We have been discussing the anointing for mobilizing—to draw people together for a cause. We began to discuss how this is given in different measure, to draw different size groups. Some will be able to call dozens, some hundreds, and some thousands. The same is true for leadership. Some are called to lead small groups and some larger. Wise leaders will discern the level of their anointing or grace, and stay within it.
If a leader of a certain size group who is very effective with it decides to lead a larger one before the right time, he will falter or fall. God resists the proud and gives His grace to the humble (see James 4:6). The last thing any of us should ever want to do is get beyond His grace. Therefore, when someone gets beyond their level of anointing, they will usually end up as a hindrance to further progress and can actually be used to tear down what they were seeking to build.
In leadership and management, getting beyond one’s grace or ability is now called “The Peter Principle,” which basically states that organizations tend to promote people to their level of incompetence. Often it is true that organizations tend to promote effective people until they get to a level that is beyond their ability. These previously effective people can actually become a clog in the system, hindering further progress, because it is so difficult to demote people to their level of competence.
One way that we as a ministry have allowed for this possibility is by employing people and promoting them on a trial basis. We are very clear that it is a trial basis and give them a time frame for evaluating and making the position permanent. When we have to tell someone it is not working, it is difficult for him and for us, but not nearly as difficult as it would be if he stayed in a position that he was not capable of handling. A true leader has to make tough calls and tough personnel decisions. Refusing to make them even for just one person can hurt many other people and the entire organization by allowing substandard performance to be acceptable. If you consider the Lord’s leadership style in this I think He was pretty ruthless—out of love for all.
We have also noticed that people who can be great teachers of a group of hundreds cannot hold the attention of a group of thousands. When this first came to my attention, I would watch the audience of a leader who had three hundred people in the church he was leading. It was almost exactly how many people in our larger audience that seemed to be tuned into his message. This was hard to understand because it seemed inevitable that those who had an anointing to lead or speak to the smaller groups tended to have much more content and depth to their messages and their leadership. Big is not necessarily better. In fact, the larger a group is, the more shallow it tends to be. This is not always true, but it is more often than not.
When the Lord walked the earth, He did His greatest works and gave His deepest teaching to small groups. He still does. This is one reason why we shifted our conference strategy from bigger gatherings to smaller, more frequent ones. We are drawing more people to our conferences than ever. Instead of hosting a few conferences that draw thousands each, we are hosting a dozen or so smaller ones. There is a dynamic in these conferences that allows for more depth and personal ministry. Our goals for the conferences are not to just have a big gathering or even a great conference, but to effect changes in people that impact their lives, their families, and their churches, long after the conference is over.
Large conferences can also accomplish much by inspiring and mobilizing; however, it is difficult to do a lot of in-depth teaching and equipping at them. Our heart and our calling are for more in-depth teaching, training, and equipping. I think we have seen more real and lasting fruit from this than from the larger conferences we used to host. There is a place for both, and we do still have a couple of conferences each year that are larger, but for the others we are looking for depth more than breadth. That is our calling, but not necessarily the calling of everyone.
The same is true of churches. The kind of preaching that will draw large congregations and keep them has to be different from what is shared with smaller groups. Both mega-churches and small home churches have a vital role to play in the body of Christ and should not be in conflict with each other. The early church met in the temple with an obviously large crowd and they also met from house to house, which of course, would have to be smaller groups. Some of the most effective churches in the world have large meetings, but are also devoted to small groups for those who want to go deeper.
The Lord’s own ministry was like that. He had a ministry to the multitudes, to whom He gave general teachings. He had the twelve that He went much deeper with and spent a lot more time with, but then He had three with whom He shared everything.
The Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple were also divided into three sections, the Outer Court for the multitude, the Holy Place, which was much smaller and only a few could minister there, and the Holy of Holies where only a few could enter. A balanced church that is fulfilling its calling as a church will likewise have different levels of ministry. This is not discrimination, though the immature or insecure might consider it that. It is simply necessary for the building of an effective church, ministry, or any other kind of organization.
If there is not a clear path to maturity for Christians to progress along, there will eventually be discouragement and lukewarmness that will come upon them that is much worse than the possible feeling of being left out because they are not in the inner circle yet. If the path is open to everyone, it is not discriminating. Yet, there must be standards of maturity required for advancement or the whole process is “dumbed down” to a level where no one is able to go on to maturity. We must heed the warning of the Lord about the last days when He said, “But woe to those who nurse babes in those days” (see Matthew 24:19). We could interpret that to: “Woe to those who keep their people in immaturity by just giving them milk.”
