Christian Leadership in the CommunityConcord Baptist Church Leadership RetreatGrowing a Heart for God

January 2012

What is Leadership?

Leaders have followers/those who are willing to be influenced.

Leaders have a mission.

Leaders have a vision for accomplishing the mission.

Leaders have great passion for their mission.

Leaders embody an unwavering determination to accomplish their mission.

Leaders influence followers to join in pursuing the mission and the vision.

No really . . . what is Leadership?

Leadership is not about you.It’s about others.

Leadership is not about maintaining the status quo.It’s about changing things.

Leadership is not about staying where you are.It’s about going somewhere.

Leadership is not something you demand.It’s something you earn.

Leadership is not something you do quickly or sporadically.

It’s a long-term thing.

Leadership is not a trait.It’s an ability you can develop.

Leadership . . .

Isn’t mystical or mysterious.

Has nothing to do with charisma or exotic personality traits.

Is not the province of a chosen few.

Is not the same thing as management.

Leadership . . .

Is all about CHANGE.

It’s focused on bringing about change.

But not just any change . . . The right kind of change.

Leadership is about a direction/going somewhere.

Finally . . . a Definition

“LEADERSHIP DEFINES WHAT THE FUTURE

SHOULD LOOK LIKE, ALIGNS PEOPLE WITH THAT

VISION, AND INSPIRES THEM TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

DESPITE THE OBSTACLES.”

Leadership is about bringing about change and effective change requires vision, inspiration and effective communication.

A vision that is so clear and compelling that people align to make it happen.

Today more than ever business and society requires leadership that brings about positive and productive change.

The fundamental task of leadership is to bring about the right kind of change.

People change . . .

what they do less because they are given an analysis that shifts their thinking

. . . than because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings.

- John Kotter and Dan Cohen

Kotter’s Eight Stages of Change

① Establish a sense of urgency.

② Create a powerful guiding coalition.

③ Together, establish a compelling vision.

④ Communicate the vision by a factor of 10.

⑤ Remove obstacles that might prevent the accomplishment of the vision.

⑥ Plan for and create short-term wins.

⑦ Don’t declare victory too soon.

⑧ Anchor change in the culture.

For Christians,

Jesus is the ultimate example/model of leadership.

The Maasi Creed - 1960

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created Man and wanted Man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the Earth. We have known this High God in darkness, and now we know Him in the light. God promised in the book of His word, the Bible, that He would save the world and all the nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good His promise by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left His home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, He rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through Him. All who have faith in Him must be sorry for their sins, be baptised in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love and share the bread together in love, to announce the Good News to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for Him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.

The Greatest Role Model of all Time

Jesus of Nazareth

LEAD LIKE JESUS

Blanchard’s and Hodge’s Transformational Leadership

ModelPERSONAL LEADERSHIPOutcome = Perspective

Matthew 3:13 - 4:11

ONE ON ONE LEADERSHIPOutcome = TrustMatthew 4:18 - 24

TEAM/FAMILY LEADERSHIPOutcome =

Community/LegacyMatthew 10: 5 - 10

ORGANIZATIONAL/COMMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

Outcome = EffectivenessMatthew 28: 19 - 20

LEAD LIKE JESUS

Two Aspectsof Leading Like Jesus

① Leading like Jesus is a transformational journey.

② Internalize the four domains of leadership.

LEAD LIKE JESUS

Personal Leadership

Before you can lead anyone else, you have to know yourself. (Know thyself. – Plato)

Two questions:Whose am I?

Who am I?

Jesus spent time in the wilderness deciding whom He would follow and who He would be.

LEAD LIKE JESUS

Whose am I?

Defines the primary authority and audience of your life.

How do you define success?

Will you please God, or not? (Has your behavior changed, or not?)

LEAD LIKE JESUS

Who am I?

Defines your life purpose.

Why did God put you on earth?

What does He want to accomplish through your life?

LEAD LIKE JESUS

One-on-One Leadership

Developing a trusting relationship with others.

