Sharing Leadership

Not only did my younger brother, a youth pastor extraordinaire, suggest this topic, but I've also been watching others and thinking about how shared leadership works.

I've led only one team to truly experience shared leadership. Several distinctives of that season of ministry come to mind:
1) It took time to develop. And trust, both on the part of the leader and those sharing leadership.
2) There were elements of delegation, but at the same time it went much further.
3) The urgency of "a Sunday every 7 days" made it difficult. I had to separate myself from the daily work enough to gain perspective.

I have also been part of a team like this at the Kentucky Baptist Convention, which I think became that way under the guidance of Tog Goodson.

I have to say this about both of teams: It is totally worth it. Shared leadership is the best kind of leadership.

I'll balance the above list of three with another trio of reasons:
1) The time invested can far outlast the tenure of a leader.
2) Those sharing in leadership feel invested, not instructed.
3) Shared leadership means shared work. The tyranny of the urgent gets smaller.

When Rich suggested this as a blog topic, he wanted me to talk about balancing shared leadership with strong leadership.

This is key: when you share leadership, you still have to lead. This is not just bearing the burden of tasks equally. It is more visionary, goal oriented, and exciting than that.

Here are things Tog and I both did that seemed to work.

1) We led spiritually. We were always prepared to bring a word from God. And our word was from our own walk with God. It wasn't read from someone else. It wasn't from our walk of years ago. It seems, looking back, like it was incumbent upon us to be out in front of our team spiritually. Not above them; that's arrogant. Just in front of them; that's leadership.

2) We led strategically. The meetings themselves had built in strategy. We walked in with an idea of the direction the ministry was headed (a satellite view), but were also very open to the leadership of the Spirit IN those meetings as well as the input of committed Christ-followers around the table.

3) We led relationally. The folks on our teams knew we cared more about them than what they brought to the team. People were (and felt) valued because of who they were. 

I'm sure there's more, and I'm guessing some things in that mix are not universally applicable. But those are the best ways I can describe how to have strong, shared leadership in ministry.

Thanks for the question, little brother!