Pastor Olufemi came back from a leadership conference in Abuja with a notebook full of underlined sentences. The one he had underlined twice read, “A leader who does everything is a leader who builds nothing.” He believed it. For eleven years he had personally handled almost every part of his church’s life in Ibadan: the preaching, the counselling, the building fund, the choir disputes and the annual harvest thanksgiving. He was tired, and he knew it.
So on the first Sunday after the conference, he stood up during the announcements and said, with real warmth, “This year, I am releasing the harvest to the people. Sister Abimbola will coordinate it. Whatever she says, please cooperate with her.” The congregation clapped. Abimbola, a pharmacist who had served faithfully in the ushering department for six years, smiled and nodded from the third row. She had been told about it on the way into the service.
Nobody told her what the budget was. Nobody told her whether she could book the canopies herself or whether the finance committee had to approve it. The choir director assumed the programme was still his to arrange. The welfare team assumed the food was still theirs. When Abimbola asked the treasurer for money to pay a deposit on chairs, he said, kindly enough, that he would need to “hear from Pastor first”. When she called the pastor, he was in a meeting. When he called back, he told her to use her discretion.
Two days before the harvest, the canopy vendor cancelled because the deposit had never been paid. The choir and the welfare team were no longer speaking to each other. And on the Sunday itself, when the hall was hot and the chairs were too few, three different people complained to the pastor about “the way Abimbola has handled things”.
She resigned from the harvest committee on the Monday. She was quiet for months afterwards, and she told me later that she had never felt so foolish in a church in her life. “He gave me the work,” she said, “but he kept everything I needed to do it.”
Pastor Olufemi was not a controlling man. He genuinely wanted to share the load. His mistake was a common one, and well-meaning leaders make it every week. He handed over the task without handing over the authority, the information or the support. This teaching is about the difference.
When delegation becomes abdication
Delegation is one of the most frequently praised and most poorly practised skills in Christian leadership. We all agree that one person cannot carry a whole ministry. We have heard the sermons about Moses and Jethro. Yet in many churches, ministries and Christian organisations, what passes for delegation is really one of two failures.
The first is the leader who never truly lets go. He gives people tasks but keeps every decision. Volunteers become messengers who carry questions to his office and answers back again. Nothing moves when he travels. The work stays small because its size is limited by one person’s attention.
The second failure is less obvious and sometimes more painful. The leader lets go of everything at once and calls it trust. He hands a capable person a vague assignment, offers no clarity about authority or resources, and then disappears. When things go wrong, as they usually do under those conditions, the person who was given the job carries the blame for a structure they never designed. That is abdication dressed up as delegation.
Good delegation sits between those two failures. It gives a reliable person meaningful responsibility, with clear authority to act and real support while they act. And it recognises something that both failures forget. When a leader delegates a task, he does not delegate away his responsibility for the conditions under which that task is done. He remains accountable for whether the person has what they need.
PunchlineWhen you hand someone a task, you remain responsible for the conditions under which they carry it: the clarity, the authority and the support.
Moses learns to share the judging
The best-known delegation story in the Bible is in Exodus 18. Moses was sitting from morning to evening hearing the disputes of the whole nation, and his father-in-law Jethro saw at once that it could not last: “Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee” (Exodus 18:18). Much has rightly been said about Moses’ exhaustion. I want to look instead at what happened after Jethro spoke, because the structure Moses built is a lesson in how to share responsibility well:
So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.
Notice first who was chosen. Jethro’s counsel had been specific: “able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness” (Exodus 18:21). These were people of proven competence and proven character. Moses did not pick whoever happened to be available, or whoever was most enthusiastic, or whoever was related to him. The weight of judging other people’s disputes required people who could be trusted with it.
Notice next the shape of the structure. There were rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Each leader knew the size of the group he served. Responsibility was proportioned to capacity. A man who could wisely settle the disputes of ten families was not suddenly made responsible for a thousand.
And notice, above all, the escalation path: “the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.” Everybody knew which decisions belonged to them and which did not. The rulers of tens did not have to telephone Moses before resolving a quarrel over a borrowed goat. Nor were they left alone with a case that was beyond their wisdom. There was a clear line, and there was a clear place to take what lay on the other side of it.
