Newsletter Articles
Nominating for Failure
Most pastors and lay leaders have just completed the process of nominating leaders for the next chapter of the congregation’s ministries. The Annual Meeting is past, the election results are in, and it may end up being a long year with church council members who are untested and untried.
Too often, the nominating process is put in the hands of people who have few guidelines except how many bodies are needed to fill the slots on church council, and a few officers. Too many of the people chosen are an unknown mystery when it comes to their response to leadership in the congregation. Too many nominated are relatively new to the congregation. Often, the only reason people will serve on the nominating committee, is that they will now get to leave their council or leadership roles at the end of the year. Frequently, the pastor is the last one to be involved in the process in any way, because the council is viewed as an anchor to keep the pastor’s ideas in check, a counterbalance to the casting of vision.
There is a better way. On these pages over the years, we have again and again talked about the nature of leadership. Leadership is a spiritual gift. Leaders have to be nurtured and developed, tested and tried by time, and demonstrate a passion for becoming disciples of Jesus. If any of this process is omitted, then immature people will be put in charge of supporting the purpose and mission of the congregation, and affirming and leading the congregation in implementing its vision.
Here is a process that produces a list of excellent nominees. In most congregations, it takes time to put in place, but results in leaders who are much more capable of taking a congregation to a place of excellence. It is not new, but still practiced in surprisingly few congregations.
The foundation of a better nominating process has these foundational pieces:
• The congregation encourages people to be involved in ministry according to their personal style or spiritual gifts.
• People who are new to leadership and service on the ministry teams of the congregation are given time to demonstrate their gifts in smaller assignments.
• Staff and leaders monitor the life of the ministry teams and how individuals work with others and demonstrate their passion for the life of the congregation.
• Growing leaders are exposed to continual training, not only in how to do their work, but what in what it means to be a growing steward of gifts and resources.
• Emerging leaders are expected to be people of faith who study the scripture and who are active in prayer.
Putting together a leadership development program that provides for this training takes time. In the end, when it comes time to nominate the most seasoned leaders for the vision team of the congregation, the church council, there is a wealth of knowledge and experience within the list of those nominated to lead. From these persons who have demonstrated a growth in discipleship, the list to present to the nominating committee is created.
Key to this model is an understanding that the nominating committee is not set free to find anyone they can to serve. They are, rather, given a list of people who have maturity and “legs” in ministry. A list of the active members is confidentially reviewed and developed by the appropriate staff and leaders of the congregation. The pool of nominees is chosen from those who have grown in discipleship, stewardship, and have demonstrated an ability to work and serve with others in a harmonious and supportive way.
The nominating committee still has the final responsibility of prayerfully selecting those whom they believe best qualified to serve. They are clear with the congregation that each of these persons represents what it means to be a growing disciple at this time in the life of this congregation.
Of course, no one can guarantee the ultimate health and fruitfulness of any given leader. We are never surprised when our sinfulness undercuts our best intentions.
Yet, the possibility of raising up a pool of people to lead faithfully in the next year is greatly enhanced when we treat the nominating process with care and with an intent to deploy in leadership and service, the best people our congregation has to Lead.
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