The people who have influenced you most in your life are the people who believe in you! It really is that simple and straightforward. That faith in others creates a supernatural space for them to grow. All of us who want to raise up others must believe in them and create space for them.
You as a leader of leaders must be a space-creator. That is part of being a leader. I get concerned when I have elders who want larger and larger Living Churches but are not raising up a leader when the group becomes two. That is wrong. We must be space-creators.
John Maxwell says leaders need to be thermostats not thermometers. Anyone can measure the temperature of a church, but as leaders we need to change it. It’s the same principle – we must not look for space, and hope it appears by magic, we need to create space for potential leaders. We need to make that happen.
If you create and make space, there will be growth. You will actually look like a really good leader. If you do not create space, the people around you will not grow and you will not look like a good leader. Again, this principle is simple but it is true.
We need to create spaces for our people – appreciate how important those spaces are, know how to create those spaces and pour life into those spaces so what is there grows.
Sometimes someone comes to Tree of Life and prospers, they become a leader, they start to be successful, so they think they could move anywhere else in the world and still be a success. But they move to a different church and find it isn’t working. They did not realize how effective the Tree is at providing spaces for people to grow – it’s not just one person, there is a culture that is raising up leaders and helping them develop and grow. It is awesome! I love watching our leaders. We are now in the place where we have leaders who are raising leaders who are raising leaders! It’s generational and it is awesome.
You have all probably heard that a shark in a small tank will never grow above six inches, and that the same shark in the ocean will grow to a normal shark size, many many times bigger. Space is an absolute key determinant in growth.
If you put leaders in a small space, and I don’t mean a small group or small ministry, but in a place where they cannot grow and manoeuvre, then there will be problems with their growth. Some pastors like that, they are intimidated by big sharks, but we want to change the world, so we don’t mind the sharks getting big!
The first key to creating space is to realize how important it is and model it. What you do, people around you will do. What you model will be copied. The speed of the leader is the pace the people will walk. What you do, they do. Think about it like this – if someone is following you, they can only go as far as you. This is why I am so keen to keep growing myself all the time – we cannot model what we are simply not doing.
So, model life – and value space. In other words, give people the space to copy you, give people the place to be like you, to do what you do. Let them pray, let them advance, create a place they can grow bigger than six inches long!
Find out what space they need and give it to them. When there are people in your church humble, kind, with character, who are learning, who work with you and honour you, give them space to shine. Find out how to help them grow, find out what they need to read and hear and get it to them. Find out what they need to do. Do not be like Saul and keep all the honey to yourself – let the men share the honey! Let these people know you care about them and love them and want their best.
Next week, we will continue this with looking for the hidden leaders!
Inspiring and Challenging Dreamers 