One of the more interesting questions I have wrestled with over the years is deceptively simple: Why do leaders keep growing?
Not why they start growing.
Why they continue.
I know that leadership development sounds exciting in theory. However, growth is often inconvenient.
Leadership development costs time, attention, humility, energy, money, discipline, and ego.
As already shared in previous posts, spiritual formation is not much different.
Prayer takes intentionality. Study takes effort. Reflection requires honesty. Rest requires trust. Repentance requires humility.
So why do people keep leaning into the process?
I have spent a good portion of my vocational life in ministry, leadership development, and biblical higher education, and I’m increasingly convinced that motivation matters more than we often admit.
In organizational leadership literature, scholars sometimes distinguish between what motivates people and how motivation actually functions.
That distinction feels surprisingly relevant to spiritual formation and church leadership.
Some leaders are motivated by achievement. Some by responsibility. Some by calling. Some by insecurity. Some by fear of failure. Some by love for God and people. Some are motivated by a complicated mixture of all of the above.
Honestly, our motivations are not always as pure or as simple as we would like them to be. After all, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9)
The motivation tension shows up clearly in Christian formation.
On one side, there are approaches that subtly reduce spiritual growth to performance.
- Pray more.
- Read more.
- Serve more.
- Give more.
- Do more.
The implicit message becomes: if you perform faithfully enough, perhaps you can earn spiritual maturity, divine approval, or leadership credibility.
On the other side, some respond by swinging toward passivity.
- Grace becomes an excuse for disengagement.
- If Christ has already accomplished the work, why pursue disciplined growth at all?
Both instincts miss something important.
Healthy formation is not driven primarily by guilt, image management, or spiritual scorekeeping. Nor is it sustained by apathy.
Formation requires a deeper source of motivation.
I have become increasingly convinced that leaders grow best when growth connects to purpose. We tend to endure difficult things when we believe they matter.
Think about virtually any meaningful area of life.
Marriage. Parenting. Education. Ministry. Fitness. Leadership.
Nobody drifts accidentally into long-term growth.
Growth usually happens because something (or someone) is worth the effort.
Several years ago, I proposed a research idea exploring motivation, spiritual formation, and ecclesial leadership development among pastors. One of the questions was strikingly simple: Why do you lead?
That question still fascinates me.
Why do leaders continue leading?
Why continue developing?
Why keep studying, praying, learning, serving, adapting, and growing when leadership becomes difficult?
After all, life and leadership get complicated. Fatigue shows up. Criticism arrives. Expectations accumulate. Formation becomes harder when leaders carry real responsibility.
This is why motivation is a big deal.
If growth is driven entirely by external pressure, image management, or achievement alone, it often becomes fragile.
Eventually, exhaustion catches up.
However, when growth is rooted in calling, conviction, love, stewardship, purpose, and a desire to serve faithfully, leaders tend to develop greater staying power.
Not perfection.
Staying power.
Scripture understands this tension well. Jesus addressed motives as much as behavior, and Paul consistently connected leadership, discipleship, and spiritual maturity to transformed desires, not mere external compliance. The deeper question was never simply, “What are you doing?” but “What is shaping why you do it?” Leadership development is not free, spiritual formation is not automatic, and sustaining either requires a “why” strong enough to carry the weight.
Dr. Carlo A. Serrano, President