Questioning your leadership training...

Mike Breen has a worthwhile article about the reality of many of our church "leadership" training programs. The truth is, they are not about leadership, instead they are about volunteering under someone else's leadership. Breen doesn't say that this is bad but does call the church to be more about training for sending.

"Are our development programs about releasing leaders to the missional frontier? Or, more likely, are they about recruiting volunteers to keep the machine of the church running? To be sure, we should attend to the organization of the church, for it is a significant thing when the scattered church gathers. But as the Church stares precipitous decline in the face—as we look to re-embrace the missio Dei—we must learn again the art that Jesus exhibited: the task of multiplying missional leaders and releasing them into the cracks and crevices of society where there is little-to-no Gospel presence."

Our efforts end up leaving the church leaderless as we have none truly equipped for it. And we leave a generation without a rudder for the church. Those that have the itch of leadership leave because frankly, it is easier to do it yourself and the church dies with the only leader it has known.

We are to make disciples, not for our own growth but for kingdom growth and sending. Let's be about that.

Read the whole thing here.

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