What’s intuitive to those outside the church is often revolutionary to church leaders.
This is true when it comes to marketing. Franchise. Structure.
But it might be nowhere more true than when it comes to delegation.
Many pastors and ministry leaders have the propensity to believe they need to do everything themselves. They believe they can probably do a better job anyways, so why give it to someone else? The result is almost always the same: they’re taken out of their sweet spot and they wear themselves out.
But there’s another related effect that’s just as harmful that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough. When leaders refuse to delegate, it not only wears them out, but all of the people following them as well. No one gets to be in their sweet spot. The leader becomes a bottleneck and it frustrates everyone.
I think that’s why Jethro told Moses in Exodus 18 to appoint judges to decide smaller civil cases that were being brought to Moses so he could focus on what he alone could do. It wasn’t just for Moses’ sake: “If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied” (18:23).
When leaders do what only they can do, everyone wins.
And when leaders let other people do what they have been called to do, everyone wins.
This isn’t a one-man show. Pastors and leaders were never designed by God to do all of the ministry for the people they lead. They exist to equip the people they lead with the power and resources to do their own ministry under a common vision.
That’s the true meaning of delegation. It isn’t just about getting someone to do a job you don’t want to do. Or that you don’t have time to do. It’s about empowering others to come alive in their gifting and calling so that the power of Jesus can flow through their life.
You’re freed up to do what you were made to do.
They’re allowed to do what they were created to do.
Refuse to be the limiter or the lid on the ministry that God can accomplish through the powerful people that He’s placed under you. Refuse to be a bottleneck.
Do what only you can do. Let others do what they’ve been called to do under you. And everyone will win.
