Heal the sick. Raise the dead. Train disciples.
All three of these are things that Jesus did as critical parts of His earthly ministry. These tasks are no doubt daunting to a mere church technical director. But why is it that we so often see the last item as being just as “impossible” as the other two?
In all actuality, training up a new generation of disciples was arguably the most important thing that Jesus did as a part of His ministry. After all, if He hadn't shown others how to do His “job,” then the extent of His ministry would have been limited to His time on Earth.
Leaving a legacy
The same thing can be said for you and I as leaders. Part of being an effective leader is leaving a legacy, and that is almost exclusively measured by the people we leave behind after we are gone.
Jesus used the term “disciple,” but nowadays we might use words like “apprentice” or “trainee." Regardless, any leader is responsible for developing others to follow after him. I don’t have to be the world’s greatest expert, and I don’t even have to be smarter than the person I’m training. What I DO have to do is be willing to pour myself into the next generation.
And it starts now. Jesus began His earthly ministry knowing that He needed to train others on how to take over. He didn’t wait to start until right before He was crucified. He made sure that He always had others around when He ministered, and He used every opportunity to create a teaching moment and explain what He was doing and why.
[Jesus] used every opportunity to create a teaching moment and explain what He was doing and why.
He intentionally chose people who were not fully formed and ready, but who showed potential and had a willing attitude. In essence, He played favorites among the crowd and hand-picked his crew, instead of just waiting for someone to volunteer.
The end result was that He spent three years pouring himself into His chosen disciples, training, coaching, and correcting them, so that they understood what He was doing and why. And when He left, His team was ready to take over.
Identify the eager team members with potential and invest as much in them as possible.
So, if Jesus saw this as such a critical foundation of his ministry, then shouldn’t we? Identify the eager team members with potential and invest as much in them as possible. Grab someone else and show them how to fix an issue we’re troubleshooting. Take our hands off the reins and let someone else run a critical position, then debrief with them afterwards to help them improve so they’re ready for their next opportunity.
Bumping up productivity
Is it easy to carve out time to train someone else, especially when they may end up being smarter or better than you? No. But in the end, it pays tremendous dividends. I’ve established myself as a leader and team-builder, and I’ve doubled my productivity, because I and my apprentice(s) can now get work done in multiple places at the same time (and I don’t have to be around all the time).
Jesus assured His disciples that they would do even greater works than He did after He was gone (John 14:12 NIV), and there’s no reason why our apprentices can’t help take our ministries to a whole new level, too.
It’s not quite as extreme as raising the dead, but the end result may be just as much of a lifesaver.
