Church leaders need to have tattooed on their inner eyelids–DELEGATE! They constantly must be thinking who can do this task for the body of Christ. Christ gave leaders to the church “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12-13). Church members are supposed to do the work of ministry. Leaders are to train, mentor, coach, and equip. This isn’t to say that they don’t still get their hands dirty in sharing Jesus, loving others, and service, but their primary job is to equip the flock.
So elders, deacons, and preachers should always be seeking to involve others in the work of ministry. But there is one thing that church leaders must never delegate. If leaders don’t do this then the church will suffer. Leaders must set the vision and direction for the church. The vision can never be delegated. By vision I mean the continual evaluation of the church’s direction, purpose, and needs. Leaders have to lead! They have to be out front setting the course and charting the way into the future. For the church of our Lord this means maintaining sound doctrine, planning evangelism, ensuring edification of the church, and regularly setting before the church it’s Biblical mission.
Effective leaders delegate and equip others for the work of ministry. If they try to do it all, they become micro-manager and stifle the growth of their followers. But they must not delegate the one thing they can do with excellence, the one thing that will make a difference, the one that that will determine the future, the one thing God has called them to do. Leaders have to lead by constantly casting the vision. The Apostles got this right in Acts 6. They could not give up “preaching the Word of God” (Acts 6:2). They had to continue to “devote [themselves] to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). They had to continue to preach, cast the vision, evangelize, edify, and ground the church in the Apostle’s doctrine (Acts 2:42). If you are a church leader remember you can never delegate your primary responsibility as a leader to cast a vision and set the direction for the church.
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Idea taken from Christian Leadership Essentials, David Dockery, Editor p. 101
