What is your church’s most valuable asset? Is it your unique style of ministry? Is it the cash you have in the bank? Is it your building or your physical resources such as computers, copiers, multi-media equipment, and materials? Is it your terrific location?
Your most valuable asset is none of the above — it’s your people.
Have you ever examined how much of your day is spent dealing with people? More specifically, with your leaders? Have you ever considered how much of your church’s cost of doing ministry is tied up in payroll and other leader-related expenses? The leaders who serve with you take up a significant portion of your personal time. And they are worth the investments of time and money!
Your leaders are an investment in your future. The key to ‘turning on’ your ministry systems and processes and to making them really work for you is in how well you are able to lead, motivate, and inspire your leaders. You can’t buy leader loyalty; you have to lead well to earn it.
The future effectiveness and growth of your church depends on your ability to lead your leaders to want to contribute to the effectiveness of your church. Throughout history, spiritual, business, and military leaders alike have acknowledged the importance of the ability to inspire commitment.
EXAMPLES:
- Jesus Christ inspired twelve men to follow him, and they changed the world. These men sacrificed a great deal to follow Jesus. Jesus would mourn on occasion when he realized others were not persuaded to follow him. Jesus agonized over Jerusalem saying, ”¦how often I have longed to gather your children together’¦but you were not willing’¦’
- Charles Schwab was a steel executive under Andrew Carnegie. In the 1930s he was paid a salary of one million dollars a year. He was once asked what made him worth such a high salary. He said, ‘I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among the men the greatest asset I possess.’ His ability to lead people was the answer.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, ‘I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.’
These men understood leadership. They were men who could communicate their vision for the future and inspire others to want to achieve that vision.