Training & Investing in Leaders (Part 2)

I'm writing this blogpost on the journey up the M1 to join in with a Learning Community at Sheffield with some members of our church team. As we chat in the car, we're reflecting on some of the things that have been helpful to us in our journey as disciples and missional leaders. We hope you find it helpful! - Jenny

Mike & Jenny

Invite people to share kingdom life with you. Jesus wasn't just a good manager or a strategic thinker. His way of doing mission and ministry was highly invitational and Incarnational - he lived with and amongst his team. What would it look like to invite some of your team to see your life as you follow Jesus? Not just the polished answers, but the hard decisions, not just the exciting breakthroughs, but also the disciplines?

Invest in the whole person over a period of time, not simply focusing on the present task at hand, but in their whole life, their relationships, their character, their lifetime calling. Who are you investing in for the long term? Are you using words to encourage them where you see their potential? Are you taking time to have the conversations that realty matter, including the hard questions of life?

Ignite them with a huge vision. Paint them a picture of what it would look like in your town or city when God's Kingdom comes that gives them space to grow and develop under you. Keep coming back to it, receiving it, interceding for it, and letting God enlarge it as a team together. Think about how to plan the year to give opportunities for this, think about a pattern of retreats, celebrations of what God has done and mission trips that will help leaders to look up from the details of life and catch sight again of God's call to join him in an adventurous lifestyle of mission.

With contributions from Gareth, Mike, Arun & Jenny