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'Success is never final; failure is never fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts' (Winston Churchill).

Winston Churchill is one of my heroes. Despite his 'black dog' days of depression, he never gave up and continued to pursue what he believed was right and what was needed. I'm sure like many of us, Churchill learnt from his mistakes more than he did from his successes.

Leading a fresh expression of church is nothing like leading a nation into battle, but sometimes it can feel like it. There are days when you see growth, numerically and in the depth of relationships, discipleship, and then there are days when you ask yourself, 'What am I doing?'

Six months ago I was leading a fresh expression in the market town of Woodbridge in Suffolk. Named The Lounge, it was based in Costa Coffee. The birth of this church was not planned but a result of the relationships that the local church (St John's Woodbridge) had developed over the years with the Costa staff. The starting point of this church was relationship and listening to our 'non-customers' (those who did not attend a 'traditional' church).

The Lounge was a great success, it developed, people came and the events were of a good quality. However, I started to notice that many of our guests were Christians who were fed up with their traditional churches, desiring a community that seemed less structured and distant from the established church ... even though The Lounge was born out of and accountable to a 'traditional' church. I also began to recognise that all the events and key relationships with The Lounge community and Costa staff orbited around me and the people I knew.

Towards the end of my time in Woodbridge this became a fundamental problem ... who was I going to pass the baton to? Who would continue the discussions, events and aid the discipleship of those that were beginning the journey with God and his church? Questions which all church leaders should ask themselves at the beginning of their ministry!

My obvious failure was the lack of investment that I placed in building a team from the beginning and to recognise that The Lounge was not engaging with the people that we had originally started it for. However, due to the great church that I was connected to, namely St John's, The Lounge continues to grow and develop as others have taken on that baton since I left. An Alpha course is now running at Costa and some of the staff are taking part - wonderful stuff, but the story could so easily have taken a very different turn.

Building a team and sharing ministry is essential when taking on a new church, ministry, a small group, etc. Jesus calls all of us to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28.19). We are called to 'go' out in community, not on our own. My failure was to build team to help me listen to those we were reaching.

Winston Churchill could not have led this nation to victory if it wasn't for those around him and those that he shared leadership with.

Who is on your team? Have you thought about inviting others into leadership? Are you willing to let go and give others a chance at leading, hosting, teaching and contributing new ideas?

Ben Gardner is St Thomas Crookes' student worker.

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If you have something burning to say and want to contribute to the Share weekly guest blog, please contact Karen Carter. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and are not necessarily shared by the Church of England, the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church, Church Army, Fresh Expressions or any of its partners.