I was in a conversation with a pastor the other day. As we ruminated on church work, he made a remark that got me thinking; “With the kind of things you teach, training and empowering people for ministry, won’t people want to leave you and go do ministry stuff?” I smiled as I replied him; “Isn’t that what pastors and leaders are meant to do?”
Friend, true leaders empower people (Matthew 4:19). The true mark of leadership is not in how many followers you are leading but in how many leaders you are raising. True leaders preserve power by giving it away (Luke 10:19). True leaders raise other leaders; they don’t just produce followers. They feed the sheep; they don’t fleece the sheep (Jeremiah 3:15, John 21:15-17).
Someone once asked a senior leader; “What if you train people and they end up leaving you?” The senior leader replied; “What if you refuse to train them and they end up staying?” Truthfully, some people will leave you, but you should not keep people ignorant and ill-equipped just because you want to retain them (Luke 11:52). That is not leadership. It is hypocrisy.
Great leaders are not afraid to train people. They believe that empowering people is the greatest testimony of their leadership. Christianity is where it is today because Jesus was selfless enough to train some twelve disciples and released them to go change the world (Mark 3:14, 16:15-20). Dear leader, what are you going to do with the people that God has graciously sent your way? Are you going to train them or waste them?
Dear Pastor, understand that church is a leadership factory. It is a place where men and women are trained to go disciple the world for Jesus (Ephesians 4:11-12). Don’t measure your church strength by its seating capacity. Measure it by its sending capacity. Who among your people is sendable? Like Abraham, who have you trained for emergency situations (Genesis 14:14)?
Dear believer, stop going to places where you are always spoon-fed. Babyhood is a passing phase of life, not a dwelling place (1 Peter 2:2). It’s time to grow up. It’s time to receive the training that your destiny needs. Move from entertainment to education. There is a deposit of grace on your life. You need leaders who would help you discover your destiny and empower you to fulfil it (2 Timothy 1:6-7). You are more than this!
‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria