Raising Leaders from Within: The Key to a Thriving Co-Vocational Community

Why leadership can't be hired, the power of covenant relationships, and the four essential traits of co-vocational leaders.

Last week, I wrote about the beautiful diversity of careers represented in our leadership team. That conversation raised an important question: How do we actually identify and develop prospective co-vocational leaders?

One of the most crucial aspects of cultivating a culture of co-vocational leadership is recognizing that leaders must be developed from within rather than hired externally.

Some of the most painful lessons I've learned stem from times when we attempted to bring in leaders from outside instead of raising them up from within our community.

Every time I hired externally for a leadership role, it failed. For a long time, I assumed this was solely due to my shortcomings as a leader. But a conversation with a friend—who ran HR for a global company overseeing nearly 100,000 employees—helped me see the bigger picture. He shared that even in a corporate setting, externally hired leaders had only a 20% success rate compared to those developed internally. The cultural and value-based clashes that come with external hires create too much friction, making it difficult for leaders to integrate successfully.

Over time, I came to realize a deeper truth: you can’t build a covenantal community on contractual relationships. When leadership is hired, the nature of the relationship is inherently contractual. But when leaders are raised from within, the relationship is more like that of spiritual sons and daughters— covenantal in nature.

Raising leaders who are willing to sacrifice their personal preferences, careers, and even livelihoods requires an immense level of trust. And trust, by its very nature, takes time—there’s no shortcut.

With that in mind, we use four key metrics to assess who can lead at a high capacity in a co-vocational role: covenant relationships, competency, commitment, and character. These benchmarks guide how we develop and disciple co-vocational leaders.

Covenant Relationships

By definition, you can’t "hire" a co-vocational team—everything is built on trust. This is a profound blessing because it means our relationships aren’t bound by employment contracts but by a covenant commitment to each other and the mission. This isn’t just a theoretical “covenant family”—it’s evidenced in the genuine friendships we share.

Competency

Balancing a demanding career while also shepherding and investing in other leaders is no small task. Every co-vocational leader in our community has learned—and continues to learn—how to manage these responsibilities. Their skills are developed over years of taking on smaller leadership roles, growing into greater responsibilities, and navigating the tension of multiple callings.

Commitment

The faithful presence of a leader—showing up consistently in the life of our community, through discipleship relationships and various serving opportunities—demonstrates their sense of calling and commitment. This is the beauty of co-vocational leadership: it’s not about a single job or role but about a shared commitment to grow as leaders deeply rooted in faith and community. Developing a mission-first mentality isn’t accidental; it’s a direct result of a person’s sense of call and intentional discipleship on the part of the community.

Character

Ultimately, the most important qualification for leadership in our community is proven character. And character isn’t built overnight—it is forged over years of faithful presence. It’s demonstrated through thousands of interactions: conversations, Bible studies, prayer meetings, worship nights, serving opportunities, and countless unseen moments of faithfulness.

If you’ve made it this far, I hope you see that co-vocational ministry isn’t about fitting into a particular career path—it’s a way of life. It’s not a destination but a journey of discipleship. And above all, it is never a solo endeavour but a commitment to growing alongside others in a mission-minded community.

The apostle Paul, in writing to Timothy on how he should develop leaders suggests in 2 Timothy 2:1-2 that faithfulness should be the primary measure. Faithfulness sounds good to me.