19. Many Hands Make Light Work

Sharing the responsibility for the group with others is a great way to lighten the leader’s load of responsibility, while developing others as future leaders.

Ephesians 4:11–14 instructs church leaders to “equip” God’s people to do the work of ministry.

Selecting and training leaders is where spiritual leaders make it or break it in the ministry. Leaders have a choice of either doing the work alone or share the load with others. The art of selecting faithful people is what Paul was equipping a young pastor, Timothy, to do when he wrote, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others”(2 Timothy 2:2).

Craig Groeschel, founder of Life Church states “When you delegate tasks, you create followers. When you delegate authority, you create leaders.”

What ministry wouldn’t benefit from more leaders.

• D.L. Moody once said, “I would rather put a thousand men to work than do the work of a thousand men.”
• A Chinese proverbs states, “Many hands make light work.”
• Simon Sinek, author and consultant “A star wants to see himself rise to the top. A leader wants to see those around him rise to the top.”

Bill Gates comments that the most important decision he made in his success was to learn to delegate, and not try to do it all himself. He had to learn to trust others.

Any way you look at it, we all know that developing others, building a team is the best path to organizatIonal vitality.

Businessmen and pastors can be the biggest bottleneck in their organizations, when they fail to delegate, build teams and multiply their impact through others. Leaders who equip and commit to other’s success, learn to delegate just as Moses learned to do in Exodus 18.

Moses was wearing himself out trying to do too much, and the people were wearing out waiting in line for Moses to help them. It wasn’t a wise way to operate and Moses’ Father-in-Law, Jethro, give wise counsel to share the responsibility of leadership with others by identifying men of character who could lead groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens, based on their abilities.

• John C. Maxwell, American author “If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate.”

God designed His church to be like a body, with many parts and many varying gifts. Each part is necessary for the benefit of the whole. Independent Christian leaders are an oxymoron, because there is no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. Christians function best as a team, building on one another’s strengths, while standing in the gap of one another’s weaknesses.

It is a credit to you if you can learn to divide the labor and not be a primo-donna, doing all the work yourself.

If God is calling you to lead, then do it with diligence and learn to multiply your influence through delegation.

Former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing, Michael Hyatt details

Five levels of delegation:

As higher levels of trust are earned, greater freedom is included in the delegation process:

Level 1: Do exactly what I have asked you to do.

Level 2: Research the topic and report back.

Level 3: Research the topic, outline the options and make a recommendation.

Level 4: Make a decision and then tell me what you did.

Level 5: Make whatever decision you think is best.

Each level of delegation involves a higher level of trust that is earned by faithful follow through. The Bible speaks of this principle as “faithful in little, faithful in much.” By being faithful in smaller responsibilities, a person is demonstrating an ability to be faithful in the bigger things.

Jesus put it this way, “And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?” (NLT)

He is saying that how we handle money is a test to see if we can be trusted with more important thing like the souls of people.

Steps to Proper Delegation:

1) Assign:

Written Job Descriptions are helpful. It is important for the person to participate in the job description authorship.

2) Motivate:

Encourage and support the person. Back him or her up when the going gets rough. Challenge them to valiant effort.

3) Monitor:

Time frame and completion date. Written or oral report. Observe the person, and give feedback on performance.

4) Correct:

This step is conducted in one-on-one communication to avoid embarrassing the individual or harming a person’s dignity.

After the correction, it is time for a re-assignment for greater responsibility.

The Simple Process of Training:

1) I do it, while the person observes.

2) I do it, and the person assists.

3) They do it and I assist.

4) They do it and we both look for someone else to train.

By spreading out ministry duties in a more efficient way, delegating not only can make for greater overall ministry effectiveness but also can reduce overload and burnout of leaders and staff.

If we are going to become the Church God wants us to be, each one of us is going to have to coach, empower, equip and release more and more of God’s people to fulfill the Great Commission.

Here are the most common reasons for failing to delegate:

• Lack of patience. (It takes longer to explain it than to do it myself).
• Insecurity. (I’m so eager to prove myself that I refuse to delegate.)
• Inflexibility. (I’m convinced that nothing can be done properly unless I do it myself. I want to maintain control.)
• Inadequacy. (I’m afraid of being shown up.)
• . (I’m so attached to some aspect of the job that I just don’t want to give it up.)

Consider mobilizing your small group by asking about community service that individuals are already doing. Find out if the group can serve as an outreach project, doing good works that lead to sharing the good news.

Consider a group service project once a quarter, in the place of the weekly group meeting. This will stretch group member’s faith as they operate out of their comfort zones.