| Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT: Mentoring Team Leaders
Introduction Mentoring networks for us evolved naturally through reproducing teams as discussed above. But mentoring team leaders is a bit different than training church planters. We believe that each team is autonomous and thus each team leader needs to be learning how to hear the voice of God through prayer, his circumstances, his team, and networking with other leaders including a mentor. Often new leaders experience a sort of reaction to the leader they served under much like an adolescent who is leaving home. Facilitating such a one can be tricky. Also when someone with no deep relationship approaches a mentor for help, it should be done so in a way that does not compromise that team leaders place with his team. This chapter gives some ideas on approaches to mentoring we have found helpful.
Church Planting: A Craft not a Science At the outset one who is going to mentor church planters must realize that church planting is a craft rather than a science. If church planting were a science, then the task could be reduced to a formula or methodology which could be repeated over and over again with predictable results. Too often, I think, church planters are looking for a scientific, predictable formula by which churches can be planted. But looking for such a method can actually short-circuit God's plan for using the task of church planting to stimulate growth and development on the part of the church planter. Church planting is more like a craft. There may be certain principles which all craftsman (say a carpenter) must use, but the way he uses them, when, and how will differ according to the particular strengths and weaknesses of the craftsman. There are many different ways to build a house. Each craftsman will have to learn how to accentuate his strengths and compensate for his weakness. No two craftsmen will be identical. When a team is involved in planting a church the combination of strengths and weaknesses of all the members become very unique indeed and it will require great discernment to help the team leader figure out the best combinations.
Different Material Each time a church planter builds there will be subtle differences in the materials with which he works. A carpenter may use oak or pine when building a cabinet. Even if he is using the same wood there will be subtle differences such as the grain, knots etc. All this must be taken into account as he lovingly builds his cabinet. The material which God provides for the church planter is people. The leader will have to take into account both the people God has placed on his team as well as the people God has brought to begin His church. The team leader needs to allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide him as he discerns his part in bringing to pass God's plan of building a church. Part of the church planting task is allowing the Spirit to flow through him in the process of working with God's people. This will include including utilizing his strengths and illuminating his weaknesses. In the process of starting the church the church planter himself will be transformed. A mentor needs to see this as crucial to his task of training team leaders. Character flaws in the church planter will become evident as he struggles with barriers which arise in the particular task of church planting. They may be flaws related to his relationship with his wife, his kids, others on the team or those in the church. Often they will have to do with the way he deals with conflict, frustration, or disappointment. Patterns of reacting to these things are learned early in life and often persist well into his life in the Kingdom. God will test the motives and intentions of his heart through the often difficult circumstances of church planting. The church planter will often come up short of reacting in a Godly fashion. Correcting these character flaws is crucial in learning the tools of the trade. By learning how to correct these things in himself, thus building character, this will give him patience in working with others as well as insight into how to build character in them as they go through trials. Many a skilled craftsman has been wrecked on the shoals of sin due to character flaws which should have been corrected when they became manifest early in his ministry. But left alone, they gradually erode the walk of a believer by giving the devil a place of attack (Cf. Ephesians 4:25-32). Contrariwise, when one has progressed through the necessary transformation he has more weight in dealing with spiritual matters in his own family, team and church.
Training Craftsmen The nuts and bolts of church planting I have cover in the next chapter, so I won't cover them in depth here. Suffice it to say that a thorough study of Acts 20:17-38 and other similar passages where Paul details how he planted the church will show that there are many tools which need to be in the church planters tool box. Each church planter will have a unique blend of strengths and weaknesses which will determine how he will engage in the task. How does the church planter learn the craft? Like any craft it is learned over a long period of time. Trial and error play a large part. Getting to know ones limitations as well as ones strengths takes time. Learning how to discern the resources God provides (in the form of people and especially leaders) will take years. Many mistakes will be made and sometimes one might despair of ever learning the craft. But we need to be encouraged by remembering the years of preparation required by the apostle Paul (14 years) and some of his apprentices like Timothy.
