Christian Leadership
Leaders can be the most inspiring people and those who lead in Christian ministry are no exception. Most everyone values a good leader. But what constitutes a good leader? What is it about a leader that makes him or her effective? While there are numerous principles, needs and steps that leaders should engage in, looking at just a few of them will provide an understanding of some of the basic areas that a leader should focus on. These will be addressed by looking into the areas of felt needs, evangelism, discipleship and mobilization.
Felt Needs
There are several things that leaders in ministry need in order to be effective in leadership. It is important for leaders to be aware of these needs and seek healthy ways of incorporating them consistently into their lives. While there are several needs that leaders have, there are a few needs that are quite essential, namely: solitude, encouragement, wisdom and love.
Solitude is a need that many leaders often are not able to experience on a regular basis. Busyness and the needs of others can easily pull leaders away from experiencing solitude consistently. Yet, scripture reveals the importance of solitude through the life of Jesus. In the book of Mark we see that Jesus highly valued solitude. Over and over we find Jesus trying to get away from crowds and go somewhere to be alone with either His Father or with His disciples. You also see him trying to keep his fame from spreading and trying to avoid crowds (See Mark 1:12, 35, 44,45; 6:31,32, 46; 7:33,36; 8:30; 9:25; 14:32-40). If Jesus, who was the ultimate leader and God Himself, needed time to be alone with His Father, how much more should leaders today make solitude with God a priority? Success in ministry can only live and grow out of a place of solitude with God. That should be the number one goal of every leader who desires to serve God. Charles Spurgeon said, “There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in his service.” (http://www.goodreads.com). What would happen if every Christian leader made an extra effort to do just that? This place of rest and communion with God is essential to the life of every individual and crucial for success in leadership. It is something that will require a sacrifice. Time, and most likely many other good things, will have to be sacrificed to make this place of solitude with God a reality. Yet, it is probably the most important thing anyone could spend his or her time on and it is key to effective leadership.
It was important to Jesus to not only spend time alone with His father, but also with those He led. It is also important for leaders to take time to be alone with their disciples. Mark says that Jesus and His disciples were so busy that they didn’t have time to eat (Mark 6:31,32). Jesus then said that they should go to a place where they could be alone. Jesus knew the importance of pulling his followers out of the busyness of ministry to allow them a chance to rest with Him. Leaders today should also take the time to bring those they lead out of the busyness of ministry for a while in order to refresh and pour into them. This will strengthen and build up their followers so that they become effective leaders themselves.
Encouragement is also a very important need in the lives of leaders. Words are very powerful and words of encouragement can be a huge help in making leaders successful. In the book of Joshua, you see the importance of encouragement regarding leadership. This book starts out with God encouraging Joshua as he steps into a big, new leadership role. Over and over through out the book, you find God encouraging Joshua and instructing him not to fear. You also find that Joshua encourages those he is leading. You see Him encouraging the people to take the land. He encourages them not to let fear get in the way of their inheriting the promised land land (See Joshua 1:6-9; 3:7,8; 8:1,2; 10:8; 11:6). Encouragement is essential for leaders to receive and it is essential that they give it as well. When they encourage those they lead, they are in reality loving those individuals. I like what James Kouzes says when discussing love in leadership, “The word encouragement has its root in the Latin word cor meaning heart. When leaders encourage others, through recognition and celebration, they inspire them with courage-with heart. When we encourage others, we give them heart. And when we give heart to others, we give love “( Kouzes, 1995). Through simple encouragement leaders are equipped with the heart that they need to lead others and through encouragement those they lead are equipped to follow. Encouragement has a great impact in the area of leadership and this is something that leaders and followers should be aware of.
