What kind of parents would refuse to let their kids grow up? What kind of parents would try to keep their kids in a dependent state even when they have grown up?
We would instantly recognize that as highly dysfunctional behaviour. When it occurs, which from time time it does, we would see it as producing a very dysfunctional family.
Yet my question is why do we see that happening all too often in church leadership? Of course, there are a few Peter Pans around who never want to grow up and take responsibility, but most of the time it’s a problem with existing leadership.
True discipleship conducted by spiritual fathers and mothers produces spiritual sons and daughters as surely as sons and daughters are produced on the biological plane. But we need to move beyond that. Our ultimate goal in discipleship is not to produce sons and daughters. It’s to produce mothers and fathers.
Hopefully, we raise our kids so that they themselves are capacitated to be parents. And good parents would be delighted if they turned out to be able to do a better job than we have done.
As we raise up young men and women in the church, our goal is to do our bit in making them more successful in terms of the advance of the kingdom than we have ever been. If we are a footnote on the page of their history we’ll be happy, because we’ve done our job.
I think we need to be massively intentional as leaders. Everything we do should be making a way for people younger than we are to outshine us.
The biggest obstacle is our own ego and insecurity. We disciple people to the Lord to make him look good. We disciple people to ourselves to make us look good.
What insecure leaders fail to realize is that the more great leaders they produce and then release, the better they look anyway. The more they simply accumulate people around themselves, and refuse to empower them, give them away and send them out, the more frustrated and unfulfilled people they have around them.
We are not here to accumulate a crowd of yes-people whose main role is to cheer us on. We are here to raise up and send out an army of disciples.
It took me a long time to figure that out, but eventually I did.
The sooner we get it right in God’s house, the bigger and healthier a house we will have.
CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH DAVID & ELAINE CAMPBELL IN HELPING TO SUSTAIN THEIR ACTIVE MINISTRY.
AWAKENING MINISTRIES // FOUNDATION of FAITH Project
Foundation of Faith Project is strengthening generations in faith and bringing beautiful changes to the communities around them. Through teaching, mentoring and coaching, many are finding out who they are and who they are destined to be. They are bringing more to their world. David Campbell is the key leader in this initiative and you can support him financially directly through Awakening Ministries.
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