How to Empower Lay Leadership in Ministry

Jesus knew the value of empowered lay leadership. Countless times throughout his ministry, he de-centered himself and entrusted his disciples to lead, preach, and heal. Jesus knew that his teaching could spread farther, faster, and deeper by relying on others to bring the Gospel to new places. 

Many ministry leaders today are stretched thin, stressed, and juggling multiple roles. It’s more important than ever to follow Jesus’ example and empower lay leadership to share the load of leadership in faith communities.

Strong lay leadership is also a more faithful approach to ministry that recognizes that everyone is called and gifted for serving the church. 

Here are four ways you can foster an environment where laity feel equipped, empowered, and ready to lead.  

Four Ways to Empower Lay Leadership in Ministry

Recognize that good ideas can come from anywhere, and anyone.

Take a moment to reflect on where new ministry ideas typically come from in your faith community. Do they only originate from paid staff? Senior leadership? Longtime members? Visitors? People in the community beyond your walls? Children or teens? Creating a culture where diverse voices are valued leads to all people feeling empowered to bring their ideas forward. Cultivating an environment where sharing ideas is encouraged, no matter one’s position in the faith community, instills confidence in laity. It also fosters leadership skills that will help the church’s ministries flourish. 

Make failure an option.

Every new ministry idea is not a resounding success, and that’s okay. In fact, failure is a necessary and positive step that provides important information about which direction to head. A key leadership practice when considering how empower lay leadership is to create space for failure. People in your faith community need to know that a failure will not negatively impact their relationships or standing within the community. When they feel safe to try (and potentially fail), they will be more likely to speak up when creativity strikes. When something doesn’t quite go to plan, talk about it. Assure people that there is still room for God to move and the community will learn together. When a lay leader’s idea doesn’t pan out how they hoped, make it clear that they are still a beloved child of God and a valued member of the community. 

Teach leaders how to navigate the faith community’s structure and approval processes.

Lay leaders need to be given the lay of the land (pun intended). Processes that may feel clear to you might seem like confusing red tape to a lay leader. Having a clear sense of how to move a ministry from idea to implementation is critical to laity feeling equipped to lead. Educating someone about the systems, structure, and organization of your faith community will give them the tools they need to see their idea to fruition. It also enables them to help orient another lay leader in the future so you don’t have to do that work alone next time.

Lead by stepping back.

Give lay leaders room to actually lead. Once you provide the necessary training, information, and tools, take a step back and avoid micro-managing. Providing space for laity to use their strengths – and recognizing your own limitations – helps people understand their essential place in the body of Christ. Knowing that you support and trust their leadership instills confidence and empowers them to lead faithfully. If things don’t go as planned, let them know that you will have their back (see #2). 

Cultivating empowered lay leadership doesn’t happen overnight or by accident. Taking the time to educate, encourage, and empower lay leadership helps create a healthier church culture now and into the future. It also multiplies the bandwidth and capacity of paid staff, and allows your faith community to thrive in new ways. 

Recruiting lay leaders and volunteers in ministry can be challenging. Our free online workshop, “Getting to Yes: Building Buy-in for Your Ministry” will teach you how to create a strategy that will help you effectively recruit and retain volunteers. Register here.