You also see how serious of a matter it is to God when men and women complain or use words against their leaders. Numbers reveals the seriousness of complaining against leadership. You see several Israelites are punished or are put to death throughout this book for complaining about and rebelling against the leadership that God sets over them. You also see that God constantly takes the side of Moses who is the leader He has appointed. God viewed the people’s rebellion against leadership as an act of rebellion against Him (Numbers 16:11). You see Miriam punished because of her decision to conspire with Aaron against Moses’ leadership (Numbers 12). God obviously views complaining against leadership quite seriously. Not only is encouragement important, but it is also important to make sure that negative words are not used in regards to leadership.
Wisdom is another need that every leader has. Because Proverbs is a book of wisdom written by a king to his son, it is filled with valuable insight for leaders. Proverbs 8:15-21 reveals how important it is for leaders to be filled with wisdom. It says that through wisdom, kings reign, rulers lead and nobles make righteous judgments. Proverbs 11:14 reveals the importance of a nation having a wise leader stating that when they don’t have one, the nation falls. Chapter 28 verse 2 states that wise and knowledgeable leaders bring stability to a nation. When this is not in place, moral rot begins to grow and the government topples. Wise leaders bring stability and they also provide joy to those who are under their rule (See Proverbs 29:2,4). Proverbs 16:10-15 states that leaders are to judge with wisdom and justice because God loves accurate scales and balances. Wisdom is mentioned over and over as being crucial for effective leadership and it ultimately comes from a healthy fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10).
Finally, love is essential for Christian leaders. This is probably the most important need that leaders have. Without love, a leader will be unsuccessful. I Corinthians says that without love, everything else is pointless (I Cor 13:1-3). A leader can have a great ministry, great gifts, great speaking ability and a great following, but without love it is all considered worthless to God. A true leader is someone who leads out in love. They don’t need to be loved first before they love back. They choose to give freely. Just as the bride in Song of Solomon states that she belongs to the bridegroom regardless of whether he belongs to her or not, so true love gives without any expectation of return (Song of Solomon 7:10). Nothing is greater than love. If we want to be leaders, love is the greatest thing we could possess. True love gives without expecting to get back. To lead out means to love the unlovable. It means to love even when you are not loved back. It means to consistently, faithfully love even when it’s tough. A leader is someone who loves whether they see the fruit of that love or not. They realize the importance of faithful, unearned love and when that love is manifested, it will change the world. Jesus led out in love on the cross and He said that the world would know who the real Christians were by their love (John 13:35). Love is truly the greatest need of every leader. Love is the greatest thing a leader can possess.
This love is often expressed through serving. A leader with genuine love will serve those he leads. Jesus was the best example of servant leadership. In John 13 you see Jesus choosing to wash His disciples feet right before He goes to the cross. Despite the fact that He had already given up His heavenly rights (Philippians 2:5-8) and was about to lay down His entire life for the world, He chose to act out true love by serving His disciples and washing their feet. Jesus had every right to be served, but He chose to serve his disciples instead. He then commissioned His disciples to go and do the same (John 13:12-14). Servant leadership is the calling of every leader that is chosen by God. In order to be effective as a leader, sacrifices must be made to serve others. Maxwell says in his book on leadership, “There is no success without sacrifice. The higher the level of leadership you want to reach, the greater the sacrifices you will have to make. To go up, you have to give up. That is the true nature of leadership. That is the Law of Sacrifice.” (Maxwell, 1998). Just as Jesus’ love was lived out through serving, so a leader’s love for others should be lived out through serving. Through serving in love Christian leaders will be able to greatly impact the world. To the normal mind serving may not seem like the way you become a leader. Yet, God usually chooses to work in ways that seem backwards and upside down to us. As Roy Lessin said, "A godly leader finds strength by realizing his weakness, finds authority by being under authority, finds direction by laying down his own plans, finds vision by seeing the needs of others, finds credibility by being an example, finds loyalty by expressing compassion, finds honor by being faithful, finds greatness by being a servant” (http://voices.yahoo.com).
Evangelism
One of the callings that Christians leaders have is that of evangelism. Leaders are called to lead men and women to Christ. There are several methods and means of making this calling reality, but two of the most important steps needed are quite simple and can be easily dismissed away. They are prayer and the ability to follow.
