When we look at the life of Jesus and examine His methodology, it’s easy to see that men were His method. We often think of Jesus spending time among the crowds, preaching, and healing the sick. But what is striking is how Jesus spent His time after leaving the masses. More often than not, Scripture reveals that Jesus took aside His disciples to further explain what He said to the crowds, especially with Peter, James, and John. Jesus wasn’t testing them to see if they could repeat back what He had just said. Jesus was looking for growth in their character and competency; He was looking for transformation of the whole person.
Likewise, our strategy of bringing people into our ministry should not merely focus on a onboarding. What many churches call “training” is primarily an orientation task to get someone started in a volunteer or leadership role. That is not development; that is an information dump. A recruiting culture uses a leadership pipeline to develop a person, not delegate a task.
When a person begins a volunteer role, the first thing we want them to be is a learner. They need to learn the role. As they gain proficiency in the role, they become a leader. Leadership
is the next step, but that’s not the only step. If you recall our examination of recruiting in Scripture, we are supposed to disciple and develop other people. That’s not just the pastor’s job. That’s not just the ministry director’s job. Development is everyone’s job.
When we begin to see people multiplying themselves in their current role, they may be ready for the next level of your leadership pipeline.
Implementing a leadership pipeline strategy for recruiting and development removes guessing from the leadership game. After a person has displayed proficiency as a learner, leader, and multiplier, strongly consider bringing them to the next level of your leadership pipeline. If they want to stay in their current role, applaud their efforts and celebrate them in front of their peers.
Consider your volunteers and leaders.
- Are they learners, leaders, or multipliers?
- Have you emphasized multiplication as a key part of every role, not just the pastor and church staff?
- How is multiplication modeled at all levels of leadership in your church?
This is an excerpt from Creating and Curating a Recruiting Culture by Todd Adkins. Learn more about creating a culture of recruiting in your church and download the full booklet here.
