In the book, 3 Roles for Guiding Groups, David Francis and Ken Braddy point out that leaders often accumulate books, articles, and other helps designed to improve leadership skills and identify best practices. While leadership books are both plentiful and helpful, some resources available to leaders aren’t tangible but nonetheless require careful stewardship.
Consider these five resources that leaders should work to acquire and use strategically.

 A Leader’s Personal Disciplines
The old adage, “you cannot lead someone to a place you’ve never been” is certainly true about spiritual leadership. A leader’s greatest resource is the ability to demonstrate or share a personal example from his or her own life and spiritual journey. Failing to cultivate daily spiritual disciplines will shorten the road down which others may be led.

A Leader’s Perspective
Most people have probably heard the phrase “leaders are readers”. This may refer to the depth of leadership knowledge that one can accumulate through disciplined study. However, leaders should also seek to acquire a wide range of insight regarding leadership. I have found great principles from reading leaders in various fields of ministry and pastoral leadership, business, professional sports, military service, and academics. A wider exposure to many kinds of resources will give leaders the ability to see issues from many perspectives and increase good decision-making.

A Leader’s Influence
All leaders possess some measure of positional authority. That is, leaders have the ability to have influence based solely on the position they hold. Good leaders have also gained relational authority and credible authority as well based on how they have proven themselves to be both caring and capable. The power of influence is a trust that should be handled with great care. Use your influence in a Sunday School class to promote unity, uphold truth, mobilize learners to action, and build up the church.

A Leader’s Encouragement
People everywhere need encouragement! A word of affirmation from someone in a leadership position is a very powerful resource. Leaders should look for ways to affirm other learners, encourage teachers, notice examples of life changes taking place within the group, and bring positive reports from fellowship and ministry events. Leaders should be people whom others look forward to seeing each time the group meets because they know they will walk away encouraged.

A Leader’s Outlook
Finally, the leader has the responsibility to keep the group looking forward in faith. While others may point out negatives, the leader must focus on strengths. The leader has the opportunity to hold out hope – one of the most powerful motivators and influences of all. The leader can never give up!

Leaders should keep building libraries! But being mindful of increasing these less tangible but powerful resources will result in even greater impact.

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David Bond is the Small Groups/Sunday School specialist at the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.

My car has a gauge that is designed to give immediate feedback on driving that encourages good fuel economy. The gauge stays green when I am set on cruise control, but turns blue when I am darting out into traffic to get my daughter to school on time. At any time, I can glance at a gauge and receive instant feedback.

My wife has a garden during the summer in which she grows tomatoes, peppers, and squash. At the end of the season, she can easily examine the produce and determine the success of her efforts by the number, size, and quality of the vegetables.

When it comes to seeing the results of teaching Sunday School, the answers are not so instantly or easily understood. Teaching for life change means that charting the people who fill a chair every week cannot be the full measure of a leader’s success. What can leaders look for as indicators of life change through Sunday School? Consider these three Biblical results for leaders to look for in the lives of group members.

Maturity

Colossians 1:28 states that one goal of the leader is to “present everyone mature in Christ.” A result of our teaching ministry should be that learners are becoming more mature in their faith. Maturity is often marked by the increasing ability to care for yourself and the decreasing need to be supervised by others.

Spiritually speaking, maturity may be understood in part as the ability of the learner to spend time on their own in God’s word and in prayer. Maturity is the ability of the learner to hear God’s voice, sense His direction, and understand His will. In 3 Roles, the authors state that “such self-feeding activity is the most significant predictor of spiritual growth.” Giving group members an opportunity to share from their own devotional time with God will create expectation and provide leaders with a way to note increases in personal spiritual maturity.

Measure of the Fullness of Jesus

Ephesians 4 says that leaders are to equip members so that they grow “into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.” In addition to the word “maturity” appearing again, we now see that our standard for measure is the fullness of Jesus. Simply put, how full of Jesus are the people in your group? As they participate in group conversations, listen for expressions of His love, grace, compassion, and priorities . . . and especially note how they increase over time!

Ministry and Service to Others

One final result may be taken from 1 Peter 4:10 which instructs all Christ followers to take the gifts they have been given and use them “to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God.” By using groups as a strategy for responding to needs for service in the life of the church, leaders can observe how often members volunteer for service, which types of ministry connect with their passions and interest, and how their capacity for responsibility increases. Some will even serve for the very first time!

Keep taking attendance every week . . . but also begin to look for indicators like these to get a deeper picture of the results of teaching for real life change.

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David Bond is the Small Groups/Sunday School specialist at the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.