Before any of this, Jethro gave Moses a responsibility of his own: “thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do” (Exodus 18:20). Moses had to teach before he could delegate. The leaders under him needed to know the standards by which they were to judge. Delegation without instruction leaves people guessing at what the leader would want, and guessing wrongly, and then being corrected for it.
Jethro also added a phrase that is easy to pass over: “If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so” (Exodus 18:23). Wise counsel was to be brought before God. A structure is not holy simply because it is efficient. But a structure that is prayerfully formed, fitted to the people and clear about responsibility can be a gift of God to everyone involved. The promise was that Moses would be able to endure, “and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.”
A real problem and a defined business
The early church faced its first organisational crisis within a few years of Pentecost. The number of disciples had multiplied, and there arose “a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration” (Acts 6:1). The Greek-speaking Jewish believers felt that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. Whether through oversight, language barriers or quiet favouritism, a real group of vulnerable women was being missed.
NuggetRead carefully how the apostles responded, because every part of it is instructive.
They acknowledged the problem. They did not tell the Grecians to stop murmuring and pray harder. They called “the multitude of the disciples unto them” (Acts 6:2) and dealt with the complaint openly.
They were honest about their own limits and calling. “It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.” This was not contempt for serving tables. It was a recognition that the apostles had a particular responsibility that would be neglected if they tried to run the food distribution as well.
They set clear qualifications: “look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom” (Acts 6:3). Honest report, because money and food were involved and the church’s trust had already been strained. Full of the Spirit and wisdom, because handling a dispute between two cultural groups is spiritual work requiring real discernment.
They defined the scope: “whom we may appoint over this business.” The seven were given a particular business. They were not made vaguely responsible for “helping the apostles”. They knew what they were there to do.
And the apostles did not vanish once the seven were chosen. The seven were set “before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them” (Acts 6:6). The apostles publicly recognised and authorised them. Everyone in the church could see that these men now held responsibility for the distribution, and that the apostles stood behind them. That public authorisation is exactly what Abimbola never received. She was announced, but she was never truly authorised.
The result is one of the great summary sentences of Acts: “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly” (Acts 6:7). And look at what happened to the men who served tables. Stephen, “full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people” (Acts 6:8). Philip went down to Samaria “and preached Christ unto them” (Acts 8:5), and years later he is still remembered as “Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven” (Acts 21:8). Good delegation did not only solve a problem. It released people into ministry that grew far beyond the task they were first given.
Called, gifted and given a partner
When God commanded Moses to build the tabernacle, He did not leave Moses to do the carpentry. He named the craftsmen. Bezaleel of the tribe of Judah was filled “with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship” (Exodus 31:3). And then God added this:
And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee.
There is a great deal of team-building wisdom in that one verse. Bezaleel was not left to work alone; God gave Aholiab “with him”. The most gifted craftsman in Israel still needed a partner. And beyond those two, there were “all that are wise hearted”, a wider team of skilled people whose hearts God had prepared for the work.
Notice also the match between gifting and task. Bezaleel was not asked to lead worship or settle legal disputes. He was asked to work in gold, silver, brass, stone and timber, and God had equipped him for exactly that. One of the most common mistakes in church teams is to place people according to availability rather than gifting. The man who is free on Saturdays becomes the youth leader, though he has no rapport with teenagers. The woman who never says no becomes the treasurer, though figures confuse her. They struggle, the work struggles, and everyone concludes that delegation does not work.
Paul says that “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal” (1 Corinthians 12:7). God has distributed gifts throughout His church. Part of a leader’s stewardship is to notice those gifts, to ask people what they are good at and what they love, and to fit responsibilities to the people God has actually given. That takes time and attention. It is much quicker to announce a name from the pulpit. But it is far kinder, and far more fruitful, to place people where God has prepared them to flourish.
And send people in pairs wherever you can. When Jesus sent out the twelve, Mark records that He “began to send them forth by two and two” (Mark 6:7). A partner shares the load, checks mistakes, offers encouragement on a hard day and provides accountability where money or vulnerable people are involved. A lone volunteer is exposed. A pair is protected.
Authority that matches the assignment
The heart of Abimbola’s frustration was this: she was responsible for the harvest, but she had no authority to make the decisions the harvest required. She could not spend money. She could not overrule the choir director. She could not resolve the dispute with the welfare team. Every decision went back to a pastor who was not there. Responsibility without authority is one of the surest ways to wear out a good worker.
