If a church is going to make the changes necessary to walk into the future that Jesus is creating for His people then it will need the right type of leadership. Leadership is the key to change and moving into God’s future and leaders are essential for a proper transition in this season of shaking and change. There are the right leaders and then there are leaders whose leadership style simply won’t enable to transition needed ... Let’s look at a few and see if they are suitable for the call of God upon His people today.

THE ENABLERS – they work best in dying churches. To put an enabler in charge of a church that wants to move into the new times and seasons we now face would not be wise. This type of leader is not good for a church that wants to turn around and grow – he will cause a lot of misery for a lot of people including himself. Enablers usually shrink a church down to the size they can handle and will not make the decisions necessary to change and to grow into the future.

THE MANAGERS – These people are really not leaders and should not be in leadership positions, period.

ADAPTIVE LEADERS – work best in situations that are already thriving and where growth potential already exists for both the church and the individuals involved. They are not good at causing and leading change that causes growth but they are good at maintaining the growth that is already happening. They won’t make the changes necessary to make growth possible but they can maintain the growth curve once it has begun. Again, this is not the type of leadership style needed in this season.

BREAKTHROUGH LEADERS – work best in new situation or in assemblies already on the cutting edge in ministry. Often these folks are leaders of teaching churches. Breakthrough leaders don’t waste time in dead end situations. Most of them have either left their denomination or were never a part of one. If they stay in a denomination they are definitely pegged as different.

Apostolic leaders – are the leaders that you want in a season of change and adjustment, time of shaking and massive movement in a church. They hit their prime when they are faced with great change and challenges. They love to have oversight for more than one church and so either adopt or birth churches to form a network or union of churches that they can then lead into the future. They often act as mentors to many congregations at the same time. Some forms of apostolic leaders are consultants to a wide range of leaders.

It is quite possible for these five styles to be mixed together. A person may have some of each style or a little of one style and a lot of another. On top of that, the context can have a large bearing not only on how effective a leader might be, but also on how the leaders might have to function to fulfill the call long term.

Of course, some contexts do exist where no matter what a leader does, nothing will change. Here are some examples of contexts that might be worth leaving:

•    Congregations located in areas from which most of the people have moved. This church does not have a future no matter what you change.

•    Congregations with a family system so dysfunctional that it would take the death of most of the leaders for the church to have a chance to move into the future.

•    If you are a blue collar person in a white collar church or vice versa. In other words, you are massively different than the people you are trying to lead through change.

•    Congregations that don’t want to do anything but rot!

•    Congregations where almost all of the people are related to one another.

If you are in one of these rare situations, you might think about moving if you are a transformational leader. These types of churches, among many others, will simply not move into the future and will prevent you from fulfilling your call in ministry.