The Process of Mentoring An apprenticeship process can greatly speed the training of a church planter. New team leaders can be helped by having a master craftsman who can keep a watchful eye on them, giving suggestions, constructive criticism as well as encouragement! Such a relationship is perhaps best seen in Paul's relationship to Timothy. A mentor of church planters should himself be a master craftsman. He should have much experience in the many different facets involved in birthing and nurturing of a church. Evangelism, shepherding, counseling, leadership development, discipline, conflict resolution, motivating listless and stubborn sheep (and shepherds!)--all these are areas in which the mentor should have experience. The mentor can emphasize certain foundational principles since these will be common to all churches (eg. I Cor. 3:10ff). But the mentor should keep in mind that each church planter is unique, each team is unique and each church being planted is unique. The church is a living organism and will grow into its calling according to the resources God provides, the environment, strengths and weaknesses. Church planters are the midwives bringing it to birth (Gal.4:19), nursing it to a place of health and vitality, and then moving on, commending them to the Lord and the power of the Spirit. We have found many parallels between church planting and child rearing! The mentor comes with a big bag of tools and has experience in how to use them. One aspect of the calling of a master craftsman is to pass his wisdom on to others (2 Timothy 2:2). So he makes himself available to other church planters, taking tools from his bag and teaching them by experience how to use them. As such, the mentor must always remember that he is a facilitator! His goal is to equip the apprentice to do the task. There are times when he will have to show him, and the apprentice will be an onlooker. But the training is not done until the apprentice can do it himself. Therefore, why something is done is important as what is done. This is essential if the apprentice will one day be able to utilize the tools in a variety of contexts. The mentor should keep in mind that when the a tool is truly learned and appropriated by the apprentice he will wield it in a different way than the mentor. The important thing is that the practice is suitable to the apprentice---not the mentor!
The Function of a Mentor The mentor is still himself a learner. Simply because a master has a bag full of tools with which he has much experience does not prevent him from learning more at each opportunity. Indeed the skilled craftsman learns by doing, and thus a mentor will learn each time he works with an apprentice. He will learn more about his own strengths and weaknesses for they will look different when matched up with new and different people. He will learn more about people as he strives to understand his apprentices, and rather than demanding uniformity in methodology, strives to see the apprentice develop within his own strengths and weaknesses. A big part of the growth of the master occurs as he strives to see the work through the eyes of the apprentice. It is probably best that the mentor not be on the scene with an apprentice the whole time. If he is making trips to visit to apprentice, he will be certain to find times when he can see the work close up as well as see the apprentice in action. He needs to be asking many questions, collecting as much data as possible. He will need to learn the personality of the apprentice and the team in which he is working. He will need to get to know the converts, contributing aspects of the culture etc. etc. He needs to be careful in jumping to conclusions thus leading to superficial answers to complex problems. The mentor must be an encourager. Jesus encouraged his disciples six times for every time he criticized them. We need to be reinforcing everything we see as good and helpful. The apprentice should be secure in his strengths! The mentor needs to be a character builder. Many times in this process the mentor will see flaws in the character of the apprentice as well as in his methods. He should lovingly point these out and show how they will inhibit his effectiveness as well as how they may be dangerous to the long term health of the apprentice. Those that will prove fatal, he must demand change in and work until the character is reformed more closely into the image of Christ. If the apprentice rejects the help this will likely lead to a parting of the ways. But the mentor must keep in mind that the times of greatest openness on the part of an apprentice is usually when he is suffering (Romans 5:3-5) and failing. Thus it is important for a mentor to be geographically close enough to arrive on the scene during crisis, for it is crisis which will often reveal fatal flaws. Also it is at these times when the apprentice is often most open to seeing flaws in his own life and what God might want him to learn through the crisis. The mentor needs to teach by demonstration. As the mentor gathers data, and begins to get a handle on the size of the apprentices tool box, he begins to open his chest of tools and bring out those which might be helpful. It is best to bring them out one at a time so that the apprentice will not be overwhelmed. It might feed the mentor's ego to impress apprentices, but it is often very discouraging for them (I could never be like you!). Each time the mentor brings out a tool he explains that the tool won't exactly do the job. The apprentice needs to adapt it to his use, his team and the needs of the community thus making it his own. The mentor needs to have broad enough experience to figure out which tool is most