First of all, prayer is crucial to leading men and women to Christ. Prayer is important in evangelism. You see over and over again in scripture that those who were called by God to lead spent time in prayer for the people of God. Through prayer they turned God’s people back to him and through prayer those people are commissioned into the harvest.
Through prayer, leaders or present day “priests” are given an amazing responsibility of bringing people back to God. In Joel 2:15-18 the call is given for the people of God to come to a solemn meeting and fast. Then the “priests, who minister in the Lord’s presence” are called to “stand and weep BETWEEN the entry room to the Temple and the altar. Let them pray…” They are called to pray a prayer pleading with God to spare the people. Verse 18 says that THEN the Lord will pity his people. The chapter then goes on to share the blessings that God will bring upon His people and the restoration that He will bring to them. The priests were called to stand in on behalf of the people and pray for them. That was what caused God’s heart to be turned on behalf of His people. Christian leaders and pastors have a tremendous responsibility to stand in on behalf of those they lead, crying out on behalf of those that have sinned. They are called to stand in the gap through prayer. This is what moves God’s heart and brings a turning from destruction to blessing. In Exodus you see Moses interceding for the people of Israel several times. If it were not for His intercession, God would have destroyed the people of Israel. As a leader Moses was acting as a mediator before God on behalf of the people He was leading and he was able to “change God’s mind” (See Exodus 32:11-13, 30, 31; 33:12-17; 34:9).
Jesus also believed prayer was important in this area. In Matthew 9:37,38 you see Jesus commanding his disciples to pray that laborers will be sent into the harvest. This is one of the most effective steps that a leader can take in evangelism. Through prayer leaders are able to raise up an army for an even greater harvest of souls.
The simplicity of following Jesus is the other step in evangelism that will be mentioned. Evangelism starts with simply following Jesus wherever He leads. One of the first commands that Jesus ever gives His disciples when He calls them is “Come follow me” (Matthew 4:19). The very first thing they were to do was simply follow Jesus and the result was that He would teach them how to catch men. The simplicity in this is profound. Jesus didn’t initially tell his disciples to follow Him and do some big great thing. He told them to simply follow Him. Once they did that, Jesus did the next thing. He SHOWED them how to catch men. Some versions say, “He MADE them fishers of men”. Either way it was something that Jesus did, not the disciples. They were simply commanded to follow Him. So many of us can get so easily caught up in doing a million and ten things and coming up with all different kinds of strategies and programs in order to win men to Christ that we forget that the first and foremost thing is to simply follow. Do we take the time and effort to make sure that we have done that well first or do we simply rush ahead with all of our own great ideas before we even stop to determine whether we are truly following Jesus’ steps? If we can reach the place in our lives where we are truly fixed upon Jesus alone, walking wherever He decides to walk, everything else will take care of itself. He will show his disciples how to do what He wants done. He will change his followers to become what they could have never become otherwise. We don’t have to figure out all these great strategies and come up with all these great ideas to win men and women to Christ. All we simply have to do is follow.
Discipleship
Every person needs discipleship and leaders are no exception. There are several key points that are important for Christian leaders to be aware of as they spiritually lead others. They must remember that true leaders are chosen by God, they are called and used despite their feelings of inadequacy, they are examples to the world and they must trust God’s leadership.
First of all, the book of Judges shows over and over again how God calls and chooses those He wants in leadership. Whether it is choosing the least expected man like Gideon (Judges 6-8) or bringing a mighty prophet like Samson into the world (Judges 13-16), you can see God over and over again selecting the people that He wants to represent Him to His people. In Judges you see the leaders are not the ones who are ultimately in charge. Rather they are just representatives of God, who is the true King of the nation. This is in fact what leaders are, simple men and women standing in the gap for the King that they serve. Often, God loves to bring leaders out of nowhere. Both Ruth and Boaz were leaders and they both “came out of nowhere”. Ruth just happens to come from Moab and Boaz just “happens” to be the owner of the field she goes to work in. Ruth leads out as the caregiver for her mother-in-law and ends up being a part of the lineage of David and Christ. Boaz leads out in caring for Ruth and Naomi and ends up marrying Ruth and being in Christ’s lineage as well. Leaders that God calls often come from unexpected places and can often “come out of nowhere”. Never underestimate the most seemingly insignificant, unimportant person because they could very well be the person God has chosen to play a very significant role in His grand purpose. Ultimately, God is the One who sets up leaders and those who are leading others can be encouraged in the knowledge that they were put in that place by God.
