More on Choosing Ministry Team Leaders

In Part 1 & 2, I talked about the need to screen out arrogant or prideful individuals when choosing ministry leaders.  In this part, I want to caution you about people who may be too broken to serve but whose brokenness is not immediately apparent.

At the other end of the spectrum from those afflicted with pride and a genuine sense of superiority are those who deeply struggle with a sense of worth and are looking for ministry roles that make them feel significant. Those who project abundant confidence or superiority to cover up deep feelings of inadequacy far outnumber those who truly sees themselves as superior.  These individuals may also be prime real estate for a Jezebel spirit. They want others to see them as gifted and mature and constantly seek the validation of others so they may aspire to leadership roles for the sake of significance rather than service. 

These individuals may not have a true confidence that Jesus will work though them which is essential in freedom ministry.  Believers that possess humility know who they are in Christ and have faith that Jesus will work through them when facing the enemy or when needing wisdom.  Those who struggle with self-worth aren’t sure who they are and fear that Jesus won’t work through them when the they face difficult situations or face the enemy.  They will not weather criticism or disapproval well and will blame others for their shortcomings.  In a ministry in which they encounter many broken and demonized people, they will sooner or later feel the rejection of some of those individuals. Their response to the rejection may be damaging. If they have no emotional resilience, they will crumble.   If you feel the need to correct them, they may begin to see you as their enemy.

The extremely insecure may also present themselves as more gifted, mature, or knowledgeable than they truly are and may set themselves up for failure because they take on more than they are ready to handle.  These individuals will not readily be transparent about weaknesses and, as a result, will not be able to grow in those areas of weakness.   Because they feel the need to present themselves as always having the answer or always “having it together,” he or she may not seem as approachable as they should to those who struggle with imperfections.  Approachability is essential as a group leader or a mentor.  If gifted, they may use their gift as a way to impress others more than a way to love others. Both the arrogant and the very insecure can hurt ministries if put in a role of leadership but they may also hurt themselves. 

Now…let’s be honest.  Nearly all of us struggle with pride or insecurity at some level and enjoy the affirmation and approval of others.   However, we need to be in a place where we recognize it, acknowledge it, usually manage it, and have others hold us accountable if it starts to get the best of us. You will have no perfect people on your team, but you are looking for people in a healthy emotional and spiritual range. That is a obviously a subjective measure but it is one you will need to assess through prayer, conversation, and the observations of others.

Spend time getting to know people who want to join your team.  Speak to others who know them.  Talk to leaders in other ministries with whom they have served.   If patterns of relational or emotional brokenness emerge or an unwillingness to submit to spiritual authority is apparent, those will be red flags and you may want to postpone their involvement in your ministry.

Another thing to consider is simply where a person is in his/her life at the moment and how spiritually stable or relationally stable that person is at the time they are wanting to serve.   Freedom ministry tends to put a person in the crosshairs of the enemy a little more than usual.  A struggling marriage, an out-of- control child, a person fighting old addictions or someone struggling with grief or depression may not be in a season when they need to serve.  Be prayerful and patient when adding team members.  

It is always painful to have to ask someone who is on the team to step down when you discover that they are not spiritually or emotionally ready to lead. Of course, we will need to explore issues we see with them and give individuals a chance to acknowledge those issues and change, but some will not acknowledge their shortcomings.  Sometimes they will attempt to damage the ministry on the way out, so be sure to follow Paul’s counsel to Timothy not to be hasty in laying hands on someone.  It is better to delay a bit than to place the wrong person in a position of leadership.  If we can be honest with those individuals about our concerns, we will be giving them a chance to grow or heal and they may become effective members of our ministry team at a later date.

Take it from someone who has not always acted with wisdom, when you are developing a ministry, you are building a foundation for the future.  Taking your time to build a solid foundation of leadership, processes for selecting and developing new ministry team members, and even processes for removing someone from a leadership role in rare instances, can pay huge dividends down the road. It’s worth giving time and energy to develop those processes.  Having a small subset of your most mature leaders act as an evaluation team to help choose new leaders or deal with problems that arise can also be invaluable.  Those decisions should not fall on one person.

You won’t have the answer or a process for everything that pops up, but having some things thought out and in place ahead of time may keep the enemy from taking advantage of a ministry that is reactive instead of proactive.  It will also remove the impression that one or two individuals in the ministry are acting out of their own impulses or acting arbitrarily instead of following biblical processes governed by biblical values.

I hope this short series has been helpful for those beginning or reviving freedom ministries in their church or area.  The enemy will not be unaware and will not let you grow without challenging you so please be prayerful, thoughtful, and engage some people who have already been down the road that you are beginning to walk.  Blessings in Him.