Who to Invite Into the Inner Circle

Every pastor who wants to see their church grow is intentional about developing leaders.  These pastors grow and develop their leaders through a variety of means, and meeting regularly is typically one of those ways.  These meetings can be called a lot of things, my church calls them Partner-In-Leadership (PIL) meetings, but the common factor is that the time in the meetings is spent on developing leaders through casting vision, teaching skills, praying together, sharing stories of what God has done in the church, and more.  Who should a pastor invite to these leadership meetings, though?  I believe there are at least four groups of people who should be invited.

First, positional leaders should be invited.  This is the people your church that lead various ministries, whether that be men’s or women’s ministry, ushers, greeters, children’s, youth or other ministries.  This also includes the staff, board members and perhaps even their spouses.  Anyone who has a position of leadership in the church should be invited.

Second, influential leaders should be invited.  Some people are leaders in the church despite the fact they do not have a title to go with their name.  They may not be leading the men’s or women’s ministry but they may be a man or woman of great influence. Perhaps they don’t lead the Christian education ministry but everyone knows they are the best teacher in the church. Or, maybe they have just been attending the church longer than most.  Whatever the reason, despite the fact they do not have a position of leadership, they still have influence and they should be invited.

Next, leaders in training should be invited.  This could be Bible college or seminary students doing a formal internship.  It could be people in the congregation that have simply expressed an interest in going to the next level in their commitment to the church or have even said they are interested in exploring the possibility of vocational ministry.  The bottom line is that they are people who may not be leading a ministry now, but likely will be in the future.

Finally, those you see potential in should be invited.  From time-to-time, you will no doubt have those in your church that just show tremendous potential.  They may not be leading a ministry now, they may not have much influence in the church, they may not even say that they what to be trained to lead, but when you look at them you just know that there is something special there.  Inviting them to be a part of what God is doing at the leadership level in your church just might be the spark that they need to take that next step in their walk with God.

Positional leaders, influential leaders, leaders in training and those you see potential in are all people that should be invited to your church leadership meetings.  Getting these four groups together to pray, cast vision, share stories of what God is doing and for leadership training has the potential to greatly impact your church.

What do you think, though?  Are there other people who should be invited to be a part of these inner circle meetings?