By Todd Adkins
You’ve probably heard the quote, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” But John O’Brien and Andrew Cave add that “Culture gets its appetite from purpose.”
So what is your purpose when it comes to leadership development? According to Ephesians 4, church leaders are called to equip the saints for the work of ministry. So how do you do create and embed this type of culture in your church? We’ve identified seven components: Scripture, strategy, structure, skills, style, systems, and selection.
These components correlate with our leadership pipeline philosophy and framework. Remember that a leadership pipeline does not solely focus on top levels of leadership or key leaders but is a long-term investment in the church’s most valuable resource: people. A leadership pipeline provides a clear process of development, so each volunteer, leader, coach, ministry director, or senior leader knows their next step.
Scripture: Before we get to any other component, we need to establish a biblical conviction for development as Paul describes in Ephesians 4:11-16.
Strategy is a process to help people grow in development. It’s about moving them from learners to leaders to multipliers.
Structure will help you bring clarity and alignment to the formal and informal elements within your church.
Skills is about competency based learning. Instead of a traditional education approach which is concerned with a display of knowledge through testing, competency based learning focuses on helping people grow in proficiency through a combination of knowledge, experience, and coaching.
Style is how you train in your church, and these days, we need to consider both a high tech and a high touch approach like flipping the classroom.
Systems is the way leadership pipeline will roll out across the ministry areas in your church, like the application and onboarding process for new volunteers and leaders.
Selection is how you identify ready, able, and willing leaders and determine next steps necessary for development.
When these components are properly implemented and aligned, you create a culture to develop and reproduce leaders at every level of your leadership pipeline.
For more information on leadership pipeline, check out our Ministry Grid course here.
