing leaders is a marathon.
What Multi-Year Training Builds
Leadership training over multiple years builds trust that compounds. They will learn some basic principles and start to lead themselves in the first year. In year two they will start leading others and putting what they learned into practice. In year three they will have the tools to develop the next generation of leaders. The multiplication that Paul spoke of to Timothy will start in your church.
This is why we created our Bridge Builder program. At EQUIP we have walked with leaders in over 170 countries and the same thing comes up. Only leaders who develop leaders will leave a legacy. One conference will create a memory. But a multi-year process will form a leader who will go on to develop more leaders.
Your church doesn’t need another inspiring weekend, they need a covenant of formation to help your team grow.
Start Your Journey
If your church is ready to move away from one-off events and invest in sustainable leaders then our Bridge Builder program was created for you! Head to iequip.org to find out how you can get your team started on a multi-year leadership journey that produces leaders who develop leaders.
