At some point, someone will replace you.
This is the next element effective ministries realize and act upon. As I was reading this chapter in 7 Habits of Effective Ministry, I looked at that reality within my own ministry. Whether it's 1 day or 1 decade or until God takes me home, being a part of the process of laying the ground work for the ministry to continue to be effective as a direct result of my choice to lead, will determine whether the legacy I leave is me-centered or Kingdom centered.
Leadership is not about control or power. Leadership is about vision and influence. If you can't influence people in moving towards the God-inspired vision God's given you for ministry, then they will not follow you. It's been said that a leader in which no one follows is only taking a walk.
So with the humbling realization that I will be replaced...I can either lead with an inward focus, trying to "protect my ground" which looks like me putting out scuffles and naysayers' fires...or I can lead with an investing focus, trying to give my job away, teaching others to do ministry, while serving alongside them, with the realization that I may be replaced, and so might they. Investing allows the vision to continue long after I'm gone.
In our series, Life Hurts, God Heals, several of our leaders have stepped up to the plate to deliver a home run, leading the mid-week message. I've asked them to do it. I could have done every week of the series, but that's not being replaced. God's doing amazing things. Pray for our ministry. So many teens hurt. It seems like every week God shows me students with pain that breaks your heart. We lead for them. We, by the leadership of the Holy Spirit, want to be totally replaced, totally consumed, by the indwelling Spirit of God within our lives.
So replace yourself. Give your ministry away. Be led by the Spirit.
2 comments:
Glad to see that someone else agrees with me on this...I have been saying this for as long as I have been serving in youth ministry. I used to tell the seniors of our former youth group that I was training them to take my job...they laughed, but several of them actually did so at Cornerstone in Delaware when I moved to NC. Maybe it is just the power of speaking our trust of their future leadership into future leaders that results in planted seeds for future ministry servants. Either way, I have always been OK with being replaceable in a ministry. God may use me mightly in some other area of need. It's not about me...never should be. Great post!
The greatest compliment a person can have is to have another life influenced by what was fleshed out, and continues to be fleshed out through their legacy. It's not about me, but about what's left behind by me. I remember several of your former students came down to see Dan baptized...all the way from Cornerstone! Now that's a legacy.
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