Church Leadership
LEADERSHIP TRAINING • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Church Leadership
Church Leadership
Lead Team - Vision Carrying
Make Followers NOT FANS (Discipleship)
Campus/Connect Team - Vision Fulfilling
Self Awareness Question - What is it like to be on the other side of me ?
G.R.I.T.
G.R.I.T.
Generous
Relational
Invested
Teachable - Being teachable has a lot more to do with your attitude than intellectual capacity.
Someone Who IS NOT Teachable:
Will not seek guidance from an experienced person.
Can’t be taught because they know everything.
Unteachable people are disengaged from any learning.
They do most of the talking.
Someone Who IS Teachable:
Humble
Seek Wisdom
They Ask alot of questions.
Learn in success and failures.
Look for teachable moments.
Pay Attention to What your Listening Too.
Learn Something New
Relearn Something
Unlearn Something
COTR Leadership
Big 3 of a good Pastor:
Leadership
Communication
Relationship
The Problem of the Second Son in the Prodigal Son Story:
1. Displaced relationship with the father
2. Angry spirit with his father
3. He made wrong decisions based on pride.
4. He had a self-righteous attitude.
5. A spirit of self pity
6. Jealous
7. Judgmental
COTR Leadership
1. For our church to grow I must grow
Luke 2:52 = “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people.”
People usually leave a leader not the job (Warning for leaders)
2. No place on the team for jealousy & Insecurity
3. Be Strong & Courageous
Dream
Build
Take Risk
Every person has a trait of greatness!
Enlarge your circle of love!
4. There are no problems only opportunities
Pain Points come from…
Priorities out of order
Unresolved hurt or offense
Saying “yes” to too much
Unwilling to have a difficult conversation
Refuse to empower others
Lack of gratitude
CHURCH LEADERSHIP
STICKY TEAMS AND THE UNITY FACTOR:
WHAT MAKES A WINNING TEAM?
A winning is not just made up of good players.
A winning team works together. (It sticks together through thick & thin).
It knows the mission.
Distractions like:
Power
Prestige
Preferences
Can tear a team apart.
Where you meet can have a huge impact on how you interact.
How articulate you are and clear you are with a sense of your goal and mission.
Sticky teams don’t just stick together for the short term, but all the way through until everything is accomplished.
You can make the focus so much on the quarter, initiative, or year end goals that we can take our eyes off the long run.
Warning: The flesh can fight against being a truly sticky team.
Jesus predicted His church would grow, but He prayed for unity:
John 17:20–23
“I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one—I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.”
STICKY TEAMS AND WHY BOARDS GO BAD
WHY DO BOARDS AND LEADERSHIP TEAMS GO BAD?
Meeting in the wrong place
Every setting has unwritten social rules on how we behave. (When you meet in home you can’t be a jerk)
Is where I’m having a meeting causing an increase in conflicts and a decrease in relationships.
Ignoring Relationships
In can be a mistake to think that just because everyone shares the same mission that they will automatically get along.
It has to be a priority to hangout with people and get to know them on a relational level. (refreshments in the middle of the meeting).
Not Meeting Enough
If you don’t meet often enough everything drives for an immediate decision.
Monthly meetings can put the pressure on everyone to make an immediate decision.
Just add another meeting in the month where we talk through what we are doing without feeling the pressure to make an immediate decision.
Constant Turnover
We constantly have to start vision over and circle back
Complexity
When you bring more people onto a team you bring more complexity.
This can make communication more difficult.
May need to condense into smaller groups to help with communication.
Six Signs of Diseased Leadership
A pastor who does not know the temptations of his own heart cannot guard his heart from what might cause him to become a source of spiritual danger to his congregation.
The question then arises: What danger signs can pastors watch for to guard against diseased leadership? Let me suggest six warning signs for pastors to pay attention to in themselves:
1. Pride
The Bible is clear about the destructive nature of pride: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Pride deceives, turning a leader’s focus inward and corrupting his care of God’s people. For pastors, pride can be a subtle temptation, fostering an inflated sense of self-worth.
The pastor’s office comes with authority, and a pastor can easily forget that his authority is derived from Christ himself. Intoxicated by his own perception of self-importance, a pastor may develop a “Diotrephes” complex: loving to be first and not willing to be corrected (3 John 9). Both signal spiritual decay. If not dealt with, he will cut himself off from constructive feedback and accountability — essential guardrails for a pastor’s protection.
