Seven Values That Exponentially Increase Your Christian Leadership Equipping Effectiveness

If you are a Christian leader or in any kind of Christian service, as I am, we share a common two-fold mission:

1. Love the Lord with everything we’ve got so we become like Him as His disciple.

2. Join Him on His mission of helping others become disciples every day, in every way, everywhere we go.

As leaders, part of our privilege is equipping those we lead and serve so they in turn and follow the Great Commandment and fulfill the Great Commission.

Yet, in our honest moments as leaders we have to admit that our equipping effectiveness leaves a lot to be desired.  We still serve too many lukewarm Christians and there are still far, far too many lost people.  

So, we teach and preach and send people to seminars and write books…telling people what we feel they need to know with little results.

Ok, that’s pretty harsh. Accurate, but harsh.  We’ve got to find better ways to equip those who Jesus loves.

What if we changed how we equip people in ways that could make an exponential difference in our effectiveness?  I offer one priority and two practices fueled by seven values for your consideration and application:

One Priority

People are most important.  Jesus died for people. Love people, use things.  Too often it’s the other way around.

Two Practices

1. Interactive adult training…we move from “the sage on the stage” to “a guide on the side”.  

2. Coaching…we equip from alongside and empower them to personalize how they grow.

Both depend less on…being an expert that diagnoses and prescribes through lecture and lessons…

And more on…dialog, discovery, application, and integration into a lifestyle.

Seven Values: Everything we do to equip others will be

1. Biblical, therefore universally applicable and missional. In working with leaders from 75 nations, I’ve learned to make sure to differentiate between “North American/Evangelical” and “Biblical/Universal”. If it’s Biblical, it can be applied anywhere, anytime. 

2. Simple, therefore understandable.  It’s easy to make things complicated, hard to keep things simple and clear. Do the hard work needed to keep it simple.

3. Practical, therefore doable.  I’ve learned to listen for a key phrase when I’m equipping people: When they say, “I can do that…”, I know we’re succeeding.   

4. Reproducible, therefore able to be multiplied.  If they can do it, make sure they are able to equip others to do it, too.  Expertise is great, but experience that equips others is even better.

5.  Affordable, therefore we can do it a lot.  God’s church is growing exponentially around the world where there are few resources, buildings, equipment, and people are often very poor.  The power of the Holy Spirit working through willing, equipped people…priceless.

6. Accessible, therefore we can get it when we need it. We live in a connected world. Effective equipping blends onsite, online, and ongoing opportunities for people.   Online resources allow people to get what they need when they need it from almost anywhere. 

7. Sustainable, therefore it lasts beyond a person or a program. Organizations are famous (infamous?) for changing priorities, programs, and practices every couple years or when leadership changes.  Equip people with skills that are portable, applicable, and transferable regardless of positional leadership or current program!

Coach Yourself Forward

1.  When you look at how you equip people, what are your practices and values?

2. What needs to change in your priorities, practices, and values?

At Fit & Flourish, all we do is based on those practices and values.  If you’d like to increase your effectiveness in how you equip people, consider working with us.  We can all grow together!