Watch how Jesus did it when He sent out the twelve. Luke tells us, “Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:1-2). Jesus did not send them with a task and nothing more. He gave them what the task required. Then He was specific about the work: preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick. The commission and the authority came together.
Paul was equally careful when he sent his co-workers to the churches. Here is how he described Tychicus to the Colossians:
All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord: Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts; With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here.
Paul told the church who Tychicus was (“a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord”), why he was coming (“for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts”) and who was with him (Onesimus, “who is one of you”). The church knew exactly what Tychicus had come to do and that he came with Paul’s full confidence. Paul did the introducing. He did not leave Tychicus to persuade a doubtful congregation that he had any right to be there.
In practical terms, this means that before you hand over any significant responsibility, you need to answer a few questions clearly, preferably in writing:
- What exactly is the task, and what does a good result look like?
- Which decisions can this person make without asking anyone?
- What money, people and materials do they control, and up to what limit?
- Which matters must come back to you or to another body before a decision is made?
- Who else needs to be told that this person now carries this responsibility?
None of those questions is unspiritual. Every one of them is an expression of love for the person you are asking to serve. A short written note answering them would have saved Abimbola weeks of humiliation and saved the church a very hot and unhappy harvest Sunday.
You still answer for the conditions
There is a sentence in the story of the seventy that deserves more attention than it usually gets. Before Jesus sent them out, He told them plainly what they were going into:
After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
He appointed them. He sent them in pairs. He sent them “before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.” Their mission prepared the way for His own visit. He told them to pray for more labourers, because the harvest was greater than their number. And in the verses that follow, He gave them detailed instructions: what to carry, how to greet a household, what to do when they were welcomed and what to do when they were refused. He even warned them honestly, “behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves” (Luke 10:3).
Then they came back. “And the seventy returned again with joy” (Luke 10:17), and Jesus listened to their report, rejoiced with them and corrected their focus. On another occasion, after the twelve returned, “the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught” (Mark 6:30). Luke adds that Jesus then “took them, and went aside privately” (Luke 9:10). He received their report, and then He made sure they rested.
That is a leader who remains responsible for the conditions of service. He prepared them, equipped them, warned them, received them back, listened, corrected and cared for them. He did not treat their mission as their problem once they had left His presence.
A leader who delegates still has to ask: Have I given this person enough information? Have I told the people around them that they carry real authority? Do they know when and how to reach me? Am I checking in often enough to notice when they are struggling, without hovering so close that they cannot act? When something goes wrong, will I stand beside them in public and deal with the mistakes privately, or will I let them take the blame for gaps I left?
That last question matters a great deal. When Abimbola was criticised on harvest Sunday, the right response from her pastor would have been simple: “Sister Abimbola did an excellent job with what she was given. The problems were in the arrangements I made, and I will put them right.” A leader who will not say that kind of sentence will soon find that nobody wants to serve under him.
Equipping the saints for the work
Paul gives us the deepest reason for building teams. It is not mainly about efficiency, or even about protecting leaders from exhaustion, though both matter. It is about what God intends His church to become. In Ephesians 4, Paul says that the ascended Christ gave gifts to His church: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11). Then he says why: “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12).
The word translated perfecting carries the idea of equipping, mending, putting something into proper working order. It was used of setting a broken bone or mending a fishing net so that it could be used again. The leaders Christ gives to the church exist to equip the saints, and it is the saints who do “the work of the ministry”. A pastor who does all the ministry while the congregation watches has misunderstood his own gift. He is given to prepare the congregation, so that the ministry is done through the whole body.
That changes how a pastor should measure his success. The question is not only, “How much did I accomplish this year?” It is also, “How many people are now able to serve who could not serve before?” A ministry where everything depends on the senior pastor’s personal involvement has not yet fulfilled Ephesians 4, no matter how impressive its Sunday services are.
Paul’s goal is a church that grows up: “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). Mature believers are no longer “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14). Instead, “speaking the truth in love,” they “grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). Notice that truthful speech is part of this growth. A healthy team is one where people can say honestly, “I do not have what I need,” or, “This arrangement is not working,” without being treated as disloyal.
