One of the most overlooked realities in church leadership is also the most disruptive: Every one of your people has the Holy Spirit.
Not a miniature version.
Not a “lesser” tier.
Not a diluted sample that only becomes useful under pastoral supervision.
The Holy Spirit is not an accessory to the Christian life—He is the Christian life. And as church leaders, we are working with a community in which God Himself indwells every believer, empowering them with the same resurrection life Paul proclaimed. What this means is that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now leads, guides, convicts, teaches, and directs each believer personally.
And that raises the leadership question that haunts modern church pastors:
How do you lead a people who all carry the presence, power, and wisdom of God?
Most churches—often without meaning to—operate with:
- High control: A few leaders decide, design, approve, and direct.
- Low accountability: The congregation is rarely asked to own responsibility for spiritual growth or mission.
In many churches, people aren’t asked to take responsibility for practices like daily prayer and Scripture engagement, discovering and using their spiritual gifts, speaking truth in love, serving others, or participating in the mission Jesus gave the whole Church—so they quietly assume those things belong mostly to the pastor and other “spiritual” people.
This kind of leadership is like flying a kite while gripping the string so tightly the kite can’t rise. The wind is there, ready to lift, but leadership control keeps it pinned to the ground.
So, what must we do? We must lead differently. We need to adopt a new understanding of what leadership is all about—a leadership shaped by the Spirit’s gifting of the whole body and the way God has designed His people.
Start with the doctrine: the Spirit in every believer.
The Spirit is the defining mark of God’s new people. In Romans 8:9 Paul writes, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.” In other words, the presence of the Spirit is not an add-on—His presence is the very identifier of the people of God. The Church is not an audience gathered to watch a pastor perform—it is a Spirit-empowered people gathered to discern God’s activity and join Him in it.
New Testament theologian N.T. Wright puts it like this: The Spirit’s presence is the sign that God’s future has already invaded the present. That means your church is not a group waiting for marching orders; they are participants in God’s unfolding new-creation project.
What does this require of church leadership? Understanding that:
Your people are not spiritually empty, waiting to be filled. They are spiritually full, waiting to be activated.
Let’s be specific about their what “activation” involves.
- Their Spirit-given gifts are recognized and called forth.
Paul is clear in 1 Corinthians 12-14 that gifts are already present—they simply need to be seen, affirmed, and used.
Activation = naming what God has already put in them.
- They’re released into real responsibility.
Discipleship requires engagement, not passivity.
Activation = moving from hearing sermons to participating in mission.
- They begin practicing obedience in concrete ways.
Since Christians are part of God’s new-creation project, they participate by doing the things Jesus taught.
Activation = acting on the Spirit’s prompting.
- They receive accountability that strengthens maturity.
Activation is not: “You’re free to do whatever you want.”
It’s low control but high accountability—so our leadership posture should expect and call to account believers to steward their gift, their calling, and their spiritual growth. Activation = embracing Spirit-given responsibility with the support, clarity, and accountability that help believers grow into mature disciples.
- They take their place in the interdependent body—each member playing their God-designed role.
As each person lives out their calling, the whole body becomes interdependent—every gift contributing to the church’s life and mission.
Activation = stepping into the role God has uniquely shaped them for.
Leadership begins with calling out spiritual gifts.
Paul teaches that the Spirit distributes gifts “as he wills” (1 Corinthians 12:11). As church leaders, that means our authority is not about assigning tasks—it’s about discerning God’s assignments already at work.
Spiritual gifts are grace-gifts, given freely. They are not rewards for high attendance or good behavior but manifestations of God’s generosity toward the Church. As such, gifts are always connected to service. They are not honor badges or inflated titles; they are tools for His craftsmanship.
Our job as a leader?
Spot the gifts. Name them. Celebrate them. Release them.
