Transforming Church

In order to make the shift, pastors need to implement the concept of the priesthood of all believers and delegate some of the pastoral care of the congregation and its constituents to others within the faith community. This will enable them to devote time to cast a vision and lead people to make that vision a reality.

So, what is delegation? A simple definition is, letting others do what they can do as well as you can or better than you can. This definition brings up lot of objections. People usually say, "How can any one do it as well or better than I can." Well, if we believe in Spiritual gifts, and if we delegate according to the gifts that God has endowed people to carry out His ministry, they surely can do things, as well as or better than the delegator. It is important to discern the gifts of people and delegate accordingly. Several Spiritual Gift inventories are available that can aid us in this process. Lou Forney writes of this in his article, Gift-Oriented Ministry. After we discern the Spiritual Gifts of people, some times some training or equipping is necessary.

I have seen many people give job titles to members of the congregation and to staff and they send them away to carry out certain duties. No effort is made to explain what the project or job involves-- its purpose, its scope and the expected results. All these should be done.

When we mention delegation, usually people come up with the following responses:

1) I don't have trained people to whom I can delegate
2) I have the responsibility for getting things done, and if I delegate people will make mistakes. So, if I do it myself, I will be sure it is done well.

These responses stem from the stereotype of a supervisor who does not understand delegation. Pastors in the new paradigm should be leaders who surround themselves with gifted people, and influence them to make the vision a reality.

Before we go further with the discussion about delegation, we need to understand two terms, responsibility and authority. As a pastor you are responsible for your congregation, its spiritual development, its nurture, its internal and external ministries and its development as a congregation of disciples. You cannot relinquish these responsibilities. The process of delegation does not involve the relinquishment of your responsibility. Instead, you transfer some of your responsibility to others who you discern to be gifted to do a specific task. After doing this, you do not send them away without giving them authority (the right to get things done). The authority you give should equal the responsibility transferred. This is called the parity (equality) principle. Then, you announce to all concerned that you have transferred some of your responsibility and have given the person the authority to take care of the task.

After doing all this, if people, who are used to coming to you for everything, approach you about the project or task that is delegated, you need to remind them that the project has been delegated to a certain individual and they should go to that individual with their questions or concerns, ideas and offers to help. So, to summarize, delegated or transferred responsibility should always be equal to the authority given.

Now let us outline what should happen in the delegation process:

1) Set the stage (explain what the project is and what it involves and provide a written account of all this.) Give time to the person to read the written account and ask if the individual has any questions. Clarify things and answer questions.

2) Explain what results are expected, if the project is executed well. Also discuss a possible deadline if it is not a short-term project, or indicate that it is an ongoing project.

3) Mention that you are transferring some of your responsibility and that you are giving the person all authority, resources and support to carry out the project. Encourage the individual to approach you for further help and support in carrying out the task.

4) Make sure that as the work is being done that you periodically review (once a month recommended) to make sure that all work relating to the project is within the confines of the mission and vision of the particular church.

5) Come to agreement with the individual on some dates to review progress. Remember the delegation process requires you to transfer some of your responsibility, but you still retain the overall responsibility.

So, you need to provide oversight, which involves a review of progress, compliance with the mission and vision. Further do not forget to compliment the individual when the work is on target, asking about obstacles to success. Provide help to clear the obstacles. Finally ask the individual if he/she needs any additional help and support.

A good leader knows his/her people well. This is done through relationship building. Many people concentrate on the task and neglect the relational aspect of human motivation. A good leader, on the other hand, has the task and relationships in perfect balance. It is through relationships and close observation of people in different situations that we gain an understanding of who they really are.

An important aspect of knowing your people is understanding their Spiritual gifts, their heart (passion), abilities and personalities. Rick Warren refers to these as SHAPE, and in his program for the development of his parishners he offers courses to enable them to understand their SHAPE. Once we understand the shape of an individual and also help the individual to understand his /her SHAPE, delegation becomes easy. We make a match between the SHAPE of an individual and the project or task, and then follow the four steps of delegation outlined above. The right match generates lot of satisfaction and also results in tremendous growth.

