As our church and our ministry continue to grow,
we would always need to delegate responsibilities
among us.
- the act or process of
delegating or being delegated.
"the delegation of tasks to others"
Synonyms:
assignment, entrusting, giving,
Exodus 18:13-26
The story of Moses:
• He had all kinds of problems that
tried his patience.
• He had administrative duties and
judicial duties and an endless line
of people who had so many petty
problems.
• He had spent so much time and
energy hearing the Hebrews’
complaints that he could no
longer get to his most important
work.
Cont…
• So the burden became intolerable
and he was on the verge of
burnout.
• But God taught Moses through his
father-in-law Jethro, of what to
do!
So Jethro suggested
that Moses should
delegate most of his
work to others and
focus his efforts on
the work that only he
could do.
Message outline:
•The problem of
Moses
•The principle of
Jethro
•The purpose and
benefits of
delegation
A. The problem of
Moses
(Not delegating his work)
He was frustrated with
his strategy of being a
“One Man Ministry”
“The next day Moses took his seat to serve as
judge for the people, and they stood around him
from morning till evening.” (Exodus 18:13)
Moses was very busy.
And he was so busy that
he was stressed out!
• Numbers 11:11- He asked the
Lord, “Why have you brought
this trouble on your servant?
What have I done to displease
you that you put the burden of
all these people on me?”
• Numbers 11:4- I cannot carry all
these people by myself; the
burden is too heavy for me.
Now Moses made a
common mistake.
He mistook busyness for
accomplishment.
He mistook activity for
success.
• “If Satan can’t make
you bad, then he will
just keep you busy.”
Perils of Busyness…
• It can detract you from your personality
• It can cause you to be irritable and inefficient at
your job.
• It can endanger your personal relationships, your
marriages, your parenting and your friendships.
• It can also threaten your health.
NOW, if leaders don’t learn to recruit and train
and delegate responsibility to others,
they are going to get burned out in the process.
Reggie McNeal says this
to leaders,
“Success can kill
you just as
problems can”.
The management of members
and church work can leave a
minister spiritually bankrupt.”
A common mistake of
people in positions of
responsibility…
Often times,
they think they are the only
ones who can do necessary
tasks, and forget that there are
others who are also capable of
handling part of the load.
Why do some
leaders don’t
delegate their
responsibilities
to others?
B. The Principle of Jethro
(His wisdom of
instructing Moses to
delegate his work)
He told Moses the
Strategy and Benefits of
“Division of Labor or
Team Ministry”
Because Moses
was so burdened!
• Exodus 18:14- When his
father-in-law saw all that
Moses was doing for the
people, he said, "What is
this you are doing for the
people? Why do you alone
sit as judge, while all these
people stand around you
from morning till evening?“
Jethro gave him
a reminder!
• Exodus 18:17- Moses’ father-in-law
replied, "What you are doing is not
good.
• Exodus 18:19- Listen now to me
and I will give you some advice, and
may God be with you. You must be
the people’s representative before
God and bring their disputes to
him.
• Exod.18:20- Teach them the
decrees and laws, and show them
the way to live and then duties they
are to perform.
What was
Jethro’s advice?
• 21- But select capable
men from all the
people- men who fear
God, trustworthy men
who hate dishonest
gain- and appoint them
as officials over
thousands, hundreds,
fifties and tens.
• Exod.18:22- “Have
them serve as judges
for the people at all
times, but have them
bring every difficult
case to you; the simple
cases they can decide
themselves. That will
make your load lighter,
because they will
share it with you”.
Jethro said, don’t mess
with the small stuff,
deal with only the heavy
issues.
President Eisenhower
once told President
Kennedy at his
inauguration, “You will
find no easy problems
that come to the
President of the United
States. Because if they
are easy, someone else
will have solved it.”
Remember-
This principle of delegation is actually
encouraged throughout the Bible.
• In Acts 6:1-4, the Apostles delegated work to 7 deacons so
they could focus more on the spiritual matters of the church.
• In Ephesians 4, God appointed some to be church leaders.
• In 1 Timothy 5, a leader should be able to manage his own
household well so he can manage the church.