Mind you now, this is not delegation—it’s discipleship. You aren’t handing work to people you recruit. You’re calling forth the work God has already embedded in them. That means you’ve taken time to get to know them. That’s a part of true discipleship. (And the subject of another post.)
The Church is designed as a network of interdependent parts.
The Spirit not only gives gifts—He assembles the Church. Paul describes a body “fit together” by God’s design. No one has all the gifts. No leader is meant to.
In his well-known book Canoeing the Mountains, Tod Bolsinger argues that leading in uncharted territory requires the whole community to discern its way forward. When the path is unknown, the last thing you need is a single heroic figure. You need a discerning community.
So instead of asking, “How do I lead this church?” the better question is:
“How do we, together, follow the Spirit’s leading?”
Once we acknowledge that the Spirit leads the people of God as a community, it becomes clear that our leadership posture must change. The task moves from managing outcomes to cultivating the environment in which Spirit-led discernment and responsibility can flourish.
It’s time for a new leadership posture: from commanding to cultivating.
If every believer is Spirit-indwelt, then leadership must shift from “command and control” to something far more personal and more powerful.
Curate the Environment
Spiritual formation happens through the environment you cultivate—an environment where people increasingly do what Jesus would do if He were living their life. Spirit-led leaders create spaces where the gifts can flourish, voices can be heard, and discernment can happen.
For example, a pastor pauses a meeting to ask, “What is the Spirit prompting in you about this?”—and then gives the team space to listen, share, and weigh those insights together. Or a small-group leader invites members to identify and take responsibility for ministries that match their gifts, and the group prayerfully discerns who should step into which role.
Guide the Discernment
Leaders help the community test and confirm what the Spirit is saying. Once again, theologian N.T. Wright reminds us that the Spirit works within real communities, not just in private mystical experiences detached from the body.
Model Humility and Openness
Spirit-filled leadership is marked by cruciformity—a cross-shaped posture that relinquishes control. It means a leader willingly releases their grip so that the Spirit can raise up the gifts, voices, and responsibility of the whole body.
People don’t need you to be Moses. They need you to be deeply formed in Christ.
Empower Rather Than Direct
As author Tod Bolsinger says, leadership is not about knowing more; it’s about empowering the collective wisdom of the people of God.
The Spirit distributes gifts.
You release them.
The Spirit convicts.
You support the process.
The Spirit guides the Church.
You help the community interpret His leading.
What This Means for Your Leadership Tomorrow Morning
Here are three practical steps you can implement this week:
- Listen longer than you speak.
Assume the Spirit is speaking through your people. Ask more questions. Invite stories. Pay attention to patterns.
- Make spiritual gifts visible.
Talk about them. Teach on them. Hold “gift discovery” conversations. Build ministries around gifts rather than volunteers around programs.
- Shift from being the answer-giver to the discernment guide.
Ask your team: “What do you sense the Spirit saying?”
You will be surprised at what emerges.
A Final Word: The Spirit Is the True Leader
Famous Trinitarian theologian Catherine LaCugna wrote that the Trinity is fundamentally relational life—God drawing us into the eternal communion of love. When you lead a Spirit-filled people, you are not orchestrating your own plans. You are participating in the divine life that is already among you, within you, and going ahead of you.
And that may be the most liberating leadership truth you ever embrace:
You don’t lead alone—because God never intended the Church to be led alone.
The Spirit leads the Church.
You simply follow—and teach your people to follow with you.
Join Momentum today. Invest in tomorrow’s leaders—because the Church of the future is sitting in your pews right now.
Dr. Rupert Loyd Jr. has a BA in history from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, an MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston, and a PhD in Leadership from Union University in Cincinnati. He has over 40 years of pastoral experience in both urban and suburban churches, including multiethnic, multi-congregational churches. Throughout his career, he has maintained a presence in both the church and the academy. Dr. Loyd currently teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in the College of Business and Leadership at Lourdes University, and he holds the post of lead pastor at Marketplace Community Church in Toledo, Ohio.