Building a Core Leadership Team: From Theory to Practice
Healthy and growing churches don't accidentally develop great leaders; they cultivate them.While finding leaders via more organic methods has its place, sustainable ministry growth requires systematic approaches that identify, develop, and deploy emerging leaders with clarity and purpose.
At the heart of leadership development lies one crucial element: communication. We are not talking about announcements or the occasional pat on the back type conversations, but strategic, consistent, and trackable interactions that shape willing volunteers into confident leaders. Having these strategic conversations is essential but so is knowing the history and growth of a developing leader. This is where pairing this process with your church management system (ChMS) or project management system becomes invaluable.
Part 1: The Theory Behind Intentional Leadership Development
The Visibility Principle
Great leaders aren't born in shadows but developed in full view. When churches create visible pathways for leadership development, something powerful happens: people begin to see themselves in leadership roles. The mystery disappears, replaced by clear expectations and achievable steps.
Traditional leadership development often resembles a black box. Someone volunteers faithfully, and then suddenly, they're asked to lead a team with little preparation or clarity about how they arrived at that invitation. This approach creates anxiety for emerging leaders and inconsistency in leadership quality.
By contrast, systematic leadership development creates what we might call "leadership transparency." When people can see a clear set of expectations, track their progress, and take intentional time for self-development, they will engage more confidently in the development process.
The Two-Pipeline Framework
Most churches need two distinct leadership pipelines, each with different rhythms and requirements:
Pipeline 1: Congregants to Lead Volunteers This pipeline moves regular attendees into volunteer leadership roles, such as small group leaders, team coordinators, and ministry point persons. The development cycle here typically spans 6-12 months and focuses on character assessment, basic ministry skills, and team dynamics.
Pipeline 2: High-Capacity Volunteers to Staff This more intensive pipeline develops proven volunteer leaders toward potential staff roles. The timeline extends 12-24 months and emphasizes strategic thinking, organizational leadership, and ministry philosophy alignment.
Understanding these as separate pipelines prevents the common mistake of using the same development approach for vastly different leadership destinations.
Communication as the Foundation
Here's what many churches miss: leadership development is primarily a communication challenge. As a leader myself. The challenge is to provide consistent feedback, to define and set clear expectations, and to have regular connections with current and upcoming leaders. Growing in my leadership, I have found that effective leadership development requires multiple communication touchpoints:
Initial invitation and expectation-setting
Regular progress updates and encouragement
Skill-building opportunities and feedback
Recognition and celebration of growth
Clear communication about next steps
Without systematic communication, even well-intentioned leadership development efforts collapse under the weight of assumption and inconsistency.
The Sustainability Factor
One critical consideration often overlooked is what happens when you develop high-capacity volunteer leaders without staff positions. The answer isn't to slow down development but to create meaningful leadership opportunities that don't lead to burnout.
The worst thing you can do is push a high-capacity volunteer deeper into burnout because they are one of a few people trusted to get the work done. We need to take stock of the required work and the time and energy these people invest in our ministries. We should design volunteer leadership roles with appropriate scope, provide ongoing support systems, and maintain honest conversations about timelines for potential staff transitions. The goal is sustainable engagement, not leadership fatigue.
Part 2: Leveraging Your ChMS to Build a Leadership Pipeline (e.g., Planning Center)
Setting Up Development Workflows
Building a leadership pipeline is essential for the long-term sustainability of developing new leaders. Your current approach looks like this: you identify an upcoming leader, have a brief conversation with them, and set a reminder on your phone. However, life gets busy, and you may forget to follow up promptly. As a result, you might only vaguely remember what you discussed and try your best to involve them, but often, another pressing issue takes precedence. This scenario is common in many churches.
If this resonates with you, please take a few minutes to establish a defined leadership pipeline. This more formal process will ensure you clearly understand the next steps needed for each person you are developing.
Here are two workflows we think will be helpful to establish at your church.
Congregant-to-Volunteer Leader Workflow:
Initial interest capture and basic information gathering
Character reference completion
Ministry-specific training modules
Shadow current leadership and receive mentoring
Formal leadership invitation
Volunteer-to-Staff Pipeline Workflow:
Comprehensive leadership assessment
Extended mentoring period with existing staff
Ministry philosophy alignment discussions
Trial leadership project completion
Staff consideration process
These workflows are not intended to add more work to your plate. Instead, these workflows ensure no one falls through the cracks. We want every potential leader to receive consistent development attention if they seek leadership opportunities.
Strategic Announcements for Leadership Development
Use Planning Center's announcement features to create ongoing leadership development communication:
Monthly "Leadership Spotlight" announcements highlighting development opportunities
Quarterly "Next Steps" communications for people at different pipeline stages
Annual "Leadership Vision" messages casting vision for the coming year's leadership needs
Celebration announcements recognizing newly developed leaders
This approach keeps leadership development visible across your church community while maintaining personal connection with developing leaders.
Implementing Meaningful Check-ins
Regular check-ins separate thriving leadership development from stagnant programs. Schedule quarterly and monthly check-ins for Pipeline 1 participants for Pipeline 2 candidates.
Use these check-ins to:
Assess skill development and identify growth areas
Provide encouragement and address concerns
Adjust development timelines based on individual progress
Gather feedback about the development process itself
Document these check-ins in Planning Center People profiles to maintain institutional memory and ensure consistency during leadership transitions.
Participation Tracking That Informs Decisions
Move beyond anecdotes about persons' readiness for leadership by tracking meaningful metrics. Here are a few ideas you could keep tabs on.
Consistency in current volunteer roles
Initiative-taking in ministry situations
Response time and quality in communication
Engagement in development opportunities
360 Feedback from team members and congregants
Using a data-driven approach removes guesswork from leadership promotion decisions and provides clear feedback on progress for developing leaders.
Creating Effective Onboarding Sequences
First impressions are crucial in leadership development. When individuals feel excited about their onboarding process, it helps them engage in their personal growth. We recommend designing comprehensive onboarding sequences that set new leaders up for success. Here are a few ideas:
Welcome communication that outlines role expectations and available support
Setup of resource access and coordination of the training schedule
Facilitation of introductions with key team members and ministry partners
Initial project assignment with clear success metrics
Scheduling a 30-day check-in for early feedback
Strong onboarding reduces early leadership failures and increases long-term leadership retention.
Moving Forward
Building a core leadership team isn't a destination – it's an ongoing rhythm of identifying, developing, and deploying emerging leaders. The churches that thrive long-term are those that make this rhythm systematic, communication-rich, and sustainably paced.
Technology like Planning Center doesn't create leaders but can dramatically improve how we develop them. When we combine intentional systems with consistent communication, we create environments where leadership naturally multiplies.
Start with one pipeline, build the system, refine through experience, and expand your capacity to develop the leaders your church's future depends on.
Michael Visser
Co-founder, Threefold Solutions
P.S. We assist with coaching, training, strategy, and support.
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