Responsibility of a Leader Developer

Last week we noticed how Jesus guided his disciples through the four stages of beginning, growing, maturing and reproducing, using four different methods— instructing , coaching , mentoring , and commissioning .

In the beginning stage, Jesus cast a compelling vision (see Matthew 4:18-22...from “fishing for fish” to “fishing for people”) to the disciples and gave them very specific instructions (see Matthew 10..."don't go there, but go here," "proclaim this message," "don't take these things along") for their mission. He primarily instructed them.

During the growing stage, Jesus focused primarily on coaching. One example of this is found in Matthew 17:14-20 where Jesus privately equipped the disciples with more instructions after their failure to cast out a demon. Although they had cast out demons prior to this event, this failure was overcome by Jesus giving them support and more information.

At the maturing stage, Jesus mentored his disciples. A great example of this is found in Matthew 14:22-33 where Jesus invited Peter to walk on water—a task for which he had the ability though no prior experience. Mentoring focuses on giving capable people greater challenges and helping them through difficulties.

At the final stage of reproducing, Jesus commissioned his disciples and got out of the way (Matthew 28:18-20). Evidence of this level of empowerment is Peter ministering like Jesus in Acts 2:14, 36-38. Had Jesus not ascended to his Father, his disciples would have most likely continued to defer to him and not reached their full potential.

[Next week I will wrap up the first phase of Beginning the Journey of Serving Leadership with a look at the "Doing" disciplines.]