5 Challenges We Face When Finding New Leaders

February 1 - Huddle
five challenges we face when identifying/mentoring new leaders

1. Leaders are unaware of participant’s willingness to step up.
When beginning each trimester leaders should always emphasize the expectation to multiply. Leaders are called to make disciples of Jesus Christ, and more disciples cannot be created if the group remains the same forever. New leaders cannot emerge if the current leader does not get to know each member of the group on a deeper level, finding their gifts/talents and challenging each one of them to take on a small responsibility of the group. Lee DeRemer even mentioned the idea to start a community group that’s purpose is to launch more leaders within the church; after a period of time, each couple / individual would start their own group.

2. Being too comfortable or too “busy”as a leader or potential leader.
Many times people within the group that are potential leaders are just comfortable where they’re at; they’d rather just sit and be fed instead of stepping into the leadership role. We as leaders can also become too comfortable with the friendships we’ve established. Jesus was not comfortable in his ministry. He kept moving on to spread the word of God and make disciples. One idea is that leaders can tell members early on that after a couple of years, they will start a new group to continue making committed followers of Christ. When this is established early on, members can be looking ahead and praying about whether they would like to take on leadership of that group. Splitting up a group is not splitting up a friendship. Remembering the primary purpose of Community Group ministry is crucial when discussing this with group members.

3. The leader’s role appears to be “way too much work.”
When leaders keep their role simple and uncomplicated, their tasks do not seem overwhelming or cumbersome. Your snacks or meals should be simple and not elaborate. Clean your house for your guests, but don’t use a white glove (if you know what I mean). Serving up a 4-course meal on beautiful dishes or cleaning it as if the President is coming to visit, will scare off potential leaders from desiring to be one in the future. Additionally, giving others opportunity to lead the discussion, host your group or provide snacks, will give them a taste of what leading is like (and an example to follow for sharing the responsibilities) when they are leaders in the future.

4. It’s difficult to find creative ways to divide up the responsibilities or to know who in the group would be good at which task.
Even though the simple answer to this would be just to ask the participants to contribute, many leaders feel intimidated or even feel as if it’s rude to ask for help, since they’re the leader. You do not have to feel burdened with every task that’s involved in leadership. In fact, the most successful leaders are delegators. Start with small tasks at the beginning like creating the snack sign-up sheet (there are a ton of online sites for snack/meal sign-ups or just simply use a paper/pen at your meeting, posting it each week for members to see). Create a facebook group or email thread for keeping members in-the-know about group events, meetings and tasks assigned. If interested there are spiritual gift assessments that each member can even fill out to see where everyone is gifted to serve.

5. Leader doesn’t give space for others to step up.
Some leaders can get caught in perfectionism., “I just like to do everything myself so that I know it will get done on time and correctly.” Ok, I will admit, I’ve been there myself within my household and workplace. But, for example, when I ask my 9-year-old to vacuum the downstairs, it may not be done perfectly, but hey, it’s done, and I didn’t have to do it. This task also gave her pride in herself and confidence in her ability to help Mommy clean. No, our participants are not 9-year-olds, but they have many gifts and abilities that we as leaders need to recognize and call on. Their way of doing things may not be our way, but they will be done, and maybe…dare I say…could even be done better than what we could have. So, step back and hand off some responsibilities. If this is you, try delegating just one responsibility this trimester. Finally, if one of your group members offers to help, please let them. Ask what they’d feel comfortable helping with and let them run with it.

I pray that this follow-up to our Huddle discussion was a blessing to you as a leader. If anyone has questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me or Patrick. Now here’s your challenge! Can you identify 1 new leader (a couple or single) within your group!  - Heather Hershey