• In 2 Timothy 2:2, Timothy was told to entrust to others what
he had learned so they could teach others.
NOW, there are two
very relevant questions
that leaders ought to
ask themselves
frequently.
1. The first question
has something to do with
priorities.
• What is this that you are
doing? (v.14)
• What are you ultimately
trying to accomplish?
• Remember that Moses’
primary calling was not
counseling but it to get these
people to the Promised Land.
2. The second question
has to do with personnel.
• v.14- Moses why are you
doing this alone? You have
lots of people who can
help you.
• Exo.18:15- Moses
answered him, "Because
the people come to me to
seek God’s will.
Moses is saying…
If you want a job
done well, you have
to do it yourself.
In fact,
he was actually saying,
“I’m indispensable”.
What
happened to
Moses also
happens to
leaders at
every level.
They try to
do it all!
A leader who
doesn’t
delegate not
only can
burn-out or
bog himself
down but the
entire
organization.
So, to our leaders- what is your priority as a
leader?
• Remember that our first priority is to have a right
relationship with God. We spend time with God
because being a leader is not just giving advice, it’s
who we are on the inside. We have to have strength of
character and integrity.
• And our second priority is not to counsel, but to spend
our time teaching others how to counsel and how to
do the ministry.
C. The Purpose
of Delegation
What are its benefits to
the leaders, members,
and the church or
organization?
Facts about successful delegation…
• 90% of successful delegation is not training but
recruiting the right people.
• Get the right person with a little training and
you’ll do great, but with the wrong person with a
lot of training and they can do untold harm to
the organization.
Cont…
• We have to put the right people in jobs that they
will do well at.
• That is why it is so important to give people jobs
that they love doing because then it becomes
serving God with joy and not with drudgery.
NOW, delegation is important to the growth
of our church because:
1. Delegation
makes more and
more people get
involved in the ministry,
so they will learn to
be responsible too.
2. Delegation of
authority empowers
and encourages
those who are
serving and working
with the leaders.
• See v.25-26
3. Delegation
lightens load of
the work.
• Exodus 18:22-That will make
your load lighter, because
they will share it with you.
• Also v.26
4. Delegation will
enable more people to
serve more people!
• Exod.18: Then Jethro says to
Moses, and now the people
will go home happier. They
will each be satisfied and they
will get better counsel.
• Also v. 23
5. Delegation will avoid
work-related stress and
improve governance!
• v.23- If you do this and God so
commands, you will be able to
stand the strain, and all these
people will go home
satisfied.”
• Delegation relieved Moses’
stress and improved the
quality of his leadership and
government.
6. Finally, proper
delegation will
multiply your
effectiveness!
Conclusion:
Delegation: the Key to Effective Leadership!
• 1. Effective leaders acknowledge limitations. Unless you recognize that you can’t
do everything, you will soon be over extended and headed for burnout. Learn to
say yes at the right times but learn to say no too.
• 2. Effective leaders determine priorities. What are we gifted to do? How can my
time be spent most effectively? I believe in the saying, “80% of your time should
be spent on 20% of your priorities.” We have to ask, what is my priority?, and
spend time there accordingly.
• 3. Effective leaders train other leaders. A good manager gathers followers but a
good leader gathers leaders. He train, empowers and trusts those leaders.
Challenging, training and recruiting leaders must be one of our high priorities.
• 4. Effective leaders keeps his ego out of the way. ask myself, do I want people to
depend on me or do I want people to depend on Jesus Christ? I mean it is a great
feeling to be needed and wanted and be appreciated but if we are to go forward,
I must let others take the lead at times.
• 5. Effective leaders accept ultimate responsibility. How much do you hold and
how much do you let go? ” It’s important that a leader takes responsibility for
what happens under him. he accepts blame and shares the credit.
Reflections:
• Our main responsibility is to
share the gospel to
unbelievers.
• It is our job. Not just for our
missionary’s or workers.
• I have my role and you have
yours.
• Have you done your job?
• And one day, we will give an
account to God for what He
has called us to do.
God bless us all!