Leading Staff in the Cell Church

by Steve Cordle

Yesterday Joel introduced the idea of how to structure and choose staff for a growing cell church. Today let me offer a few thoughts on how to lead staff once they are hired.

Every staffer needs to know what their targets are and how they are doing. So what is the target for a cell staff pastor? We could say the goal is to produce more healthy groups, and that would be true.

But an even sharper focus would be for that staffer to think in terms of developing leaders of leaders. In other words, instead of thinking about producing group leaders, focus on producing coaches.

This changes the way the staff person leads. Now the goal is not just to see that their groups are healthy, but to work toward the next level of ministry: where leaders have multiplied and now coach other leaders. This means the staffer will train, pray, vision, disciple, and challenge their leaders to move to a new level.

Do you and your staff person share the same target?

Another practical step is to make the staff meetings a tool to keep the vision sharp. At each meeting of our network pastors there are reports lying on the table which shows the attendance and other stats of each group in each pastor’s network. We ask each pastor to share: a) a highlight in your network b) a hot spot c) any advice you’d like from other staff d) the major step you will take this week to strengthen your network. (It’s also important to ask how last week’s step went.)

Also, this is the time of year for goal setting. We ask each pastor to share numerical goals they believe the Lord is leading them to pursue for the next year. Spirit-led, personally-owned goals will drive a pastor’s ministry from the inside out.

Your thoughts?

Steve