Several Saturdays ago, we had a glorious moment in our home. While taking on the rather boring task of clearing out a filing cabinet, I came across a collection of my old, school reports. What followed was an amusing hour of reading and laughing our way through comments from my old teachers, covering a wide spectrum from class clown to committed student.
However, amidst all the mild rebukes and generic platitudes, one comment caught my eye. Perhaps it grabbed my attention because of my passion for sport, but the comment was written by my PE teacher when I was around the age of 12: “Rick has an outstanding knowledge of the world’s football players.”
That was it. Nothing more. No comments about my ability on the actual pitch. No predictions about my future potential as a professional player earning millions in the big leagues. Just that I knew some stuff about football.
In other words, my ability was limited but my knowledge was vast!
Experience and training
I wonder when it comes to leadership in the Church, if it can be difficult to get these two things working together in harness. Perhaps as we think about a younger generation of leaders we know some who know lots about leadership theory, but have little leadership experience. Others have lots of leadership opportunities, with little opportunity for leadership training.
When it comes to equipping a fresh generation of leaders across the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, we are determined that they might have both. We want to see them equipped with deeper knowledge about leadership that helps to empower them for their leadership practice.
As I read Luke’s gospel, I notice a hinge point in chapters 9 and 10: “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place where He was about to go.” (Luke 10:1)
Producing leaders
Up until this point, Jesus has been preaching, teaching, healing, ministering, leading and reaching out. The jobs and the talks and the events have largely been done by Him. However, there is a transitioning of scenes in these two chapters, as suddenly Jesus tells His followers that it’s their turn. He gives them instructions and then He sends them out into the mission field.
Jesus didn’t hold on to leadership or ministry roles so tightly for Himself that He refused to let others around Him play their part. Instead He invested in those around Him and released them into ministry. Leadership in the church isn’t just about having lots of followers, but actually about producing more leaders. We aren’t called to be leaders who have lots of followers - we are meant to be followers who develop lots of leaders.
The purpose of Emerge – a leadership development programme within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland – is to do just that. Emerge is a brilliant way of both equipping and enabling those already serving and leading across our church. Through a process of four sessions and one overnight residential we hope to see a new collection of young and emerging leaders from across this land grow in their knowledge and practice of leadership.
Having already run for the last two years, a brand-new season of Emerge launches in January 2018 and we want to invite you to get on board. If you are a young leader keen to grow in your abilities and want to share in learning with other leaders at a similar stage but a different context, then we would love you to join us for Emerge 2018.
Or if you want to discover a way to further invest in some young leaders within your congregation, then please pass on this information about Emerge. The closing date for applications is just two months away, Friday, 8th December 2017. So click here for all the info and watch the video below to catch a glimpse of last year’s course.
United Appeal // Emerging leaders // Training from Presbyterian Church in Ireland on Vimeo.
Rick Hill is the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s Discipleship Officer.
For more information about Emerge visit this page and sign up for the next programme here.