Unhealthy leaders create environments that depend entirely on themselves. It feels good for people to depend on you and for your voice to be the only one that matters. It is an ego booster. But it is not healthy. A healthy leader realizes that a healthy ministry is not dependent upon one person to succeed. In fact, a healthy leader equips others to step up to the plate. That meas the leader has to get out of the way and give others room to succeed. Healthy leaders realize they aren’t the only voice that matters. Healthy leadership enables other people to find their voice and express it. Healthy leadership recognizes the value in multiple perspectives.
You can tell a lot about the health of a leader based on how they respond to the success of others. Unhealthy leaders are intimidated by the success of others. Healthy leaders will recognize success and celebrate it. An unhealthy leader will view that success as competition. Pride easily creeps in and unhealthy leaders will continue to try to keep the ministry dependent upon them, silencing competing voices, and creating systems of dysfunction.
If we are not able to allow others to step up to the plate and succeed, our ministries die with us. If we have enough foresight and humility to give others room to succeed and not see that success as competition our ministry will multiply and live many years beyond our presence in them. Never view someone else’s success in kingdom work as threatening to your own. Instead rejoice that God is bigger than you and is able to use whoever He likes to accomplish His will.
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You’re right. I look at the church and I see a divine jigsaw puzzle. And each member of the body of Christ fills in a specific piece of that puzzle. Good leaders help their people find out what piece of the puzzle they are and enable them to fill it in well. And when all pieces are in place, I think that’s when the church is at its best!