Reason #1: Jesus used organizational skills.
Church leaders need organizational skills because Jesus used organizational skills. He utilized those skills to accomplish His purpose when He lived here physically.
Jesus came to build an organization.
Rich Halcombe
At least, that’s what He said. “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” (Matthew 16:18). Many debate what Jesus meant by “rock.”
Nobody argues the fact that Jesus came to build His church. And, He used organizational skills to do it.
Unfortunately, our churches (too often) function like He didn’t really say that. And, we act like He really didn’t do that. So, we pretend that doing the basic personal work, like praying, fasting, preaching the Word, witnessing and tithing will produce organizational results. But, it doesn’t work like that. And, what’s more, Jesus did not think that. We know He didn’t think personal skills alone would do the job because He also used organizational skills. And, we also know that what He did, He did on purpose and with intention.
Sadly, we often approach the organization of the church as if it’s just a furtherance of our own, personal walk with God. And, it’s not. It is “a” furtherance, but not “just” a furtherance. Most definitely, you must lead yourself. Following Christ personally forms the foundation of our leadership, but personal following alone does not build the rest of the organization.
Leaders must lead themselves. But, without organizational skills, they won’t be able to lead others.
Look at building a physical house, for example. Foundations don’t supply the wiring for the house so we can use electricity. The necessary foundation work does not include plumbing, laying the floors, framing the walls, installing cabinets, painting or assembling the roof. Certainly, the foundation requires a certain set of skills and disciplines. But, the rest of the building demands an additional assortment of abilities and traits that you won’t find in foundation work.
You cannot build a building if you only work on the foundation.
Hebrews 3:4 tells us “Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God.” So, the Bible describes God as the One Who built everything. Now, we know God doesn’t build like we build. But, the Bible uses that term, anyway. Building implies purpose, a plan, work and a format (often a blueprint). The bride of Christ, the church, deserves at least as much attention as building a physical house.
Yes, your leadership must include personal disciplines and surrender to Christ. And, if the church amounted to only one person, and that one person were you, the personal disciplines would be enough. But, it’s not enough. Your leadership must not only lead yourself, you must lead others. The leading of others builds on leading yourself. But, leading others is different. It takes more. Requires more. Leading others won’t happen without more skills beyond your personal, foundational skills.
To lead a church effectively, you must acquire additional skills beyond your own personal walk with Christ.
Jesus used organizational skills to build His church. So should we.
What makes the point more strongly is that Jesus used these same organizational skills. And, He did it at the outset of His ministry. Jesus did not only perform solo work. He did not do it alone. His mission included an organization. And, He possessed and implemented organizational skills to accomplish His mission. So should we.
Based upon what Jesus did, here is a sampling of what a church leader needs to do and examples of how Jesus did it:
- Clarify the Mission “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” – Luke 19:10
- Cast the Vision – “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” – Matthew 24:30
- Determine What’s Out (what they should not do) – “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” – John 3:17
- Correct Behavior – “But turning around and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.” – Mark 8:33
- Direct behavior – “You give them something to eat,” – Mark 6:37 and “He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground.” – Mark 8:6. Interestingly enough, many pastors and church leaders refrain from giving clear behavioral direction to people. Jesus directed people’s behavior.
- Delegate Work – John 11, raising of Lazarus from the dead. Jesus told the people with him to “remove the stone” (v. 39) and “Unwrap him and let him go.” (v. 44). Jesus could have performed these functions. But, He didn’t. He delegated these tasks to others.
- Develop Leaders by Testing Them – “So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?” He asked this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.” – John 6:5-6
- Develop Leaders by Giving Them Responsibility – “ After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others, and he sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go.” – Luke 10:1
- Teach – “Then he began to teach them…” Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount, beginning in Matthew 5:2.
- Model Desirable Behavior – “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” – John 14:12
- Measure Results – The servant who produced results were told, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” The owner reprimanded the one who did not produce. Matthew 25:14-30
- Recruit Leaders – “‘Follow me,’ he told them, ‘and I will make you fish for people.’” – Matthew 4:19. Jesus recruited them to be leaders who will accomplish a task.
- Time the Elements of Your Plan – It cannot happen all at once. – John 2:4 – “…My hour has not yet come.” See also, John 7:6; Matthew 26:18; Mark 1:15.
- Manage Conflict – “They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” What were you discussing along the way? Who is the greatest?” – Mark 9:33
- Build an Organizational Structure – 4 lists of the 12 apostles (next post!)
So, we see Jesus intended to build an organization as a delivery system for His personal mission. He did that because the organization propels the mission further than it can go without one. It’s true, Jesus came to “seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10). And, in God’s wisdom, He also chose to do that through an organization, the church.
Personal spiritual skills alone will not build the church organizationally.
Just like Jesus, we must utilize organizational skills to further that mission. Prayer and the other personal disciplines form the foundation for what we do. But, additional organizational skills are required to fulfill it. In our next post, we will see how Jesus strategically designed the organization of the twelve apostles. It wasn’t just a group of guys hanging around while Jesus did the work. Likewise, a church shouldn’t be a group of people showing up to watch the pastor do the work. But, to change that you must acquire organizational skills. People won’t naturally fall into their most effective places and maintain the best direction. The pastor must lead organizationally for this to occur.
And, in a future post, we will also see, from the Bible, that a key expectation for pastors/elders is to give organizational leadership to the local body of Christ.
How about you?
Two Things:
- Using the list from Jesus as a checklist, circle the three where you are strongest.
- Draw a square around the areas where you need the most work.
The circles show you what to optimize.
The squares reveal where to go to work.
These organizational skills are not ones you can dismiss. This isn’t a “strengths versus weaknesses” list where you can only focus on your strengths and do well. This list comprises a core competency for any leader. It’s worth investing in yourself by growing your competency in each of these areas.
And, the good news is that you can learn all of these skills. It happened that way with me. I grew up in a home where I didn’t know people who led organizations. My mom and dad loved the Lord and taught in our local church, but didn’t lead. I went into the ministry thinking I could just do the personal things and the church would take care of herself.
My ministry life was very difficult before I figured this out.
So, I pray the same for you. My heart is for pastors and church leaders who have ingrained the wrong message. And, that wrong message is “You just take care of your personal walk with Christ and God will take care of the church.” It’s not true. Leading God’s people takes more than a personal quiet time, knowledge of the Scriptures, preaching biblical messages, visiting the sick, sharing the gospel and counseling. I talk to so many pastors who are frustrated and feel like they are shooting in the dark, because no one has shown them what the whole picture looks like.
You can see the whole picture. You can know what to do. And, I’m here to help.
To find out more about Jesus’ organization skills, click here!
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