Now, what are the advantages of delegation? You as a pastor will be relieved of some of the pastoral care duties that you presently give to your consistuency. Along with that you also will be relieved of the day-to-day responsibility for the planning and the execution of some of your internal and external ministries. Instead of you, trained and gifted people who have a passion for different ministries will provide the services. You may be called occasionally to provide these services yourself. You can use the time you gain by this delegation process to help your congregation to discern God's vision for His church and provide oversight to all the ministries, and work on building relationships that foster team effort on the part of all the priesthood of the believers.

When the right match is made with the SHAPE of the individual to whom you are delegating, the individual experiences a sense of satisfaction which results in higher levels of motivation and satisfaction, which further translates to higher levels of discipleship and selfless service.

Delegation is based on the principle of decentralization of responsibility and authority. Those who are control freaks want all decision-making to rest with themselves and their positions. Yes, when we are in control things will go our way. Things will be done exactly the way we want them to be. When we do this, we work from an assumption that our way is the only right way. We do not accept others, the gifts and talents God has given them and the way God has prepared and called others to His service. Those who recognize that God gives gifts to people to be used in His ministry, decentralize the responsibility and authority without relinquishing it themselves. They provide training, support and oversight. This is the essence of servant leadership.

Now let us go to the next level and look at empowerment. We all believe that it is the Spirit that empowers us. However, with our human tendencies to be in control, we unknowingly place obstacles in the way of the accomplishment of Christ's mission. So, what is empowerment and how do we facilitate the functioning of people who are empowered by the Spirit?

Empowerment often is used as a buzzword. It sometimes is also referred to as permission giving. People use it without understanding what it really means. Most people generally use it to mean the giving of power. That is true, it is giving power. But, how is the power given and for what is the power given?

When Christ said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations . . .," He empowered his disciples. God the father bestowed on him the authority to spread the good news and have his disciples, the original twelve and you, to spread the gospel. Before empowering his twelve disciples, what did Christ do? He equipped his disciples. He modeled a behavior that he expects of them. He instilled values into them. He was with them at all times and was their guru (teacher). When it was time for him to complete his mission, being sure that his disciples were ready for the transfer of responsibility, he transferred it to them and gave them the authority to go forth, spread the good news and make disciples of all nations. What a nice example of delegation and empowerment. Further, he gave them the assurance, that after he has gone to heaven, there will be the Spirit to help and support them.

Really empowerment is a higher state of delegation. In pure and simple delegation the delegator maintains some form of control in the setting of goals etc. Whereas, in true empowerment, you give an individual the freedom or permission:

a) to self-plan what needs to be done
b) to self-execute and
c) to self-evaluate

This means that the person who is empowered figures out what needs to be done in relation to the mission and vision of the particular church, goes on with the work necessary to accomplish the task and evaluates the results to see if they are in line with the Great Commission.

After all this discussion, we need to remember that empowering and equipping go hand in hand, and you as the pastor should provide oversight and support and not micromanage, as long as the plans of the individual, the execution of the plans and the evaluation of the results are within the scope of the mission, values and vision of your church.

References:

Foss, Michael W., Power Surge, Fortress Press, 2000
Payne, Claude E, Reclaiming the Great Commission, Josey-Bass, 2000
Southerland, Dan., Transitioning, Zondervan, 1999
Barna, George, The Second Coming of the Church, Word Publishing, 1998
Blanchard, Ken, The Servant Leader, J. Countryman, 2003
Jones, Laurie B. Jesus CEO. Hyperion, 1992
Haimann, Theo. Supervision. Southwestern Publishing, 1987
Moorehead, Gregory, Organizational Behavior. Houghton Miffin, 1989
Hersey, Paul and Blanchard, Kenenneth, Management of Organizational Behavior. Prentice Hall, 1993