'Too many Indians and not enough Chiefs'

I heard recently the common known phrase, 'Too many Chiefs not enough Indians'. I thought on that briefly, and thought, in many Salvation Army contexts we have, 'Too many Indians and not enough Chiefs'. I mean this, not in relation to having authoritarian leaders, or arrogant, proud leaders, but rather people who are merely touching the surface of their potential might need to step up and become a leader.

Leaders can either build followers, or build more leaders who will build more leaders. There are people in our Church congregations who have a spark of potential, if only there was someone to ignite the spark, and empower these people to step up to the next level.

For example, the garden in the church needs to be maintained. We have one person who faithfully caretakes for the garden most days of the week, but unfortunately she can never keep up with all the work. What do we do? Do we merely encourage this lady to work harder and more effectively? Possibly, but what it we empowered her to become a group leader of a gardening team? She would recruit volunteers. She would delegate jobs to them. She would encourage maybe one of the helpers to become the co-ordinator every Wednesday, as this is her day off. You understand the point.

Jesus had twelve disciples. Three of which he mentored closely. Then came Paul, who mentored Timothy to be a leader as well, among many others.

The church needs good leaders, not just great volunteers.