Guy Chevreau On Ministry And Leadership

In preparation for our forthcoming move to a new appointment in six months’ time, I decided to buy one or two books that might help freshen up my vision or challenge me afresh on some ministry basics. One was ‘Vital Signs of a Healthy Church‘ by Guy Chevreau. I thought I’d share a couple of quotes from his chapter on leadership:

is the senior leader raising up for himself devoted followers or empowered leaders? (p 44f)

Leaving aside what I as an egalitarian see as an unfortunate ‘himself’ in that quote (and I don’t know Chevreau’s views on that subject), I think this is a good plumbline for our motives and vision. A page or two later, he gives a beautiful example of this in practice:

Our Sunday School superintendent was a woman named Fay. At one of our monthly meetings I asked her, “If you could do anything you wanted for the kingdom of God, what would it be and what would it take?” She had an immediate answer: “I’d put together a summer tutoring program for my kids.” (p 46)

It transpires that Fay taught special needs children at a local school. As a result of her vision, the church began an outreach and involved older members of the congregation in nurturing children with a difficult background. What a great question Chevreau asked, and what a wonderful result, because it empowered the vision of a church member, rather than everything just coming down from the top of a leadership pyramid.