And then comes the picture of the whole body at work: “From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:16). Every joint supplies something. Every part works “in the measure of every part”, which means according to its own capacity and calling. The growth comes from Christ the head. The body is fitly joined together, which implies thoughtful connection and proper arrangement. Teams do not form by accident. They are built with care.
Shared responsibility that lasts
PunchlineOnce a team is formed, the leader’s work changes but does not end. A few practical habits help shared responsibility remain healthy.
Meet regularly, even briefly. A fifteen-minute check-in every fortnight can catch a problem while it is still small. Ask open questions: What is going well? What is blocking you? What do you need from me?
Put money under shared oversight. Whoever coordinates an event should have a clear budget, and spending should be recorded and reviewed by someone else. That protects the church, and it protects the volunteer from suspicion. Paul himself refused to handle a large gift alone (2 Corinthians 8:20-21).
Take special care with children and vulnerable adults. A team that serves children needs proper vetting, at least two adults present, and a clear way to report concerns. Delegation never removes a church’s duty to protect the people in its care.
Watch the load. Paul tells us to “Bear ye one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2), and a good team does exactly that. But a ministry that keeps adding responsibilities to its most willing people will eventually exhaust them. Faithful volunteers have jobs, families, health and limits. Ask how much someone is carrying before you ask them to carry more, and give them permission to say no.
Give credit publicly and correction privately. Thank people by name. Tell the church what the team has achieved. When something needs fixing, speak to the person directly and kindly, and fix your own part first.
And plan for rotation. Nobody should be trapped in a role for twenty years because no one else was ever trained. Ask every team leader to be developing someone who could take their place. That is how a ministry multiplies.
Some leaders hesitate to share responsibility because they fear that others will not do things as well as they would. Sometimes that is true at first. People learn by doing, and they make mistakes along the way. But the twelve made mistakes too, and Jesus still sent them. Your willingness to let someone do it less perfectly today is part of how they will do it well tomorrow.
Pastor Olufemi came to see Abimbola about four months after the harvest. He did not bring a speech. He brought an apology. “I gave you the name and kept the keys,” he said. “That was my failure, and I let you carry it in front of everybody.”
The next year, he asked her again. This time, he sat with her for an evening before anything was announced. Together they wrote two pages: the budget, the decisions she could make on her own, the matters that needed his approval, and the names of every department head who would report to her for the harvest. He stood beside her in the service and told the church exactly what she was responsible for and that she had his full confidence. He arranged for a deputy to work with her and for the treasurer to release funds against her signature up to an agreed amount. He checked in with her every Thursday evening by phone, for ten minutes and no more.
On harvest Sunday the canopies were up by seven in the morning. The choir and the welfare team had planned the programme together. And when someone came to the pastor with a complaint about the seating, he smiled and said, “Please go and speak to Sister Abimbola. She is in charge.” He sat in the second row and enjoyed the service for the first time in eleven years.
That is what Moses discovered, what the apostles practised and what Jesus modelled. Choose faithful people. Give them real authority and clear boundaries. Stand behind them. Keep caring for them. And then let them do the work that God has equipped them to do, so that the whole body, joined together, grows up in love.
Teaching Companion
For Reflection
- Have you ever been given a responsibility without the authority, information or support needed to carry it? How did it affect you?
- If you lead others, which of your current delegations would benefit from a short written note of scope, authority and limits?
- Where are people in your church or ministry placed by availability rather than gifting? What would a better fit look like?
- How often do you receive reports from those you lead, and how well do you listen when they come back?
- Who is being equipped through your leadership to do something they could not do a year ago?
This Week
Choose one responsibility you have delegated, or are about to delegate. Sit down with the person involved and write together, on one page, the purpose of the task, the decisions they can make alone, the resources they control, what must come back to you, and how often you will check in. Then make sure everyone who needs to know is told clearly that this person carries that responsibility with your support.
A Prayer
Lord Jesus, You called the twelve to Yourself, gave them authority and sent them out, and You received them back with care. Teach me to lead like that. Forgive me for the times I have handed people burdens without the means to carry them, and for the times I have held on to what You wanted me to share. Give me eyes to see the gifts You have placed in others, wisdom to give clear responsibility, and humility to stand beside those who serve. Build Your church through the working of every part, so that the whole body grows up into You in love. Amen.
Truth received brings freedom. Truth believed establishes the heart.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. · Illustrations using first names only are composites unless stated otherwise.