and the organization , there ’ s a good chance that things will get off course . If you want your people to succeed , they need to know what you expect and what direction they should be heading in .
I visit quite a few churches and I think this is the number one area that needs improvement . So many leaders haven ’ t figured out what they and their teams should be about , and they definitely haven ’ t communicated it to their team . So much flows out of defining who we are and what we ’ re about , that without it , your ministry or business doesn ’ t have a chance .
If you want to experience growth , you need to spend some time to figure out what matters and then communicate it often to your team .
TRUST
If you find you are moving from doing everything yourself to needing people to empower , finding trustworthy individuals is key . Not only do they need to be considered trustworthy in a general sense , but you actually need to trust them . You . Trust them .
You are finally letting go of doing everything yourself and now you ’ re going to release your grip on certain tasks . You want to know that you can trust the people you are handing it off to .
Finding the right people to join your organization is crucial , however I ’ d like to assume that you ’ ve got people around you that want to be involved and are worthy of your trust . From a leadership perspective , the challenge here is more about actually trusting these people with the vision and mission that you ’ ve communicated .
For people to join your ministry in a meaningful way , you need to trust them . More importantly , they need to feel trusted . For your organization to grow , your people need to feel empowered to carry out the tasks required .
I have a friend that leads a large worship arts ministry , and he says people shouldn ’ t feel loved , they should actually be loved . Whoa . The same applies to trust and empowerment . We shouldn ’ t be figuring out how to make people feel trusted or empowered . We should actually trust and empower them .
If a person on your team gets the vibe that you don ’ t trust them , they are going to lose the fire and passion for the ministry and just start hitting a to-do list . “ Just tell me what to do and I ’ ll do it .” This can only last so long . And it is a horrible way to grow a ministry or business . You need people with as much ownership as you , not people who are just waiting for orders .
RELEASE
In startup mode , you have your hands directly touching everything out of necessity . If you didn ’ t do everything yourself , it wouldn ’ t get done . Now , to grow the business , you need to move beyond this way of doing work . You need to strategically release chunks of the work to other , trusted people .
One of the big challenges with handing off tasks to be done , is that nobody will do things exactly the way you do . As a leader of a growing ministry , it is important to figure out what can be released and what can only be done by you . Once you ’ ve figured that out , the second challenge is to learn the difference between someone doing something the wrong way or just a different way .
Early on as a ministry leader , I came face to face with this idea . I was leading someone who wasn ’ t doing things exactly the way I wanted them to , and it seemed like we talked about it often and nothing was changing . At a certain point , I wondered how important it was that this person did things exactly the way I would . Would it be better if I let them go and did it myself again ? Or maybe it is just as good as how I would do it , just different . I knew I couldn ’ t survive without the help this person provided and I decided to release my grip on this part of my old job and allow someone to help grow our ministry in their unique way .
The upside of releasing whole areas to trusted people is that I ’ ve been able to focus on the things I must do , instead of just doing everything . They are also more passionate and more gifted in the areas that I ’ ve released to them , which makes our organization better . They love what they get to do , and I love that I can focus on the parts that only I can do .
Startup mode is one thing . Growing mode is another . As a leader , building a team is key to increasing the impact of your ministry or business . This can only happen if you channel your startup tenacity into tenacity for communicating vision , tenacity for trusting people and the tenacity to release them to help grow the ministry .
Ask yourself these questions :
1 . When was the last time you sat down to get back in touch with what you and your team should be about ?
2 . When was the last time you communicated expectations to the team ?
3 . Do you trust your people ? Do they know it ?
4 . What is one area of responsibility that you need to release to someone else ?
Todd Elliott Todd is a writer , speaker , technical artist in the local church and founder of FILO , which stands for First In , Last Out . FILO was born out of his own need as a technical artist in the local church to be in community with other church tech people , to learn new ways of doing things and to be inspired that what he did mattered . The more FILO-type people he met , the more convinced he was that these are things we all need . That ’ s why FILO exists : to equip , encourage and inspire technical artists in the local church to become the best version of ourselves . Formerly the Technical Arts Director at Willow Creek Community Church , he started FILO in 2015 to help other technical artists become more effective so that the local church can be more effective . In his free time , he enjoys being inspired by Winston Churchill speeches and visiting the gravesites of U . S . presidents . Residing near Chicago , he and his wife Bissy have three kids and a dog ... none of whom are into production .
FILO ’ s flagship event happens yearly : Our next FILO Conference will be May 6-7 , 2025 at Willow Creek Church , South Barrington , Illinois .
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