Leader Readiness Checklist

STEVE
by Steve Cordle

As Mario said in his blog, groups don’t multiply, leaders multiply. When do you know the new leader is ready? Here’s one possible checklist for your consideration:

  1. The apprentice has been doing everything that a group leader does for at least a month, and that is going well. The old leader has successfully modeled for the apprentice the healthy practices of a small group, and has handed-over those things to the apprentice
  2. The apprentice is in a good place spiritually. His/her relationship with God is strong. There are no serious personal dysfunctions.
  3. The people in the group look to the apprentice for spiritual guidance, and the apprentice has influence with them
  4. The apprentice “buys into” the church’s vision.
  5. The apprentice has invited at least one person to the group who has stayed in the group. (Group leaders must be able to successfully invite new people, or their groups probably will not grow.)
  6. The group has had some recent visitors. In other words, the group currently has some growth momentum
  7. The group has at least 8 regular attenders
  8. Each new group, after birthing, will have a host home.

What ideas do you have for a readiness checklist?

Steve

2 thoughts on “Leader Readiness Checklist

  • It may not be possible initially in a transitioning American church, but I think the bar should be set high enough eventually to add this one:

    • The apprentice has reached a friend for Christ and has faithfully mentored the person through the church’s equipping pathway and helped the new believer develop a servant’s heart through modeling.

    By adding this to the base qualifications for group leadership, it forces the pastoral oversight to incorporate relational evangelism training and fruition into their leadership pathway… which is woefully missing in most American cell-based and small-group based churches I consult and encourage.

    I’m sure we could create a looooooong checklist if we wanted to, but adding this one really “fixes” a lot of other issues the new leader will encounter as a new group leader.

  • Great thought, Randall.
    And yes, we cold come up with a long checklist – I’d love to hear some reflections about finding the line between what is required and what is desirable in new leaders — is this the tension between breadth and depth of leadership?

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