“What is the key to empowering next generation leaders, and not seeing them eventually run off and do their own thing?”

I have been asked many versions of the above question countless times.

My answer is always something like this: before you empower leaders, you have to establish exactly what you are empowering them to do. In other words you have to be crystal clear about your mission, vision, and values. If you are not clear about what you are building or where you are going—when you empower leaders, they will run full speed ahead in the wrong direction.

But, when you are clear about where you are going and what you are building, you can confidently empower next gen leaders, knowing they know what to do and where to go.

While having breakfast with my friend Mel Mullen during the International Apostolic Summit last week, we had an interesting conversation about what kind of church we are trying to lead. We both expressed that we don’t always fit in the standard “Charismatic” box.

If we are not traditional Charismatic churches, then what are we? In response to Mel’s question about what kind of churches Every Nation is planting, here’s what I said:

“We want to plant churches (and campus ministries) in every nation that are Christ-centered, Spirit-empowered, and socially responsible, and we want to do it in a way that is culturally relevant.”

In my next few reluctant leader blogs, I want to explain what I mean by each of these ideas:

Christ-centered

Spirit-empowered

Socially Responsible

Culturally Relevant