important for the apprentice to use first and then progress to others tools when appropriate. The apprentice needs to practice using the tool as soon as possible. The master may need to demonstrate it (modeling) once or twice, but the apprentice needs to wield it soon--even if poorly. It will take years for him to become a master (and indeed many will never be called to this task), so it is no wonder that the mentor is able to use the tool better. If the master needs to demonstrate, he should do so in a simple and humble way. The goal is not to get the apprentice to ohhh and ahhh, but rather to give him confidence that the tool can be wielded. An ego only gets in the way of being an effective mentor. A mentor's joy should not be in his own ability but in those of his pupils. If possible, the apprentice should practice in the presence of the mentor so that the master can give TONS OF ENCOURAGEMENT as well as A BIT of helpful advice. REMEMBER HE WILL LEARN OVER TIME! As the apprentice gains confidence, the master should encourage him to experiment and be flexible in trying new ways of using the tool. Uniformity should not be demanded. Church Planting is not a science, but a craft! There is more than one way to plant a church. The mentor should give the apprentice as much responsibility as he is able to take. DON'T BE AFRAID OF A FEW FAILURES! WE LEARN MORE FROM OUR FAILURES THAN OUR SUCCESSES! Keep him in deep water. If the mentor is a team leader training new members of the team, as soon as the apprentice has gained some experience in many of the facets of church planting confirm him as a full fledged church planter; no longer an apprentice (in craftsman terms--a journeyman). Do so in the presence of his team and then be certain you never undermine the confidence you have bestowed on him. It is important to bestow honor on those who have achieved a certain level of competence. If the apprentice is a team leader, the mentor needs to find ways to promote his apprentices stature within his team. The mentor needs to be very careful that he does not allow other members of the team to develop loyalties to the him. Doing so will only sour the relationship between the mentor and the team leader. Any correction of the team leader should be done privately with him taking the appropriate steps of restitution with any other members of the team he may have affected. As the mentor backs off, he needs to recognize that the journeyman will still need lots of encouragement. The mentor needs to be a good cheerleader and a good prayer. Commend him to the Lord, intercede for him, but don't inhibit his development by hanging around too much. Be a resource at a distance. Always look for opportunities to bring him to a new level of effectiveness. Always be on the lookout for those that have the stuff of a master and give them more time, encouraging them to begin mentoring other aspiring apprentices. Help them build networks by recommending to other team leaders who may be seeking you out to instead seek help from new emerging mentors. Look for some of your best apprentices to give to these new, emerging masters. Save the toughest, and those least likely to succeed for yourself. After all--you are a master!
Conclusion We are talking a long road. In our experience a team member apprentices under a team leader from 1 to 5 years depending on his life experience and Christian experience. Some, even many, during that time will find that they are not called to church planting and will return to ministry in the local church. For this there is no shame since the purpose of church planting teams is to build and strengthen the church. Others will gain enough facility with the tools to progress to being journeyman, heading up works and even leading teams. I think it unlikely for a journeyman to become a master before 10-15 years of total experience. We must keep in mind that some, even most church planters may not be called to be masters--that is, primarily engaged in training new church planters and reproducing new masters from journeyman. There is no shame in being a journeyman church planter, for they will directly plant more churches than masters since a master must split time between training and planting. I would think it unlikely for men to be masters much before age 40. We need to keep in mind that God saved us with a plan in mind, and like Paul we need to "strive to lay hold of that for which I have been laid hold of by Christ Jesus". (Philippians 3:12). He has a path for each one of us. Let us press on to that whether it be a leader in the church, a journeyman church planter or a master builder. Let's be committed to help any others we can along the way in whatever way we can.
Worksheet 1. Go through the Church Planters Checklist and evaluate your state of preparedness. You might make a sub list of those things which appear to be especially crucial to being effective church planters. Make a note of those things you believe God has specially gifted you.2. Take time to take stock of the tools in your toolbox and which new ones needed to be added. Where are your weaknesses? How can you grow in these areas? 3. How effectively have you passed on to others what you have learned? How can you be more effective? 4. Make a list of those you are mentoring. What do you have that you need to be passing on to them? Is your ego getting in the way? 5. If you don't have any specific person, who on your team do you see as being the most likely one who could take over from you in the event God called you on? What can you be doing to equip that person for being an effective TL? 6. See the chapter on Hard Targets. Set them for your mentoree's. Plan the work and work the plan. Back |