Are you limiting your ministry trainee?

One of the uncomfortable tests of leadership development is less about whether people grow under us, but whether we are willing for them to grow beyond us.

Most church leaders would say that we want to raise up leaders as a core conviction, yet sometimes we can unconsciously shape people only to the size of our own ability. We develop leaders who can help us, but perhaps not challenge us. We want Shetland ponies—loyal, manageable, small—whereas God may be giving us racehorses. And racehorses are sometimes hard to handle.

'Racehorses'

I’ve only been around a racehorse once in my life, and they have a presence that scares me. They move in ways that exude a power that makes me nervous. In terms of emerging leaders, this is not always a bad thing.

They can be impatient and sometimes naïve. But buried beneath all that energy may be the very thing we prayed for: gifting, courage, spiritual hunger, or an apostolic instinct.

What we have to wrestle with is whether we will disciple that capacity or tame it out of them.

Training or bridling?

Sometimes our leadership culture only develops people as long as they remain non-threatening. We love organisers unless they pick holes in our plans, or emerging leaders until they do something impulsive. Then our language changes. They are “not ready”. They need “more time”. They must get “experience”.

Sometimes those things are true. Immaturity does need shaping. Character matters more than gifting. But sometimes “not ready” really means “not controllable”.

Sometimes “submission” means “make sure you know that I’m the boss here!”

Sometimes our discipleship is less like training and more like bridling.

A Biblical example

The New Testament gives us an interesting example in the book of Acts, in Barnabas. Barnabas did not discover Saul to keep him as a ministry assistant. He brought him in, advocated for him, worked alongside him, and then faded into the background as Paul’s calling expanded.

There is no hint that Barnabas failed because Paul became more prominent. Quite the opposite. His greatness is seen in his willingness to strengthen someone who would outrun him.

That is deeply unnatural to many of us. Most of us want successors, but preferably successors for whom people recognise who opened the door for them.

We want leaders who carry the work forward, but not so far forward that our own contribution feels small.

However, gospel ministry has always required this kind of self-forgetfulness. John the Baptiser understood this well.

Emerging leaders: Training and releasing

This does not mean indulging every ambitious person. Racehorses need training, not being unleashed. They need reins, not cages.

Emerging leaders need correction, patience, doctrine, prayer, failure, restoration, and those who love them enough to tell them the truth.

The answer is not to release unformed leaders into ministry chaos and call it empowerment, but rather to develop people with security in God—spiritual grounding—and with whom we can witness God working through.

In smaller churches especially, this can feel costly. When a gifted young leader grows, they may leave, they may plant, they may be called elsewhere—and our church may feel that loss keenly for a while. However, if our churches only keep those who never outgrow us, we might not see the transition we pray for.

The Kingdom advances through leaders who gladly give away what they have received.

So perhaps we should be asking ourselves how we can train and release emerging leaders—and that we will love Christ, His church, and the mission enough to develop people who may one day run further and faster than we ever could.