A Pastor preaching to a congregation of thousands in a Church
As Christians we all need
to become leaders, because our mission is to lead people to Christ Jesus. So
today i would like to share with you what the qualities of a Christian
leader should be. The world in general, and the Church especially are in a
leadership crisis. There is a tremendous necessity in the world as a whole for
responsible leadership to accomplish its goals. It is vital to have good
leadership and Christianity is no different. But particularly our interest is
with the Church, and there are many problems related to the leadership in the
Church today or lack of it. So it is a critical area and if you are a Christian
today, you will probably have some leadership responsibilities, whether it be
in the home, or in the Church, or in the work place. You probably have somebody
in some way who is responsible to be directed by you. Leadership is a vital
area.
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The world has a traditional approach to leadership, which is called; The
strong natural leader. And the world characterises it in this way.
(1) They
have to be visionaries. They never see whats going on around them because their
always looking down the road.
(2) They have to be action oriented. They are
always on the move, they never sit down to contemplate anything.
(3) They have
to be courageous. They just have more nerve than other people.
(4) They have to
be energetic. maybe a little hyper.
(5) they need to be objected oriented
rather than people oriented. They need to see the accomplishment of a goal,
rather than the person. And the person just ends up being a tool in that
accomplishment.
(6) They tend to be paternalistic, or have a father image
protecting everybody whether they need it or not.
(7) They are egocentric. They
think the world revolves around them.
(8) They are always intolerant of the
incompetents in others.
(9) They are always indispensably, you could never get
along without them. That's the worlds approach to leadership, the strong
natural leader. now if you have that kind of leadership in the Church, you've
got some problems, and if that happens to be your pastor your in trouble.
Because you have a whole lot of people holding on for dear life, while this guy
is rampaging through his fantasies. And that denies the primary requisite of
biblical leadership. And that is that you accomplish Gods goals through God's
people and not trying to do it all yourself. so there is a difference in
leadership qualities. And it's not easy being a leader and especially a Pastor.
Because you have to lead and organise a whole bunch of people who are
volunteers, none of whom you can really command or fire. And many of whom when
you make a mistake are eager to let you know about it. So it's not easy, but
all through your leadership there are always enough successes to keep you in
it, but enough failures to keep you on your knees.
There are also tensions in
leadership, here are some of them.
(1) The fear of failure.
(2) Not trusting
your own judgement. Some people never take a position of leadership because
they don't trust their own judgement, it's very difficult to have absolute
confidence in your own personal judgement, that's why the only place to be a
leader is in the Church of Jesus Christ under the power of the Holy Spirit.
(3)
Lack of trust in other people.
(4) Feeling guilty for being authoritative. your
in a position of authority, therefore you have to be authoritative. And some
place somewhere there's always somebody who is mad at you, because you take a
firm stand, your always alienating somebody at some time, and you have to deal
with that.
(5) defensiveness. So you try to explain everything you do, instead
of just doing it. The world standards and our standards are not the same, but
the tensions are the same. But the resource that we have to deal with all these
things, is that God has given us the responsibility.
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There never has been a
perfect leader yet, but for Jesus Christ. So we have to accept the
responsibility with all it's short comings and charge ahead. now lets look at
the principles of leadership that Apostle Paul exhibits in Acts 27. Paul is
being sent to Rome, being a prisoner in Caesarea for two years. He then asked
for his case to be tried before Caesar. He is now being transported to Rome for
his trial.
Paul being guilty of absolutely nothing is in the ship and ready to
go. When the journey starts the person with the least rank is Paul the
prisoner, a criminal, and he is put down in the hold of the boat with no
authority at all. He had no idea how to sail a ship, or command soldiers, But
no sooner the ship was out of port and on it's way Paul took over the ship.
Why? because he was a leader, and leaders rise to the top. Paul with a position
of weakness and inferiority, rises to the top, here are some of his
characteristics of his life. Acts 27:1-3.
Paul is an important political
prisoner highly resented by the Jewish population, and if he escaped there
would be certain ramifications for Rome. But Julius, lets Paul go into town to
meet his friends and refresh himself. And there is the First Characteristic of
a Christian leader. Trusting, trustworthy, in one day Paul convinced Julius
that he was trustworthy. And what happens to a Roman soldier that loses his prisoner?
He loses his life. Acts 16:27. But Julius a centurion of Augustus band lets him
go. Why? Because he trusted him. What about his friends, Paul was a criminal,
he had been a prisoner for two years, who likes to go around with a criminal,
but they still trusted him after two years, they still had confidence in him.
The primary attribute of a leader is to be Trustworthy. You will be amazed at
what people will do if they trust you. It is important that they have
confidence that you still have their best interests at heart. That they would
believe that you would never do anything that would result in them being hurt.
It's also important that a leader lead from a vantage point of being a servant.
1 Cor. 3,4 Paul tells of just being a servant. Matt. 20:27,28. You lead from a
vantage point of service and people will believe you have their best interests
at heart, and they will trust you.
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As soon as people believe that you have you
in your heart they will cease to trust you. They will feel they are being used,
for you to accomplish your goals. So a leader must be trusted, and the way he
is trusted is that the people believe with their whole heart that in his heart
are their best interests. And when they stop believing that, it's all over.
Matt. 20:25,26. See the difference, the worlds leadership is dominant dictators
while the Christian leadership is loving service. The people that really
believe you have their best interests at heart, will trust you and follow you.
Paul convinced a man in one day. The Second principle of leadership is found in
vs. 4-10. so it's taking a long time to travel a short distance. Paul just a
prisoner, but he's a leader, and leaders always take the initiative. That's the
mark of a leader. two hundred and seventy six people were on board, there were
a lot of lives in danger. And once Paul took the initiative he never gave it
up. Nehemiah 1:3. In 444 B.C. the city of Jerusalem had laid in destruction and
ruin for 150 years, the beloved city of God. The walls had never been
completed, but there was a man named Nehemiah , and Nehemiah took the
initiative.
There are five principles in taking the initiative.
#1.
Identify The Need. There's a problem, fix the problem.
#2. Come Up with a
Solution. Neh. 2:5. Nehemiah had a plan, he took his solution to the king and
made the proposal.
#3. A leader takes action. Vs.6. Nehemiah had the okay and
he went to build the walls.
#4. He delegated responsibility. Vs.18. He had
families building gates, walls, and towers. He delegated authority.
#5. Working
Along Side the People. Neh. 5:16. That's what a leader does, he takes the
initiative to solve the problem. And Nehemiah was the perfect example and he
had plenty of opposition. His enemies ridiculed him, Persecuted him, they
deceived him, but once he took the initiative he never gave it up. Neh.
5:15,16. And in 52 days he built the entire wall, something the Israelite's
could not do in 80 years.
- A leader is respected because he is Trusted,
- Takes the Initiative and that's what we need in the Church today, less criticizers and more initiators.
To be continued, God bless.
(By Gordon Johnson, and edited by Sommy Increase)
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