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Home > Articles > From Marketplace to Ministry
From Marketplace to Ministry
5 principles to help leaders in business become effective in church.
Jeanine Parolini

Topics:Calling, Development, Empowerment, Leadership, Mentoring, Recruiting, Shepherding, Volunteer care, Volunteer recruitment, Volunteers
Filters:Church staff, Discipleship, Elder, Men's ministry, Pastor, Service, Shepherd, Women's ministry
Purpose:Discipleship
References:Ephesians 4:11-12, 1 Timothy 4:14, 2 Timothy 1:6
Date Added:July 12, 2007

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2. Ask a marketplace leader to take time to be trained for church leadership.
Leaders who have built success in the marketplace may feel, I've got all I need for success in ministry. Taking time out for training appears to be almost an insult, a step back in their career.

To be trained for church leadership, therefore, requires humility. But leaders who are willing to stop constant productivity to get good training bring humility to their new leadership role.

Samuel, Saul, and David had taxing times of training prior to expanding their leadership role. After being called and anointed by God, Samuel and David waited for a long time before stepping into major leadership roles. God was working on their character in the process. This built humility and expanded their leadership capacity. By contrast, when Saul's humility diminished, so did his capacity. Even though he remained king for a time, he lost credibility and spiritual authority with the people.

Training for church leadership is quite different than training most people have received in the marketplace. Marketplace training focuses on goals associated with a profitable bottom line. While the church also needs to be financially stable, the church has a different bottom line: training people in Christlikeness. Therefore, new leaders in the church need to learn skills in developing others. If your potential new leader is less than willing to get additional training, be concerned.

3. Hold leaders accountable for not just their decisions but their motives.
Strong, type-A leaders can use activity and success to keep from looking below the surface of their lives. They have been paid and rewarded for great feats of doing. They often have not taken time or made space to get in touch with their motives and feelings. I am one of these. I am in the lifelong process of discovering my unprocessed motives and emotions and learning to let God work on those.

James and John (Matthew 20:20-28) had unprocessed motives: they wanted to be great and get positions of honor ahead of others. Jesus did not keep their motives quiet; he exposed them and even brought the situation to the other disciples to teach them.

Following Jesus' example, I try to hold leaders accountable not just for their decisions but for their motives. I may ask, "What were you thinking and feeling as you tried to make that decision?"

4. Model how to surrender strategy to the Spirit's leading.
God has given humans great capacity for ideas, systems, and processes. In ministry, great capacity must come from the spirit of God. The Holy Spirit brings the most creative ideas, systems, and processes, and human agendas must constantly be surrendered for the Spirit to work fully.