If you have read this blog very long, you know that occasionally I link you to our president Dr. Thom Rainer’s blog for a particular post. Let’s do that again. First jump over and read 12 Characteristics of Effective Team Members by Dr. Chuck Lawless, then come back and let’s relate those characteristics to women’s leaders.
- Humility. Our team members, including ourselves, must remember that we serve out of a “call” and out of obedience to that call. All power and glory goes to the one who calls not to a person. Is that how you model and encourage leadership on your team?
- Word-saturated. We can never substitute serving for relationship with Christ. If our daily walk with Him is not covered in the study of the Word, the ministry we represent will have a hard time being Word-saturated.
- Brokenness. It’s only when we are broken in our weaknesses and failures that we understand who He really is in our lives. This is how we understand the brokenness of the women we seek to reach. Allow God to penetrate your heart as you understand just what sin does to His heart.
- Prayerfulness. Just like being in the Word continually, we must keep our hearts open to His presence through no only concentrated time in prayer, but a sense of His presence 24/7. Stop in the midst of discussions with your team to lift the issue to the Lord, THEN address it. Model this type of prayer life for those you lead.
- Dependability. When you say you will do something, do you make every effort to do it? Do you encourage your team members to follow through and serve as their resource if they need help?
- Holiness. Scripture tells us more than once, “Be Holy!” Our world does not encourage holiness so when our lives reflect His life, we stand out in a crowd, different than those around us. Sometimes it’s not an easy place to be, but as we walk in holiness, He is honored.
- Risk-taking. My pastor is so great to encourage risk taking. He often says, “It might fail, but at least we know what NOT to do.” Do you encourage your team to take risks to serve and reach women? Over and over Joshua is told to “be courageous” because he was not going to have an easy job taking the Israelites into the Promised Land. He would have to take risks, at God’s direction, to follow obediently.
- Integrity. Often we do not see integrity modeled in leadership in our culture today, including within the church. Do a word search in Scripture on the word “integrity” and you will see how important that is to our Lord. Integrity is one of the primary way we influence others. If our integrity is in question, so is all of our leadership.
- Teachability. If we think we have all the answers, know enough Scripture, and have all the leadership skills we need, we are in for a huge fall! We will never know enough. We must be life-long learners. If those we lead think we know it all, they do not feel we need them, and they will never identity with us because they know they do not know it all!
- Knowledgeable. We need to study and know how to teach, lead, and share our faith. As we become teachable, we learn how do to those things. What are you studying now? In Scripture, in a book on leadership, or spiritual blog posts. Become knowledgeable so you can lead in confidence… even while you are still learning!
- Fun. What do you do with you team that’s just for fun? If your team is all about the work of ministry and never about fellowship and fun, you are missing a big way of bonding with your team members. Plan times of no agenda and lots of play. My women’s team at church went bowling this year (something I’m not very good at) and had so much fun laughing at and with each other.
- Reproducibility. I’ve often said, “who are you raising up to take your place?” You don’t know how long you will be in the place where you serve, or even on this earth. If you are not reproducing leadership in your team, once you are gone, the ministry will fail. Spend a great part of your ministry bringing up the next leaders so that they really won’t even miss you when you are gone! Sounds cold, but it’s not really. They will miss your presence and friendship, but will carry on the legacy you leave behind as they move forward and take what you taught them into the future!
Use these to evaluate where you are with your team members. Perhaps you can do this as a team and talk about each one, even over time. You could use one per month if you meet with your team that often. If not, consider using these as an email lesson and evaluation monthly for the next year.
What other characteristics would you add this list? Please share in the comments.