For 6 years now I’ve been an undergrad bible study leader for my church; and I’ve loved it. We started with 4 girls and myself and have since multiplied into 4 other groups. We’ve seen a lot of fruit and have also seen a lot of pain turned into growth. Its been an amazing set of years and at first glance I’d be silly to change whats clearly “working”.
Last fall I started seeing more of a disconnect between me and the girls. I wasn’t leading the girls in my own bible study nearly as well as I could have because I was also trying to build into the lives of the other leaders who I’d helped to develop. Two very different sets of advice and two different audiences. I began to get sloppy in my leadership and honestly, I was worn out.
My pastor got a group of leaders together one night and started asking us what we needed and God really pressed on my heart to talk to the leaders about what was going on. In doing so, God gave me real understanding as to how I could serve my church in the best way. My heart and passion is to see women raised up to be mighty leaders who are boldly advancing the kingdom and boldly supporting those in authority over them. The best way for me to do that is to make sure that all of my time and effort is going into raising up leaders. I’ve gotten to the point where I can turn over the responsibilities of weekly bible study over to the ladies that have shown that they’re ready to lead other women. Now with my “extra” time, I can devote more time to making sure that (1) I”m sensitive to how God would like me to lead this women and (2) devoting more time to developing the leaders and helping to guide them. I need to be a coach now and not a player.
I play a lot of sports and so the term coach is one I’m very familiar with but havn’t ever tried on for myself. Coaches traditionally have the big picture in mind and are able to direct different players who have different abilities. Coaches know how to motivate different players to be the best. Coaches build teams and inherit teams and learn how to manage and lead both. I’ve built this team, now its time to lead it.
Overall, this process is very raw for me. I haven’t ever seen a working model of how to coach girls bible studies; so I’m walking by faith and not by sight, which I feel like was Gods plan the whole time. In reflecting on this past year, I see several things that I would have liked to have changed and still several things that I think Gods blessed me with. Its a whole new ballgame and I’m learning the rules as I go along. Ending this blog with, “I’ve got it all under control” would be such a lie. I don’t have it all under control, but I do know that God is walking with me the entire time, he goes before me and he makes a way for me. When I get to Heaven, I want to hear “well done good and FAITHFUL servant” its not about how many we get coming, or how elegant my speech is, its about my heart of obedience and faithfully following him in everything.
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