ARE YOU STILL GROWING AS A LEADER?- PST AKIN-JOHN

11  INDICATOR THAT A LEADER AS STOPPED GROWING 

Leaders who stop growing lose their edge as a leader. They become stale, even if others may not readily recognize it. Every genuine and godly leader MUST be committed to personal, spiritual, ministerial, leadership and professional GROWTH in life and ministry. But when you are stuck in your growth as a leader,it will have negative bandwagon effect on your ministry.

See if your life reflects any of these indications that you’ve stopped growing as a leader:

1. You can talk about nothing new about God and His grace. It’s not that God is changing, but that you’re stuck in your growth. Everything seems just like it was this time last year.

2. You’ve read no new books in the last six months. It might be because you’re busy, but it may also be because you aren’t pushing yourself to learn through the discipline of reading.

3. You are preaching and teaching “re-runs.” It’s just easier to pull something out of the files than it is to develop something new – especially if your growth is stunted.

4. You haven’t recently tackled any “God-sized” challenges. Nothing you’re doing is forcing you to your knees because only God can get it done. Stale leaders tackle nothing this large.

5. You haven’t shared the gospel with anyone in months. Typically, this omission (and ultimately, disobedience. . .) happens when we’ve lost our passion—when the mundane has become the routine.  

6. All of your stories of God’s work in your life are past tense stories. You can talk about God’s goodness, but your testimony focuses more on yesterday than on today.  

7. You tend to avoid people who differ from you. When you spend all your time with people who agree with you about most stuff, you’re not likely to be pushed much.

8. You’ve lost your energy and passion for the work. You go to work, but only because somebody expects you to show up. It’s not because love of your work wakes you up in the morning.

9. You no longer seek mentors. Mentors challenge us, stretch us, push us, mold us. Leaders who don’t have mentors often have little accountability for growth—and thus less reason to grow.

10. You just know you’re not growing. You don’t need any of these other indicators; your own honest evaluation makes it clear.

11. You no longer attend nor participate in quality seminar, workshops or conferences.

If you ever attend conferences now, it is to speak and share with others, not to learn and grow. Your growth must never outgrow quality seminar to learn, unlearn and relearn again and again.

Once you are no longer growing as a leader,your people will stop growing too. Your church/ministry will remain stagnant once you stop growing.