Energizing and Encouraging

The next step for leaders is to energize your people. Let me tell you, the very best way to energize your people is with one simple word: ENCOURAGEMENT! Studies in the work place have shown that employees work harder and with much greater motivation when encouraged and praise instead of discouraged and reprimanded. I believe the same is true within the body of Christ. Trust me, I’m a church leader, and it becomes real easy to “shame” the people into a ministry, and even easier to fuss when things are not going as you would have hoped. For many years in ministry, I struggled with the area of handing ministries off to other capable leaders within the church, simply because I wasn’t sure they could perform the task as well as I would want them to do. And someone finally got my attention by reminding me that I was hindering some people from using their gifts and talents and receiving the joy that they could have by their personal involvement.
On the other side of the coin, there are a lot of ministry leaders in the church who are simply not giving 100% to their calling. I know this as well as you do, and yes, it can be frustrating. So what do you do? Fire them from their position and replace them with someone else? Call them into your office and ask them to shape up? Bring someone along side them to hopefully “take over” the task? Sadly enough, this is many of our responses, however, let me offer another suggestion. Try being an encourager. Let me give you some phrases that should dominate a leader’s talk:
Thank You
Good Job
You are doing an AWESOME job
You ministry is so important
What can I do to make your job easier
You are such an asset to our ministry
Thank you for being apart of the team
ETC. ETC. ETC

You will never know how far a little encouragement may go in the lives of others, but I guarantee you, you will see productivity increase as praise increases. Be an encourager, a motivator, an ENERGIZER!

Empowerment

A fourth must for all leaders comes in the area of empowering others. We must provide opportunities for people to use the gifts the Lord has given them. For me, one of the most frustrating periods of minsitry came very early, when I was still a youth pastor. A few miles away from the church was a large, multi-housing complex. On a monthly basis, someone would bring up the need for the church to have a strong presence within the complex. In fact, for probably 6 months straight, we talked about the needs and the number of people that could be impacted for the Kingdom of God if we would begin some ministries to meet the needs of those living there. Finally, we even put together a ministry team to "look into the exact needs" that were at the apartment complex. Another six months later, at yet another business meeting, someone asked again if we had ever made any ministry plans. The chairmain of the ministry committee was out that night, so we decided to "check with them and get a report the next month". The next month, the ministry team that had been put together seven months earlier reported that, "we have not come to any definite decisions yet". To my knowledge, that was the last time anyone mentioned ministry at the apartment complex just two miles away from the church. Now, how does this story relate to leadership? Very simply, no one, not even the pastor, would take the initiative to begin the new ministry. Oh, we saw the need, talked about the need, and even did the good ole Baptist thing of creating a committee to see to the needs, yet no one ever stood up and simply said, "let's do it".
Leader, let me ask you a question. How many great ministry ideas have fallen by the wayside, simply because no one took the initiative to get the ball rolling. We must be about empowering others, and I've learned, empowerment does not come in talk, it comes in action. The only thing worse for a church leader who never sees the need is one who sees the need yet never does anything to see that the need is met. You ever heard the phrase, "talk is cheap"? I do believe that talk is important, but if we do not empower our people to action, then that's all it is, TALK! So take the next step, and put action behind great ideas. Empower your people to not only see the vision, but to also jump in and see the vision through. Leaders, that's your responsibility! Let's EMPOWER those around us to action.

Educating Others

The third must for leaders is in the area of educating others. Let me encourage you to do something some time. Thumb through the Gospels and write down how many times you hear this phrase: "And He (Jesus) set down to teach (instruct)... ". Over and over, people refered to Jesus as "Rabi" which means teacher. How awesome would it be to sit under the direct teaching of Jesus, to have Him as your Sunday School teacher!!!! As I thought and prayed about this more and more, I realized that we, as leaders, are also to be educators. You may be asking what is the difference between educating and equipping. Well, I'll admit they are very similar, but as I see it, they are also different in many ways. In equipping, we provide people with the tools they need to get the job done. In educating, we provide the knowledge. Remember this: "people will not effectively lead in any area that they do not feel they possess the proper knowledge base to do the job and do it well". We must educate our people! Provide classes to teach teachers to be, well better teachers. Send your volunteer youth and children's workers to training and teaching seminars. Oh, and in the process, remember that, though you may be a leader, you must also remain a constant learner. In nearly every career, from Doctors to Lawyers, and pretty much everyone in between, professionals are required to receive so many Continued Education hours each year in their field of work. I was even talking with my lawn mower repair man the other day, and he has to go to different teaching seminars each year to learn the ins and outs of working on lawnmowers. But for many church leaders, we forget to keep up with our "continued education". Take some time, and do it often, to be the learner and not always the teacher. Go to a revival at a local church, where all you have to do is just sit and enjoy the Word of God without all the added pressures of being a church leader. Take advantage of your local Association's training seminars, or search online for some weekend retreats you might could be involved in. Let's make a commitment to be effective educators and proficient learners.