The Four Types of Leader Every Church Team Needs

by William Cowles

Churches depend upon ministry leaders who are not pastors or paid staff. Duh. The problem is, many churches recruit only people who are available and are willing to say “Yes.” No surprise, then, that these “leadership teams” really aren’t teams at all; they’re mostly groups of people who have agreed to be called leaders.

To have a fully functioning, effective leadership “team,” you have to take a clue from the professionals who know teams best – sports. In all sports, a diverse set of skills and styles trumps interest and willingness every time. No baseball team recruits all pitchers, or catchers, or center fielders. No basketball team wants just scorers or rebounders. No football team fields all quarterbacks. You get it.

So, why don’t churches learn from the experts? I don’t know. But I do know that after many, many years of being on and leading church “committees” that never reached their potential, diversity of skills and styles were never recruiting criteria. Over the past five years of observing church leadership, we’ve encountered many high-performance church leadership teams who consistently get great results. One of the consistent success factors in their ability to do excellent ministry is that they’ve formed themselves with an effective mix of four types of people:

1.       Thinkers– thoughtful people who study, do research, and bring in outside perspective

2.       Feelers– relational people who love God, Jesus, and the church and can’t wait to sing it out in praise

3.       Doers– active people who want their feet on the street and their hands in action serving others

4.       Dreamers– inspirational people who are visionaries and see bigger pictures than the others can imagine

Each of Jesus’ disciples had very different personalities, backgrounds, attitudes, and interests. It just makes sense for us, then, to form teams of church leaders with people who can add to each others' abilities to make life change happen for Christ. When a team has a balance of leaders, bigger things happen faster. Ideas flow freely and decisions are made with sound reasoning. Ministry hits its targets, and the results are measurable. Mission expands to serve clearly identified needs. Spiritual life deepens because groups generate relationships that lighten loads and straighten paths.

Easier to say than do, I know. But that shouldn’t dissuade you. For those of you in position to influence the strategic direction of your church’s leadership recruitment and equipping, here are three easy steps:

1.     Assess Spiritual Gifts – Don’t guess at the spiritual gifts of potential leaders and volunteers. There are many, many tools available to help people learn their strengths and how to apply them in church leadership. We have several suggestions of good Spiritual Gift assessment tools on our Church Guide Website under Online Resources to get you started.

2.     Align Qualifications and Needs – The ineffective way is to compile a list of ministries, assign blank lines for a Chair and some committee members, and then have a draft of likely prospects. Here’s where churches can do a better job of forming teams than the pro sports people. Start with a clear understanding of what you want your ministry emphasis to accomplish. With those specific goals in mind, you can identify the specific people skills and styles it will take to reach your goals. Then, find the people who meet those criteria and you’ll have a multi-faceted, highly focused team.

3.    Advance Commitments– When leaders aren’t coerced, they’re much more likely to be committed to the work ahead. Get to know your people before you invite them into a leadership role. Then, invite potential leaders to serve in a ministry area before you ask them to lead that ministry. When you’ve given them an opportunity to contribute to something bigger than themselves, and to make a difference in ways they never could on their own, they’ll move mountains and make miracles happen.

You’re not trying to win a Super Bowl here; you’re trying to help people reach their greatest potential and use their gifts to help lead and serve. There’s a familiar axiom that goes, “It takes all kinds….” True in sports; true in church; true in life.