Around 15 years into our marriage my wife decided that she no longer wanted to be chauffeured around in the car – she wanted to learn to drive. I enthusiastically purchased some ‘learner’ signs, added her to my insurance and handed her the keys.

Then I did something that I had never done before – I sat in the passenger seat. This was my first experience of this new position and it just seemed wrong. I had no helpful mirrors to aid my view and no controls available to drive the vehicle (unless you count the imaginary brake pedal I was about to try and use on numerous occasions).

As we embarked on one of the greatest tests of our marriage to date (I don’t advise spouses to teach each other how to drive), I was about to learn a big lesson. Losing the controls of the drivers seat caused me to feel more than unfamiliar – it caused me to feel vulnerable. I was still responsible for the safety of the car but the controls were in someone else’s hands. I knew how to drive but now I had to think hard about how I could pass on over 20 years of intuitive driving so I could coach someone else to do so.

A Model Of Visionary Leadership

My mind raced back to a model of visionary leadership which I’ve heard numerous times in my life. A model which said something like this: ‘A leader is like a driver of a bus – they must have a clear vision of where they are going, be able to communicate it effectively and then create opportunities for people to get on or off depending on whether or not they want to go to that destination’.

And here I was in my car – not in the drivers seat but in the passenger seat. I was missing my regular position and missing the steering wheel and foot controls. Then suddenly I felt the Holy Spirit whisper something to me. I heard Him say ‘Leadership is not about filling a bus with passengers but about filling the roads with drivers’. In other words, leaders are not meant to just ‘drive’ – they are meant to train and empowers others to ‘drive’,

fill the road with drivers rather than fill the bus with passengers

For many years, leaders have had their hands on the controls and hopefully taken people to some great destinations. Congregations have been encouraged to ‘get behind the vision of the leaders’, ‘sing songs on the journey’, ‘look out for one another on the way’ and maybe even ‘share their sweets’ – but God is looking for the passengers to develop skills so they can drive and He wants His leaders to empower them to do so.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service Ephesians 4:11-12

The purpose of the five key ministries given to the church, Apostle, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers, are to ‘equip’ or prepare the people of God for service. Each leader who manifests one of these gifts is not meant to just demonstrate them, but to use their gifting to coach and pass on to others. Each needs to be able to sit in the ‘passenger seat’ and develop others so they can also ‘drive’ with these gifts also.

Leaders – if our vision is to ‘fill the bus’ with an ever growing number of people, then our vision is too small. We need to deal with any insecurity that comes from giving the controls and invest ourselves as ‘driving instructors’ to release others so they can ‘drive’ into their God given calling and destiny.

Reflective Questions:

1. Do I feel insecure when I’m not holding the steering wheel and how should I address that insecurity?

2. Do I see potential in others and look for ways to coach them?

3. What ‘learner’ environments can I create that imparts my own experiences to others?

4. How can I create a culture that celebrates the ‘journeys’ of others?

Top 60 Pastors Blogs

I received a very nice email the other day saying that my blog has been listed in the top 60 Pastors Blogs. See the full listing here: https://blog.feedspot.com/pastor_blogs/