Hesitant Delegation
"To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…" Ephesians 4:12 ESV
This week, I was talking with a friend about a situation in which there's a person on a team with the skills to help solve a tension point that the Worship Leader is struggling with. Still, leadership hesitates to give them responsibility and authority. I use two different words there because, as you probably know, it's possible to have a responsibility and yet possess zero authority. I guess the opposite is also true… You could have all the authority in the world, but you can overstep when you exercise out of your lanes of responsibility.
As leaders, we must operate wisely and ensure that the people on our team whom we delegate have the character to sustain their responsibilities. But in this specific case, I wonder if the leading cause of the hesitation is an effort to avoid making waves. It's easy to struggle with having difficult, honest conversations with those on our teams out of fear they'll leave. They're just volunteers, after all, right?
Craig Groeschel is credited with saying, "You can have control or you can have growth, but you can't have both." I both love and hate that concept. On the one hand, I love the idea of seeing my team grow in our impact, but on the other hand, sometimes I get so afraid of giving things away. What if they think I'm just dumping tasks on them? Do they have all the information? What if they don't even do it?
The goal is to operate somewhere in the middle: you do all the planning and prep that only you can do, and then you release your people to lead, trusting that God is able to speak/use them just as He speaks and works through you. Humbling, right? But if God has led those people to your team, He's done it for a reason.
So, disciple them and then give them room to stretch their legs. The more lids we remove from our team, the higher they can take us!
Father, You are the Creator and sustainer of everything. Forgive me for my narrowmindedness regarding what You can do through the people You've entrusted to me. Please give me the wisdom and the grace to lead well and maintain a correct view of myself as a child of the King. Amen.
