The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
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The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
Why the “Superhero Pastor” is Hurting Your Church
The superhero pastor myth poses one of the biggest threats to church sustainability and health. Ministry was never meant to be a solo act, as Scripture consistently demonstrates shared leadership models from Moses to Jesus to Paul.
• One person carrying the church's mission creates unsustainable pressure
• Shared leadership prevents burnout while reaching and discipling people more effectively
• Warning signs: reluctance to delegate, decisions consistently deferred to one person
• Shared leadership requires intentional design, not just throwing a team together
• Hire staff and recruit volunteers with authority in mind, looking for leaders not just doers
• Clarify decision-making lanes and who decides what
• Celebrate diverse strengths rather than trying to clone yourself
• Coaching is essential for developing shared leadership capacity
• Churches failing to embrace shared leadership risk collapse during transitions
• Leadership ecosystems built around shared authority create resilient, multiplying churches
If you're struggling with how to implement shared leadership, I'd love to hear your story. Reach out anytime at podcast@chemistrystaffing.com.
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Hey, if I could get you to do one thing today, it would be to put out of your head that you could ever be some kind of a superhero pastor. Okay, because I really believe that one of the biggest threats to your church's future is the myth of being a superhero pastor. One person can't and shouldn't carry the weight of your church's mission is the myth of being a superhero pastor. One person can't and shouldn't carry the weight of your church's mission, and we're going to talk about that today. We're going to talk about the challenge of the solo leader model. So maybe you're a solo pastor and we're going to expose why it leads to burnout and dysfunction and maybe hopefully offer a little healthier, more biblical way that can help multiply your ministry through some shared leadership. Okay, so stick around. That's what we're going to be talking about. If you're not a solo pastor, I still think you're going to get some value out of today's podcast, and so stick around.
Speaker 1:My name's Todd Rhodes. I'm one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom and I am your host here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Okay, so mentally we love our pastors, right, but we've set them up for failure in our heads. Sometimes Somewhere along the way, we bought in to this myth that just one magnetic, visionary, high-capacity leader could somehow save the church. But this model creates really unsustainable pressure on just one person. So it does. It creates an unstable pressure on just one person, okay, it bottlenecks growth and innovation. It can leave churches vulnerable in times of transition, for sure, and it also discourages the empowerment of other gifted leaders. So here's the truth that I want to talk about today. Even Jesus especially Jesus right built a team. Okay, ministry is a team sport, not a one-man show. So pastoring was never, ever meant to be a solo act. Scripture constantly shares models of shared leadership, all the way from Moses and his elders to Jesus and his disciples, to Paul's ministry with Barnabas, timothy and others. When churches empower multiple voices and distribute some responsibility and not just put it in one person, when they equip teams, they not only prevent burnout, but they actually will end up reaching more people and discipling people more effectively. Shared authority isn't just a staffing strategy. It really is a spiritual discipline.
Speaker 1:But you might be stuck in this superhero pastor leadership myth model if, first of all, you hesitate to delegate because it's just easier to do it myself. I fall into this trap all the time. People constantly defer decisions to one person usually you and if you try and do everything yourself, you're going to burn out and you're going to kind of step into it. It's just easier and I can do it better myself. That leads to that superhero kind of myth of a pastor.
Speaker 1:Maybe your staff or your volunteers feel disempowered or unclear about their authority. Maybe there's burnout or turnover that you just feel like is quietly creeping in behind the scenes. Now, if any of these kind of scenarios sound familiar, I don't want you to feel any shame because you're not alone. All of us feel that from time to time. I know I feel that more often than what I'd like to admit, but it might be time for a new approach if you're feeling some of those things.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's talk just really briefly about how to share, how to build kind of this shared leadership culture. And let me first say this is not let me tell you what it's not okay. This is not about throwing a team together and just hoping for the best. Okay, this is going to take some intentional design and you say, todd, I don't even know where to start. All right, great, because here's where to start.
Speaker 1:Okay, if you're hiring or if you're finding key volunteers, find people. Hire with that authority in mind. Recruit your volunteers with that authority in mind. Don't just fill roles. You want people in those roles, whether they're staff, paid staff positions or whether they're volunteers that you can empower, that have capacity to actually help be a part of your team and to help you lead. Look for leaders who can lead, not just do so. Hire with authority and again that's staff and volunteers and then, secondly, clarify what those decision-making lanes are. Who decides what? And here's the kicker you can't decide everything. You've got to start sharing some of that responsibility and some of that decision-making, and you can start small at first. But who makes those decisions? Who decides what? When is collaboration required? And really this is going to be.
Speaker 1:Delegation is always hard right when you first start, but if you do it and you do it well and you do it intentionally, it's going to bring you some peace and it's going to help you avoid some of these power struggles that you feel like you might have now. Celebrate diverse strengths. Don't try and clone yourself. You already have one of you. I know the world doesn't need two of me. Maybe they do of you, but not of me. So find people with, maybe, some strengths that are different than you, that you can delegate some of this. The beauty of the body of Christ is in its diversity. And then don't think that you're not going to have to coach. Okay, you're going to have to coach.
Speaker 1:Shared leadership really requires it is it is some additional work to begin with, right, because you're going to have to coach, you're going to have to build into some people, right. It requires some emotional intelligence, it requires some humility, it requires some trust and kind of opening your hands to allow people to take some authority and take some decisions. All those things will grow with your good coaching, and then, finally, you just need to model it yourself. So start handing off some real authority, not just tasks. So why does this even really matter? Why are we talking about this today?
Speaker 1:Todd, churches I really believe this churches that fail to embrace shared leadership at least in one way, shape or form and when I talk about shared leadership, I'm talking about one person can't do it all, right. If you're trying to do it all, you're going to burn out and you will burn out, and that's not going to be good for your church. You're going to struggle with how to scale and how to multiply. If you're trying to do it all of yourself and honestly and this is the red flag here you're going to risk collapse. Your church is when you decide that you've burned out and you can't take it anymore. This risk is going to be really bad, potentially for your church during your transition, because the person that did it all is now gone, and that makes it really hard for a church in transition when you leave. So you want to set up your church and the next leader in a good way? Okay. So churches that build a leadership ecosystem around shared authority, they thrive, they multiply, they're resilient, and it's just not about making your life easier although it will. It's about being faithful stewards of the mission and making sure that it just doesn't eat you up and it doesn't end with you.
Speaker 1:Okay, here's my final thought for today. The bottom line you don't have to wear the cape. All right, put out that illusion. You're not going to be the superhero pastor. You might be able to do it for a few days or a week, or even maybe a month, I don't know. You can do it short term, but it will bite you in the butt. Okay, ministry is best done shoulder to shoulder, not on the shoulders of one. All right, I hope this was encouraging to you today. If you have any questions about this, about Todd, I'm stuck in that rut. How do I get out of it? I'd love to hear from you. Tell me your story. You can reach out to me anytime. Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. I'd love to hear from you. I read every single email that comes in and try to respond to as many as I can, and I hope that you'll join me again tomorrow right here on the Healthy Church Podcast. We're here every day, monday through Friday, to help you along the ministry journey. Hope you have a great day. You.