The fallen pastors’ landfill is littered with men who began to believe their press clippings, which led to them thinking more highly of themselves than they ought to think. Pastors must be on guard and never forget that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).
2. Negligence
One of the early signs of spiritual decay in a pastor’s heart is a diminishing personal spiritual life. It is common for pastors to become so consumed with the external demands of ministry — preaching, teaching, counseling, administration — that they neglect their walk with the Lord Jesus.
Prayer becomes perfunctory, preaching becomes mechanical, counseling becomes shallow, and the man morphs into a carnal shell of his spiritual self.
At that point, he becomes an easy target to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life, and God’s people reap the rotten fruit of the pastor’s withering soul.
Paul’s admonition to “keep a close watch on yourself” (1 Timothy 4:16) serves as a powerful reminder to pastors that we cannot lead others where we ourselves are not going.
Preaching about the joys of sweet communion with Christ while personally neglecting the means of grace will make a pastor a perfect hypocrite. The gap between his public ministry and private life will inevitably become a place where the devil sets his devouring traps.
In guarding his heart, a pastor will do well to heed Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s words:
“It is not great talents that God blesses as much as great likeness to Christ. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God”
(Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M‘Cheyne, 243).
And holiness comes through consistent holy discipline (1 Timothy 4:7).
3. Compromise
A slow drip from a leaky pipe can erode the foundation of a massive building, and small compromises can undermine a pastor’s ministry. Whether it is sexual immorality, financial impropriety, or another lapse of integrity, patterns of cutting moral corners can cause enormous damage to a pastor’s own spiritual life and infect the influence he wields on his congregation.
When a pastor finds himself avoiding the company of others, operating in isolation from other leaders in the church, or pushing back against accountability, heed the warning signs of compromise.
If not addressed, a pastor will drift away from the biblical standards he once held and start living and leading in the questionable realm of “gray-area” ambiguities.
Slowly, convictions are jettisoned, standards are lowered, and the once-principled leader transforms into a walking contradiction and a stumbling block to his congregation.
Pastor, if this is you, the Lord of the church “who searches mind and heart” (Revelation 2:23) calls you to “be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:19) before it is too late — before you shipwreck your faith, “destroy God’s temple,” and in turn have God destroy you (1 Corinthians 3:17).
4. Control
Some pastors fall into the trap of trying to control their congregation. Drunk with authority and power, rather than governed by gentleness and love, they use fear, guilt, or intimidation to exert power over the people they are supposed to serve.
Coercive tactics have no place in the church. Such tactics include micromanaging, insisting on making decisions without collaboration, refusing to listen to differing perspectives, or even manipulating and threatening others with church discipline to get them to do what you want them to do.
Each of these indicates destructive leadership, which breeds fear and division. This approach to spiritual leadership creates a toxic church culture that betrays the heart of Christ, meek and humble (Matthew 11:29).
Pastor, if you desire complete and unquestioned control over the congregation, you stray from biblical leadership.
Christ is the chief Shepherd to whom all loyalty and obedience is owed, and you compete with him to your demise if you exercise leadership over his flock in a domineering way rather than as an example worthy of imitation (1 Peter 5:3–4).
5. Jealousy
Jealousy is a potent danger for a pastor, a toxin that poisons both his heart and his congregation.
Jealousy blinds a man to the needs of others and causes him to view fellow leaders as rivals rather than as co-laborers in Christ.
Like King Saul, who allowed jealousy of David’s success to consume him (1 Samuel 18:6–9), pastors can become ensnared by comparison and envy.
Left unchecked, this sin distorts a leader’s vision, shifting his focus from faithfully shepherding God’s flock to competing for status, recognition, or influence.
James warns that “where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice” (James 3:16), a reminder that the ripple effects of jealousy extend far beyond the individual pastor to cause harm to the body of Christ.
Pastoral leadership is not a competition but a shared labor of love for Christ and his bride.
When pastors root their identity in Christ and his finished work rather than in their own success or public platform, they can lead with joy and contentment, nurturing their congregations with a healthy, Christ-centered vision.
6. Burnout
Burnout is a slow-growing but deadly danger for pastors. The weight of shepherding the flock and constant ministry demands can easily lead to exhaustion and spiritual dryness in a pastor’s heart, especially when he neglects proper rhythms of rest and renewal.