Secondly, God doesn’t choose leaders based on their qualifications. Jacob, the patriarch of Israel was a deceiver. Moses felt totally unqualified for his job and offered God five reasons why he was “inadequate” for the leadership position that God called him to. Gideon also felt inadequate when he was called by the Lord along with Barak and countless others through out history (Judges 4:8; 6:14-16). Even David, the greatest king of Israel, was an “inadequate” shepherd before he became king. A leader’s ability or qualifications are not based on what they do or cannot do, but rather they are qualified simply because God chooses them (Exodus 3-4). A leader may feel like the most insignificant and weakest individual and may often be tempted to believe lies from the enemy that they are inadequate or not fit for the job. Yet, God is capable and willing to make up for all inadequacies, which is why He often uses the weakest and smallest men and women.
Thirdly, God uses the lives of those He puts in leadership as examples to demonstrate His purposes and workings in the world. As a priest and prophet for Judah, Ezekiel was a spiritual leader for His people. Because God had put him in this position, God used his life as an example to his people. Often throughout scripture we see that God used the lives of His prophets to show what He was going to do with His people or how he felt about His people on a broader scale. God has Hosea marry a prostitute so that He could show Israel that they were forsaking Him (Hosea 1:2). Ezekiel had to lay on his side for 390 days to bear Israel’s sins (Ezekiel 4:4). He also had to experience the death of his wife and refuse to show any signs of mourning for her as an illustration for the people of Israel (Ezekiel 4:15-24). God likes object lessons and He often likes to use the lives of His people as object lessons showing the world what He wants to do on a larger scale. When God places an individual in a role of leadership, there may come a time where He will ask them to do something that may seem crazy, strange or difficult in their life so that He can have an illustration to work with when He decides to act on a larger scale. It is very likely that this could be challenging. Ezekiel had to suffer the loss of his wife which was not easy. Yet, He obeyed the Lord without question. A leader’s life, in reality, is a living testimony of what God longs to do with His people. Do we make ourselves available to this no matter the cost to us?
Lastly, leaders should remember that they can trust the leadership of the One they are following, which is Christ. There is great comfort found in the realization that Christian leaders have the perfect leader who never fails. It is important for leaders to remember that God’s leadership is always trustworthy. God always knows what He’s doing. He always has a plan and even when leaders don’t understand His ways and even in the most difficult situations, He is always trustworthy.
You can see throughout Genesis the fact that God is frequently speaking to His people and giving them direction and leadership. Christian leaders get their direction from God and they are to follow Him even into the impossible. While trusting God’s leadership, it is important for leaders to remember to not take matters into their own hands. Genesis cautions us to not rush God’s will. We are not to try and come up with our own solutions to what God has promised to do in our lives like Abraham did with Hagar or Jacob did with His father by tricking Him. Rather, we are to wait on God’s timing for the fulfillment of what He has promised to do in and through us. God is fully capable of doing what He has said no matter how big it is. Believe the impossible. If God tells us He wants to do something bigger than we can make happen i.e. have a child at 100, we are to believe Him and wait for His timing. It is His responsibility to do it. We don’t make it happen ourselves. We do the possible. Let God do the impossible. As our leader, He will most likely give us visions for impossible things. Then He will put us in charge of leading others into this. Faith is key! He’s trustworthy to lead us as we lead others. God confirmed His will over and over again to Abraham about the Promised Land because He was the leader of the nation. Abraham chose to have faith and obey and as a result, he did the impossible for the nation through His faith in God.
