MODULE 7: PLANNING FOR GROWTH
If you are the only gardener looking after your garden, you will soon reach your limits. Are you ready to add more gardeners? In this Module we are going to get very practical about how to go from 50 to 500 Alongsiders.
The key to this kind of growth is multiplying yourself as a leader. In the past you did all the mobilizing and equipping. But now you will need to raise up other leaders, just like yourself, to do these tasks.
You can use Alongsiders’ four Core Values as your guide for raising up other leaders. Just as you have adopted the values and mindset of Purpose, Ownership, Belonging, and Mastery, as a “movement gardener” you also want to plant the seeds of these values into the hearts and minds of the new leaders you raising up.
But that means you also need to change your own mindset and approach! It requires a shift in your thinking. Why? Because raising up new leaders in the movement is not the same as raising up new Alongsiders.
Consider these mindset shifts that you need to make in your own heart and mind as you raise up new leaders…
You need to shift your understanding of PURPOSE (from bringing in to releasing). When you recruit new Alongsiders you are helping them to catch the vision. But when you are raising up new leaders, you are challenging people who have already caught the Alongsiders vision to move up to new levels of responsibility and an expanded vision of their role in the movement. You are releasing them outward to a bigger vision and therefore greater responsibility.
Are you seeking and releasing new leaders? Spend some time to pray that God will give you this new purpose to multiply yourselves.
You need to shift your understanding of OWNERSHIP (from taking responsibility yourself to giving authority to your leaders). As a leader and coordinator of Alongsiders, who owns the responsibility for planning and decision making? It is you as the leader. But who owns the responsibility for planning and decision making when you are a leader of other leaders? You are no longer the owner! You have now passed both the responsibility and the authority for decision making to the leaders you have raised up.
This is often the most difficult shift for leaders to make, because they find it difficult to release authority to others. Some leaders make the mistake of thinking that it is enough to pass the responsibility for the work to other leaders without actually giving them the authority to make decisions that should come with that responsibility.
Are you willing to truly release ownership – both responsibility and authority – to the new leaders you are raising up? Open up your hands and spend some time to pray that God will help you to not hold onto authority, that God will help you to release and bless leaders with His authority and leadership skills.
You need to shift your understanding of BELONGING (from a community of Alongsiders to a community of leaders). One of the greatest joys of being a leader of Alongsiders is that you play a direct role in building a beautiful community of welcome for both Alongsiders and their LBS.
But what happens when you are a leader of other leaders? Now your primary community of belonging within the movement is with the leaders you have raised up.
This can be a challenging mindset shift for you as a leader because you may have less direct contact with the community of Alongsiders that you originally established. It is much more exciting and inspiring to lead and participate directly in the community of changed lives among Alongsiders and their LBS than to deal with the challenges that your community of leaders will face. But your responsibility as a leader of leaders is to encourage, support, and welcome them into a new community of leadership so that they feel connected and committed to one another. Then you are truly leading at the next level of belonging.
Write down the names of leaders you will shepherd. Spend some time to pray that your team will grow to encourage, trust and build up one another.
You need to shift your understanding of MASTERY (from building the capacity of Alongsiders to building the capacity of leaders). As a leader of Alongsiders you already know how to train them and start a new movement by using the various resources that have been provided to you. We call these kinds of practical skills and knowledge “hard skills”.
But as you train and build up the capacity of your leaders, you will need to shift your focus more towards building their “soft skills”. These are things such as their attitudes, how they work with others, how they make decisions, and how they nurture their spiritual life and manage their emotions.
Mastery for leaders is less about growing in skills and more about growing in maturity. Are you ready to make the shift to helping your leaders grow in this next level of Mastery?
Spend some time to pray for the leaders in your movement, that they may continue to grow and mature in their relationship with God and in character and skills.
Finally, watch this animated training video about the various leadership roles in a fully functioning and growing Alongsiders movement:
Elders
Coordinators
Area Reps
Group Leaders
Alongsiders
Little brothers and sisters.
Then begin to plan out below who you can recruit to move into the leadership gaps.
In this video you saw that we have identified different levels of leadership. Just as the gardeners work together to grow the garden, our community of leaders work side by side, keep adding more leaders, and together with God grow the movement.
Questions
ROLE PLAY ACTIVITY
Pretend that you are a group of potential elders and one of you is a coordinator. One by one, role play as the coordinator who is sharing the vision with these potential elders.
BIBLE STUDY
When Jesus sent out the 72 in Luke 10, He was spreading a movement. He told these 36 teams that their job was to go “ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.”
Then Jesus asked them to look for a “person of peace” (Lk 10:5-7). These “people of peace” would be the ones who welcomed his disciples and showed Kimgdom values such as hospitality.
In the Alongsiders movement God has asked us to especially look for the following Kingdom values: Belonging, Ownership, Mastery and Purpose.
When you identify a “person of peace,” they will demonstrate a commitment to these values already in their lives.
Belonging? They will already be welcoming children and youth into their lives.
Ownership? They will already be people who want to lead and not just look for outside funds.
Mastery? They will be people who demonstrate some of the teaching and networking skills necessary to lead in a movement.
Purpose? They will be people who are passionate about the gospel of Jesus.
Who are the peacemakers: your future leaders? Who is God laying on your heart right now as you read the Scriptures. Take some time to pray for discernment as you seek those who would become Elders, Area Reps and Group Leaders in your movement.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Congratulations! You’ve completed the Mobilizer 201 training course. You know the four keys God has given us to multiply the movement - Purpose, Ownership, Belonging and Mastery. And you know that you will need to multiply leaders - especially Area Reps to build your movement. We’ll be praying for you as you begin to grow - from 50 to 500 Alongsiders!