A local, regional or national church ought to have a clear vision for its operations.  A clear vision leads to a unified effort, which of course, results in great ministry impact.  A clear vision also provides freedom and empowerment for the people to be who God created them to be.  Leaders who empower the people around them believe:

• It’s less about the leader and more about God – ordained vision
• It’s less about the leader and more about those being led
• It’s less about the leader and more about synergy of the body.

Paul describes the responsibility of leaders in the church this way:

Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12 – 13) NLT

That’s exactly what I mean about leadership being less about the leader and more about those being led.  Our role as leaders is to “equip God’s people to do His work”.  The leader doesn’t do the work – God’s people do His work.  God’s people don’t do the leader’s work – they do God’s work.

No wonder Paul writing on the Holy Spirit’s gifts in I Corinthians 12 uses the human body to illustrate how indispensable the various parts are to one another.  There is no way a local church can realize her fullest potentials when she has not discovered and properly utilized the various parts that God had already given to the church.  The greatest set back of the church is in her inability to harness latent potentials within her circle.  These gifts are lying dormant among the men and women of the church, especially the younger generation who at best are transition members.  People are not likely to abandon a church that is interested in them and helps to make them be the best that they can be.

As leaders, our worth is not just to delegate people to task. I am not talking about delegation, but empowerment.  When you delegate, you are still responsible, but when you empower, you free them to do the task even as you still hold them accountable.

A similar thing happened in the Old Testament when Jethro told his son-in-law Moses:

 Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. (Exodus 18:21) NKJV

Again, in the New Testament we see Paul instruct Timothy:

And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (II Timothy 2:2) NKJV

All through the Bible we see leadership being entrusted into the hands of responsible people who carried on the ministry.  Leadership isn’t leadership if it isn’t released to others.