As the leader of His people, God always had a plan. He has always knows where He is going. He isn’t defeated or distracted by the failings of His followers, but He remains faithful to them. God is always the most excellent leader and He can be completely trusted.
The book of Joshua also reveals that God is the ultimate leader. He constantly longs to provide the leaders that He has set in place with instructions on how to precede in the task He has given them. He gives Joshua instructions on how to cross the Jordan, how to take Jericho and He also provides Him with battle strategies. In fact the only times that you find God speaking in this book are when he is speaking with Joshua. Even though Joshua already knew that Israel was supposed to take the land, he still needed to receive the detailed steps of how to go about accomplishing the task and God constantly instructed him on how to proceed with the task He had given him (See Joshua1:2-9; 3:7,8; 4:2,16; 5:2; 6:1-5; 7:10-15; 8:1,2,18; 10:8; 11:6; 13:1-7; 20:1-6).
Yet most of us struggle with God’s leadership at times. Many of us often think that we have God figured out. It is so easy to fall into the trap of putting God into a box. “Surely God would not do that! Surely he would do things this way. Surely he wouldn’t show love and mercy to the cruelest people.” We often want God to do things our way. We don’t want Him to “show mercy to our enemies”. We want Him to do things in the way that is most comfortable for us. Leaders who fall into the trap of thinking they know how God is going to work or know what He is going to do next will not succeed to the extent that God desires them to. If we are going to lead others into the will of God as the prophet Jonah was called to do, we will have to be willing to step out and lead others into areas that neither we nor our followers are comfortable in. Jonah who was a respectable prophet in Israel was sent to give a word to Israel’s enemies (2 Kings 14:25). He knew that God would show mercy to them and he didn’t want them to be shown mercy. They were the enemies of his people. What if delivering this word made him hated or unpopular with Israel and Israel’s king? He could lose respect, and be humiliated. Yet, taking that step was what God wanted him to do. Most likely, if we are obeying God, the steps we will take will not be popular to those we are leading and they will not be attractive to us either. We will have to swallow our pride as Jonah did and be willing to sacrifice our reputation and humble ourselves. We will have to do things we never wanted to do. Yet, if we are willing to do this in obedience to Christ, God will work in greater ways than we can imagine.
Isaiah also gives leaders an excellent example of how they can trust in the Lord when faced with enemies or situations that are too difficult for them. Isaiah tells the story of Hezekiah who is threatened by the king of Assyria (Isaiah 36-39). His chief of staff attempts to turn the people against the king and attacks God’s character. Hezekiah gives the correct response and tears his clothes, puts on burlap and goes to the temple (Isaiah 37:1). God is the first one he turns to. Despite all the idol worship that is mentioned throughout the book of Isaiah, here you find a righteous king who instantly goes to the Lord and responds to him. Hezekiah later receives yet another message from the king of Assyria. Again, Hezekiah brings it before the Lord. It says in Isaiah 37:14 that after Hezekiah received and read the letter that he went to the temple and spread it out before the Lord and prayed. The Lord then answers him saying “Because you prayed…” (Isaiah 37:21) Hezekiah knew where his source of strength was found. He knew who his Defender was. He didn’t look to other kings or people. Rather, he looked to the Lord and He was delivered. When faced with a difficult situation, a truly righteous leader will got to the Lord first. He is their leader and they should turn to Him first when they find themselves in difficult situations. When they do this they will find over and over that He is trustworthy.
Mobilization
When it comes to mobilization it is important for leaders to remember that they are working for the Lord and not for themselves. Action is important but it is essential that leaders are certain that they are mobilizing in the way that God wishes them to. As leaders step into action they must be aware that they are to build God’s buildings instead of their own, they must rely on him to build through them and they must constantly make their relationship with God their main priority.
