It’s About Shared Leadership
No pastor has all the answers. No pastor can be every member’s personal chaplain. It is not the pastor’s job to personally handle the congregation’s outreach or pastoral care ministries. Effective pastoral leadership is shared leadership.
What is shared leadership? To begin with, shared leadership is not simply “delegation.” The “delegation model” has its strengths, but it can easily devolve into individuals doing their own thing, with little sense of real community. Shared leadership is when a group of leaders choose to journey together. They have individual roles, but they also try to understand one another’s stewardship and how each fits into the whole. In shared leadership, ministers spend
time in prayer together. They see the way ahead together. They mutually “own” the vision that God is birthing among them. They care for one another. They consider together how to care for the congregation while leading the congregation in mission. In shared leadership, the above principles are not limited to the pastor’s leadership team. The leadership team uses these principles in the congregation to draw congregational members and friends into the ministries of the church according to their various gifts.
The point to all this is simple. Pastors are not called to be all things to all people. Pastors are not called to be the primary caregiver to everyone’s needs. Pastors are not responsible for managing all congregational programs, or single-handedly deciding the vision and direction for the congregation. Pastors are called to cultivate a team of people who share leadership. With and under the pastor’s leadership, the team cares for the congregation’s needs and leads people in mission.
