Proteges: Multiplying Your Impact

“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Luke 10:1-2

In this passage, Jesus emphasizes the need for passionate leaders in his flock. The foundation to raising new leaders must be prayer. However, many times Jesus sends us capable leaders who we don’t develop or empower. The majority of the time, we have all the leaders we need, we just aren’t using them! How then do we begin to use the leaders that Jesus has graciously sent us?

Identification:

The first question to be answered is how do I identify someone to train as my protégé? Here are a few ways to identify potential leaders:

Look for engaged people: People that are engaged in your group are much more likely to have the passion for discipleship needed to lead a successful group of their own. Engagement will look very different depending on the person. Extroverts who are engaged in your group will be talkers, quick to lend their opinion concerning the topic at hand. Introverts who are engaged will be thinkers. They may only speak a few times per class, but their answers will be well-integrated with the group discussion. A key sign of group engagement is to consistently attend your LH Group.

Look for “people” people: Are people drawn to your potential candidate or do they all roll their eyes when it’s his or her turn to speak? The innate ability to communicate with sensitivity for others is a big plus for a group leader. Do they hang around after your group to meet with other people or do they take off immediately? This may be a good indicator of whether they have the emotional energy needed to invest in an LH Group.

Look for people who click with you: At the end of the day, your protégé should be someone you enjoy being around. If you have good chemistry, more than likely it will be much easier to train them to lead a group.

Look for potential: The fact is, is someone in your group already has all three qualities in perfect form, they should be leading their own group! And while very qualified leaders will come to your group periodically and need you to push them to step out, the vast majority of your attendees will be “works in progress.” It’s your job to guide them, encourage them, and give them opportunities to grow in their relationship with Jesus and in their leadership ability! This is why every group should have a protégé. Because every group has people with potential. Most likely, your group members don’t even see the potential in themselves, but they need you to draw it out of them.

Implementation:

So once you have a few protégés identified, the next question is how do you begin to train them to lead? Here are a few ways to start the development process:

Meet with them personally: This is one of the main areas where an LH Group Leader moves from a “teacher” to a “discipler.” Meet together on a different day of the week or ask them to come half and hour before your group starts. Communicate what you see in them and challenge them to step up in leadership at LH. Explain a few steps you have planned to train them. To be clear up front is much easier than trying to “secretly train” people in your group.

Begin delegating: Your group will be stifled if you attempt to do everything on your own. Give your protégés tasks in which they can assist the group. You might ask them to prepare discussion questions, to plan your outreach activity or to set up or clean up the room you meet in. Once you’re ready, have them lead a few nights of your group. In larger groups, it works very well to break into smaller groups at the end of the night for prayer. If your protégés lead these prayer groups, you’re teaching them how to lead in a highly practical way.

Give them a shot: Please note, delegating isn’t always easy. In fact, instinct will tell you that if you can do it best, you should do it all the time. Unfortunately, if we don’t give new leaders a shot (like someone gave us a shot) they’ll never grow and develop and our ministry will die out when we can no longer serve. Give your ministry longevity by training new leaders! In reality, leadership always involves risk. The key is to mitigate the risk through support, training and encouragement.

Encourage and constructively criticize: There will be things that your new leader will do well and things that they will do poorly. That’s expected. Play up the things they do well, and lend advice in the areas they need to grow in. Remember, it’s your group! You have the authority (and responsibility) to train your leaders and help them grow. In discipleship, it’s important to maintain a 25/75 split. This means that in order to constructively criticize 25% of the time, you must be providing genuine encouragement 75% of the time. Without this encouragement, your criticism will deflate your protégé’s enthusiasm.

Keep us in the loop: As you begin to identify and utilize your protégés, keep your coach and the Discipleship Director informed. This way, we will have a unified approach as we encourage the group members you are working with into leadership roles.

Give the final push: Keep a running list of potential leaders to invite to important events like partnership and LHU. While you should be encouraging your entire group to attend these events, your leaders should get an extra boost, either through a personal meeting, phone call, or text. At the end of your semester, it’s time to have a heart to heart with the leaders you think are ready to lead on their own. Remind them they are an integral part of reaching the lost and making disciples at LH Church. Without all the members of the church involved, the Body of Christ limps! Tell them what you see Jesus doing in and through them and ask them to take a step of faith.

Get Relational: One last important thing to remember is that leaders grow through relationships, not programs. These tips are meant to be launch points from which you can get creative with your group. Ask Jesus to guide you how to implement these steps in finding and training leaders.