Burnout erodes compassion, patience, and joy, often resulting in a harsh, irritable, and ineffective leader who alienates a congregation.
Even Moses needed to be reminded by Jethro of the danger of burnout: “You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone” (Exodus 18:18). When pastors fail to heed this wisdom, they risk overworking themselves, which can lead to discouragement, emotional numbness, and even moral failure.
The spiritual vitality of the pastor is closely tied to the health of his congregation. The loss of pastoral joy and energy can create an environment devoid of the life-giving presence of Christ.
The antidote to burnout is cultivating a life of dependence on Christ and recognizing that the church belongs to him and not to any other leader. By trusting in God’s sustaining grace, prioritizing time with God, and practicing rest and refreshment with family, pastors can avoid burnout and lead with the energy and joy that flows from communion with Christ.
Judges 9:7
“When Jotham heard the news, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He spoke loudly to the people below, “Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, so that God may listen to you!”
a parable—the first in the Bible
It’s a parable that gives us great insight concerning God’s heart toward leadership.
Judges 9:8–15
8 “The trees were determined to go out and choose a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’
9 But the olive tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my oil, which is used to honor gods and men, just to sway above the other trees!’
10 “So the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and be our king!’
11 But the fig tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my sweet figs, my excellent fruit, just to sway above the other trees!’
12 “So the trees said to the grapevine, ‘You come and be our king!’
13 But the grapevine said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my wine, which makes gods and men so happy, just to sway above the other trees!’
14 “So all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘You come and be our king!’
15 The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to choose me as your king, then come along, find safety under my branches. Otherwise may fire blaze from the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’”
The bramble is a thorn bush, the most worthless plant in the Middle East.
It produces no fruit and is too low to the ground to produce any shade. Its wood cannot be used for any kind of construction because it splits too easily. All it can do is burn.
The olive tree, fig tree, and vine were all of great value. Not so the bramble. Thus, in this parable, the trees that deserved leadership the most desired it the least because they knew ruling the other trees meant they would have to cease fruit-bearing.
Only the bramble—the worthless tree—grasped at leadership.
Judges 9:16–21
16 “Now, if you have shown loyalty and integrity when you made Abimelech king, if you have done right to Jerub Baal and his family, if you have properly repaid him—
17 my father fought for you; he risked his life and delivered you from Midian’s power.
18 But you have attacked my father’s family today. You murdered his seventy legitimate sons on one stone and made Abimelech, the son of his female slave, king over the leaders of Shechem, just because he is your close relative.
19 So if you have shown loyalty and integrity to Jerub Baal and his family today, then may Abimelech bring you happiness and may you bring him happiness!
20 But if not, may fire blaze from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo! May fire also blaze from the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo and consume Abimelech!”
21 Then Jotham ran away to Beer and lived there to escape from Abimelech his half-brother.”
After likening Abimelech to a worthless bramble who deserved nothing more than to be burned, Jotham wisely ran for his life.
Parables always speak a simple truth, and Jotham’s is no exception. “Fruitful trees wouldn’t do this,” he said. “Only a bramble. And that’s who Abimelech is.”
CHURCH-BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
The Church is God’s Change Agent
God ordained the church - Matt. 16:18
International and Local church
Local Church - Acts 2:42
Every church should have these elements:
Teaching
Prayer
Fellowship
Breaking of bread (Agape Feast/eating together)
How does the church work together?
How does the church be the church in the communities arond us?
Acts 2:44 (everything in common) - meet each others needs
Acts 2:45 - Sold and gave as others had needs
Acts 4:32 - Shared everything they had.
The church’s purpose is not about SELF.
Our purpose is about the kingdom of God.
Seek first the kingdom of God.
Love the people your preaching to more than the preaching itself.
Acts 4:34-35
Church Based Community Development is not just your own personal church, but it’s coming together with other churches to make a difference.
Christian Community Development (8 components):
Relocation - Living in the community (Theology of place)
Reconciliation - Reconciled to God and across anything that divides us as human beings.
Redistribution - Bring things back to the community
Church-Based = How God’s change agent is the church.
Listening to the Community - Listen to what others are saying
Empowerment - Empower people
Holistic Approach - We don’t just get them saved, but look for opportunities to help further.
Micah 6:8 “ He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord really wants from you: He wants you to carry out justice, to love faithfulness, and to live obediently before your God.”
