236. Leadership Team
We have a leadership team, but some people may not know its function and its qualification. The leadership team (we call it strategic leadership team, or SLT) consists of the lead pastor and shepherds (as our ministry is intergenerational, we also include one youth shepherd). But all of them need to be team leaders. It is because the leadership Jesus demonstrated was servant leadership. So we want people who serve the most to be in the leadership team, leading people in their lives and understand the ins and outs of team ministry.
We have only two regular meetings in a year. As leaders are already shepherds and team leaders, they already have a lot on their plate. So we try to reduce unnecessary meetings. And this helps us to make fewer decisions. We want to delegate as many decision-making duties to team leaders as they know the best regarding matters that pertain to their team ministry. If the leadership team starts making too many decisions, that could signify that the church became too bureaucratic. We want quick, swift decisions, and we want the leadership team to act as an accelerator, not a brake.
We don’t vote in our meetings. If we want the entire church to operate based on Spirit-led guidance instead of rules and policies, we need to model it in our leadership team first. So we pursue “alignment” over “agreement.” If we vote, the person who lost the vote feels the decision wasn’t theirs and becomes less willing to cooperate. But we believe that the leader in the meeting is the Holy Spirit, and our job is not to gather our opinions but align our motive and intentions to God’s will. With this understanding, people can align while in disagreement. If there is no alignment, we either pray over it over time or don’t decide. It was how our ancestors of faith made important church decisions. (Acts 15)
A healthy leadership team is vital for church health. I am very grateful for the team we have, and though we share many different opinions, we’ve aligned ourselves to God’s will for our church in every significant decision so far.
