Seeing the Potential in Every Person
Most people do not need another sermon pointing out what they are doing wrong.
They do not need to be reminded of where they have failed, what they should be doing better, or why they do not measure up. Many have already internalized those messages—from culture, from past leaders, and often from themselves.
What most people truly need is someone, especially a trusted leader, to genuinely see them and say, “I believe there is more in you.”
Over the years in ministry, I have become convinced of this. People rarely rise to vague encouragement, but they almost always respond to specific belief. Many individuals in our churches today are filled with untapped potential, not because they lack gifts or desire, but because no one has clearly named it, called it out, or entrusted them with something meaningful.
Developing people cannot be reduced to filling volunteer slots or sustaining programs. If we want to see lasting transformation in leaders, families, churches, and communities, we must be intentional about formation. Formation begins when pastors and ministry leaders learn how to truly see people and draw out what God has placed within them.
Why This Matters
Every person in your church is becoming something.
The question is not if, it is what.
If the church does not actively help people discover and walk in God’s purpose, the world will gladly shape them instead. Drift, passivity, burnout, isolation, and disengagement do not usually happen overnight. They happen slowly, often when potential goes unnoticed, unnamed, and unused.
Jesus understood this deeply. When He called His disciples, He did not define them by their résumés or reputations. He saw fishermen and spoke leadership into them. He saw a tax collector and called him a disciple. He saw instability and called it strength, even as it was still forming.
Jesus did not wait for perfection before offering purpose. He called people forward and shaped them as they walked with Him.
If we want healthy, multiplying churches, we need leaders who are willing to look past current capacity and call out future identity. Developing people is not an optional leadership skill. It is central to pastoral ministry.
Below are five practical ways pastors and ministry leaders can identify and call out the potential in the people God has entrusted to them across ages, backgrounds, and stages of life.
1. Look Beyond Current Capacity
One of the easiest leadership traps is investing only in people who already seem ready. They show up consistently. They are confident. They speak the language. They are dependable and familiar.
Potential does not always show up polished.
Some of the people with the greatest capacity for growth are quiet, hesitant, unsure, or inconsistent. Others carry wounds from past failures, leadership hurts, or seasons when they were overlooked or sidelined. Some are still discovering their voice.
As leaders, we must train our eyes to see beyond surface-level readiness. Begin asking better questions:
• What comes naturally to this person?
• Where do they demonstrate responsibility, even in small or unseen ways?
• What energizes them when they talk about their faith, their work, or their concern for others?
Do not confuse readiness with potential. Many people do not feel ready until someone believes in them first. Leadership development often begins when a pastor or leader sees what an individual cannot yet see in themselves.
2. Name What You See Out Loud
This may be more powerful than many leaders realize.
A surprising number of people have never had a spiritual leader clearly and intentionally name their strengths. When a trusted leader does this sincerely, it carries tremendous weight.
General encouragement is kind, but specific affirmation is transformational.
Instead of saying, “You’re doing great,” try saying, “I see leadership in the way you care for others,” “You bring clarity and calm into tense situations,” “You ask thoughtful questions, and that tells me you are spiritually attentive,” or “People listen to you. You have more influence than you realize.”
Calling out potential is not flattery. It is stewardship. You are helping someone recognize what God is already forming within them. When people hear their strengths named clearly, they often begin to grow into them with new confidence and intention.
3. Create Low-Risk On-Ramps to Growth
Potential does not grow in theory. It grows through opportunity.
One of the most effective ways to develop people is to create low-risk, high-trust environments where they can stretch without feeling exposed or set up to fail.
This might look like:
• Inviting someone to co-lead before leading on their own
• Asking a newer leader to contribute rather than carry full responsibility
• Entrusting someone with responsibility that actually matters, not just “safe” or symbolic tasks
Many people will never volunteer themselves. They do not want to overstep, disappoint, or fail publicly. An invitation communicates trust. Responsibility awakens ownership. Ownership often unlocks purpose.
Do not wait for confidence to appear first. Confidence usually follows opportunity, not the other way around.
4. Learn Their Story Before Assigning Their Role
Every person carries a story, and that story shapes how they view leadership, authority, risk, and their own value.
Some grew up without encouragement. Others were burned by church leadership. Some have never been trusted with responsibility. Others tried, failed, and quietly decided not to try again.
Before assigning a role, take time to listen:
• Where has life shaped this person?
• Where have they experienced discouragement or loss?
• What fears do they carry about stepping forward?
People open up gradually, but when they feel safe and genuinely known, something shifts. Ministry that skips relationship often misses the potential hiding just beneath the surface.
Understanding someone’s story helps you place them wisely and care for them faithfully as they grow.
5. Walk With Them, Not Just Ahead of Them
Calling out potential is not a one-time moment. It is an ongoing process.
People need leaders who not only point the way but also walk alongside them. That includes checking in, offering encouragement, providing correction when needed, and celebrating progress, especially the small wins that often go unnoticed.
Some people need reassurance. Others need a challenge. Most need both.
Leaders do not need to be perfect. They need to be present. When pastors and ministry leaders are accessible and consistent, growth becomes sustainable. Potential flourishes best in proximity.
Developing people is not about creating dependence. It is about cultivating confidence rooted in Christ.
A Challenge to Leaders
If you are a pastor or ministry leader, the people around you are watching—not just what you say, but what you see.
Who are you overlooking because they do not yet look “ready”? Who might grow if you named what God is forming in them? Who is waiting, not for a platform, but for belief?
Healthy churches are built when leaders stop asking, “Who is qualified?” and start asking, “Who is God shaping?”
When we learn to see the potential in every person, we do not just develop better teams. We participate in God’s work of forming people into who He created them to be.
That is leadership at its best.
Jeremiah works as Church Coach, Communications & Resource Lead with the ABNWT District of the PAOC. He is a passionate and creative leader who believes that the church is the hope of the world. He uses collaboration, innovation, and inspiration to challenge churches and their leadership to engage in the only mission Jesus ever sent his church on: making disciples.