First, it is important for leaders to be 100% sure that they are working on what the Lord is building and not simply what they are wanting to build. It can be so easy to get caught up in doing a great number of “good” things for the Lord in ministry that we lose sight of what He is actually doing. These “houses” of ours may look luxurious to everyone, including us. They may be very good ministry opportunities or simply things that we would desire to see built. But if God wants something else built, are we truly serving Him and bringing success to His kingdom through doing these seemingly good things? In the book of Haggai you find that the returned exiles, because of persecution, had ceased building the temple of the Lord and had focused on their own houses instead (Haggai 1:2-11). As a result God had removed His blessings from them. Often what God is doing or wants done is different than what we think should be done. We can very easily slip into the trap of building things and doing things that in reality are not what God wants. If leaders are going to be effective in ministry, they must be constantly seeking the Lord in prayer asking Him what is currently on His heart and mind and then partner with that. We need to be completely sure that we are building God’s kingdom, not our own. This is not a one-time thing we do. Rather, it is something that we will need to practice every day. Serving God is not about building what we think needs built, but rather identifying what it is that God wants built and then working on that whether it seems grand to us or not.
Secondly, leaders should rely on the Lord to build His kingdom through them. Nehemiah is filled with insight for leaders on how to go about building the “city” that God has asked them to build. Restoring and building things for the Lord often requires a lot of time and work. In this book you see Nehemiah face many challenges. His enemies attacks him with many different strategies. They mock him (Nehemiah 4:1-5), threaten him (Nehemiah 5:11,12), pretend to be his friend (Nehemiah 6:1-3), and falsely accuse him (Nehemiah 6-9). Yet, Nehemiah constantly perseveres and finishes the work in the end. It even says that when Nehemiah realized that the enemy was trying to intimidate and discourage him, he worked with even greater determination (Nehemiah 6:9). Despite great opposition, God is faithful to protect and help His people build what He wants built. You see that Nehemiah was very aware of this and chose to rely on the Lord to fight on his behalf (Nehemiah 1:18, 20; 4:9,14,15,19; 6:14-16). In the end, even the enemy realized that the work was finished because God was the One helping to build the “city” (Nehemiah 6:16). The same is true for leaders now. God is the One that builds what He desires built in and through us. He is the One that protects us from the enemy and He is the One who should ultimately receive the credit for the finished building.
Lastly and most importantly, leaders in Christian ministry must never forget that their relationship with God is their greatest priority and apart from God everything done is completely pointless. In ministry it is easy to get caught up in what is being “done” for God that we fail to simply “be” for God. People tend to define who they are or how they are doing with God based on “what” they are doing for God. Ecclesiastes shows the meaninglessness of every action apart from God. Even searching out wisdom was considered meaningless to Solomon, the wisest man in the world ( Ecclesiastes 1:17,18). It is important to always keep in mind that our actions are not where we find ultimate satisfaction. Apart from God they are all worthless. Real fruit and satisfaction comes from knowing God, the Creator ( Ecclesiastes 12:6). Ecclesiastes says that it is our duty to fear God and obey His commands (Ecclesiastes 12:14). If we are doing that, we will find satisfaction because it is God and God alone who gives us the satisfaction that we long for.
While the areas of felt needs, evangelism, discipleship and mobilization could be discussed more in depth, incorporating these few practices into life will greatly enrich the life of a leader. Not only will is help us become better at leading others, but we will discover that in the process we has become more like the greatest leader-Jesus Christ. When a leader has become like Jesus Christ, He has truly become a success.
Bibliography
Kouzes, J. 1995. The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass Publishers
Maxwell, J. 1998. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Sachem, J. 2010. Inspirational Quotes about Servant Leadership. Yahoo Voices. Retrieved December 15, 2012. From. http://voices.yahoo.com/inspirational-quotes-servant-leadership-5706416.html
Spurgeon, C. 2012. Charles H. Spurgeon Quotes. Good Reads. Retrieved December 15,2012. From. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/20486-there-are-times-when-solitude-is-better-than-society-and
