Overwhelmed in Ministry? 10 Ways to Empower Others For Ministry

Overwhelmed? Frustrated? Not meeting your deadlines? Flirting with burnout? Tasks and/or people falling through the cracks in your ministry? These are just some signs of a person who needs to empower others in ministry. You are a good leader. You love people. You are amazing. YET, you have come to a place where you’ve reached your capacity. You have reached your max. To be honest, everyone in ministry does. BUT, it is your choice what to do next. Burnout or Empower?

Obviously, it is best to empower others. But how? Well, here are some practical ways to START empowering others for ministry:

60/80 Rule

It is said if someone can do 60% of what you do at 80%, then it frees you up 60% to do something else. In other words, you may be able to do it better than others but that isn’t the point. The point is to empower others so you can do things that only you can do. What are the things that only you can do?

Delegate with a Task

Give tasks away. Administrative tasks. Follow-up tasks. Event tasks. Give people tasks to do. Communicate well. You will empower others if you do.

Debrief

Offer insight. Ask for feedback. Give feedback. Setup monthly debreifs. This will help empower others as you listen, adjust, and resource towards empowerment.

Meet with your team weekly.

Meet often. Keep communication high. Why? Because the everyday grind of life causes drift. Vision drift. Task drift. Ministry drift. People drift. Meet weekly with people to maintain empowerment high in others.

Build in Accountability

You cannot build accountability with your team unless you resource them to complete a task, ministry, project (I encourage you to read that again). Have you given your team the appropriate resources to help them succeed? This is good empowerment.

Delegate with Decision-Making

When you have a team member who completes tasks well, then they have the capacity to do more. Empower them to make decisions. Give them the opportunity to make decisions for ministry, organization, business. This will create buy-in and longevity. Have you given your leaders the empowerment of making decisions for the ministry/business/organization?

Win as a Team

Celebrate wins together. Encourage each other. Champion those who are doing a good job. Highlight those who are tackling difficult tasks. Win as a team, not as individuals.

Have Fun Together

There is something to be said when teams connect. Build memories. Share stories over fun. Learn how to empower your team through fun. How do you have fun with your team?

Mentor

For younger leaders, mentoring is empowerment. It is the ability to be on an intentional journey towards growth, capacity, and character development. Not only that, but mentoring is one of the ways younger leaders feel invested and “buy-in” to an organization. How are you empowering younger leaders?

If you are looking at ways to mentor, take a look at the DUCO Intentional Mentoring Journey.

Release

Last, the most strategic and important reality for leaders; who are overwhelmed, burnt out, and exhausted, is to learn how to release leadership. If you follow the ideas above, releasing leadership should be seamless. How are you releasing leaders?

Overwhelmed? Tired? Frustrated? Empower others.

What are some ways that you have empowered others for ministry? Feel free to add to the conversation.