Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19-20)

Quality leaders are a crucial part of every ministry, especially in a division like the small group ministry where you need a leader for every 12 people. Even though developing leaders is not always an easy task, it is a required one. Jesus commands in the Great Commission to “go and make disciples” and as long as Christians are obedient by adding to the Kingdom, there will always be a need for leaders to disciple and mentor them. Paul further enforced this command by encouraging leaders to find potential trustworthy leaders to mentor when he said, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim. 2:2).

The biggest example of a leader who spent time walking alongside new leaders and encouraging them to go and do the same is when Jesus did this with the Twelve Apostles. Jesus spent a majority of His time during His earthly ministry developing these twelve individuals. He knew He had a limited time to shape their attitude, values, actions, and character. He wanted them to portray Him to the rest of the world and the disciples could not learn to be Him by reading about Him.  They needed to be shaped by Him by spending time with Him in a personal relationship. Valuable character building (see Transformissional coaching) comes from moments when you are “hanging out”, eating together, sharing your hobbies, and getting to know the family. Have you ever noticed the more time you spend with someone the more you imitate his or her characteristics? After you’re around someone for a length of time, you begin to “pick up”, whether good or bad, their outlook, morals, and even some of their mannerisms. Christ did not want a poor representation of who He is. He wanted individuals who would be His hands, feet, and mouth.

Fortunately, Scriptures give us a game plan for how we are to do this. The first thing you need to do is find people with leadership skills. Jesus invited some people and yet others, like Andrew, went to Him. Jesus didn’t select people who were established leaders in the community. Instead, He selected those He knew had potential of being great leaders. Also, He “spent the night praying to God” (Luke 6:12) before He invited them to be one of his apostles. The important piece of information here is Jesus took His time observing and praying before He recruited these men. Take your time before inviting someone to lead because sometimes it is the person you would least expect in your small group that has the capability of becoming a great leader.

After Jesus put his “dream team” together, He spent time developing them. He instructed them and He looked for those teachable moments. Peter always seemed to be the receiver of most of those, didn’t he? Maybe he was a visual learner. He also gave them opportunities to step up to the plate and do some of the actual ministry. Allow your apprentices (see Crawl, Walk, Run) to take the lead occasionally and facilitate the lesson or organize the next service project. Not everything can be taught by instruction. Some things are learned better when you do the work yourself.

Then Jesus sent them out (Matthew 10:5). Jesus never expected these men to remain where they were. He didn’t spend all that time developing these leaders so they could remain together. They became great friends and brothers so it had to be extremely painful for them to leave each other. Nevertheless, the growth of the Kingdom depended on them leaving what was comfortable and allowing the Holy Spirit to stretch them even further. Sending someone who has cried and laughed with you out of your group can be a difficult experience, but standing in the way of another’s opportunity to disciple and do all that God has called them to do, is even more difficult.

It takes much more than your willingness to develop multiplying leaders. You will need to never stop trying to grow spiritually so you can continue to pour yourself into them. You will need determination to walk with them for a lifetime, if needed. And you will need to live a genuine, pure lifestyle that your mentor will be challenged to match. Don’t underestimate the importance of the call to mentor. People’s lives will be impacted well beyond your area of ministry. Even though this is not an easy task to take on, the rewards are well worth it. You will get the satisfaction and joy of watching someone grow into the man or woman of God that our Heavenly Father intended them to be. You may never know while you live on this planet who will be impacted because you were willing to invest some of your time and energy into another leader, but one day you will, and it will be well worth it.

~Charity Smith, Ministry Assistant to GroupLife