Are the People You Lead Flourishing?

I wish there was a scorecard or rubric for being a pastor. You know, something that would let me know whether I was leading well and basically…being a good pastor.

Some days it’s pretty clear. Most of the time, it’s not. But the real issue is that day in and day out, we have no idea how to tell whether we are leading well. But I think there’s a question we can ask that can at least give us an idea.

Are the people you lead flourishing?

When you lead someone, they are under your care. Most of the time, we think of those who lead as bosses—they’re the ones in charge. Of course, that’s true in most situations, but that’s not the only part of being in leadership. Jesus said that those who would seek to be in any kind of authority ought to think first of serving, rather than being in charge:

"But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:43-45, ESV

To serve someone is to act in their best interest. In other words, to work so that they will flourish. So if leading means serving, and serving means working to see someone flourish, then “Are the people you lead flourishing” is a good measure for how you’re leading. But what does that look like?

Spiritual Flourishing

As is true for each of these categories, you are not solely responsible for the spiritual health of those you lead. However, don’t you want to be the kind of leader that fosters an environment where people grow in their relationship with Jesus? Let’s be honest: It’s easy in a ministry staff to focus more on the doing and the results than how those on your team are really doing spiritually. The same is true in an environment where the people you lead are primarily volunteers. They show up, put on a name tag, do their job, and head home week in and week out. But are they flourishing spiritually? Do you have any idea about their relationship with 

Emotional Flourishing

Like spiritual health, it can be difficult to know how the people you lead are doing emotionally. One of the best things we can do as leaders is to acknowledge that emotional health is important. In a day when emotional health has become recognized as an important part of one’s overall health, I’m not sure we in ministry leadership really give emotional health it as much weight as we should. So how are the people you lead doing…really? Again, this isn’t solely your responsibility, but if you love the people you lead, you’ll create a safe place where it really is okay not to be okay.

Relational Flourishing

You know how when your phone rings and you look at the screen, there are certain names that pop up that make you think twice about answering the call? It’s not that you dislike that person, it’s just one of those phone calls you’re not sure you’re up for. Have you ever though about how your team feels when your name or another team member’s name pops up on their screen? No staff is perfect, and your goal shouldn’t be that everyone would always agree with one another. Rather, the goal should be a team where healthy conflict is valued, where team members keep short accounts with one another, and where people are truly for one another. This doesn’t mean that everyone has to be best friends, and depending on the size and makeup of your staff, it probably isn’t all that realistic. But you can have a team where gossip is nonexistent, where people feel free to share their opinions and ideas, where laughter and fun is the norm, and where conflict is resolved quickly in a healthy way.

What are some other signs that the people you lead are flourishing?