Without trust, little can be accomplished.

Trust is essential for two people to work together.

Jesus spent three years building a culture of trust with his disciples.

Trust flows from loving hearts committed to serving and supporting one another.

LEAD LIKE JESUS

Team Leadership

Developing a team through empowerment.

“None of us is as smart as all of us.”

Jesus sent his disciples out to minister in teams of two (Mark 6), empowering them to act on His behalf.

LEAD LIKE JESUS

Organizational/Community Leadership

Jesus chose to take the approach of a servant-leader and quietly influence the lives of a small group of men whom He then trusted and empowered to impact the world.

Jesus gave us the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, but He never implemented the organizational leadership level.

Instead, He equipped his disciples in the first three levels and then sent the Holy Spirit to guide them at the organizational level.

LEAD LIKE JESUS

In Community Leadership . . .

The leader must willingly extend service for common good.

The leader must find common ground and reconciliation with people of diverse opinions, backgrounds, priorities, and spiritual perspectives.

The leader must speak the truth in the language of love.

The leader must practice courage and good will with tolerance without wandering from moral and ethical conviction.

LEAD LIKE JESUS

Community Leadership

Is not restricted or defined by a formal position. It is the willingness to speak out for your values in a manner that recognizes the rights of others and the obligation to honor God in all you do.

It means walking the extra mile, turning the other cheek, loving your neighbor, forgiving those who persecute you, and being salt and light.

LEAD LIKE JESUS

Example of Living out Community Leadership

Informed, principle based voting.

Standing up for what is right over what works.

Responding with honor when called to serve on juries.

Praying for all who stand in harm’s way on behalf of the community.

Lending a helping hand to those in need.

Seeking to understand people who are different from you.

C. Kavin Rowe

Christianity is a Visible Action Verb

Christian = follower of the man Christus (the word’s original meaning)

In Acts, to be a follower of Christ was to belong to an assembly whose common life was publically visible.

There, we see the Christian community as a force for cultural destabilization in the wider Mediterranean world – it was public, with a purpose!

If Christianity were a private matter, we would not have been admonished to “witness.”

Our common life as Christians position us for visibility in the world as a witness to Jesus Christ.

WANTEDChristian Leaders

Martin Luther William Tyndale Jonathon Edwards

John Hus C. S. Lewis Billy Graham George Muller

G. F. Handel Corrie Ten Boom

The choices they made weren’t easy. They faced ridicule of their peers, were ostracized and mocked, told they were out of touch with the times, not enlightened enough, or just plain ignorant.

∫

“Is it time to learn again from the faith heroes of the past what makes for influential Christian leadership? I think it is. If we want our lives and leadership to count, we need continually to seek God’s kingdom first. We need to be directed by His Holy Spirit, not worried about how we look or what we could lose, remembering Jesus’ words that he who loses his life for the Kingdom of God will, in fact, find it.”

- David Spinks

LEAD LIKE JESUS

The Four Domainsof Leading Like JesusHeart

Head

Hands

Habits

LEAD LIKE JESUS

HeartLeadership is first, a matter of the heart.

When given the opportunity to influence the thinking and/or behavior of others, the first choice you are called to make is whether you are a servant-leader or a self-serving leader.

Jesus modeled leadership as first and foremost an act of service.

The term leader is mentioned only six times in the KJV while the term servant is mentioned more than 900 times.

Self-serving leaders think they should lead and others should follow. Servant-leaders respect the wishes of those who have entrusted them with a season of influence and responsibility.

God is not looking for leaders, but for servants who will let Him be the leaders and who will focus first on the Kingdom of God. Think of Abraham, Moses, Paul, and others.

Edging God OutResist putting something in God’s place

Resist trusting in something other than God

Resist valuing opinions other than God’s – making anyone the judge of your life other than God

Resist EGO problems - pride and fear

Practice Humility

Servant-Leadership

Term introduced in the 1960’s as a product of the mechanistic systems and bureaucratic institutions not thriving, and dissatisfaction with traditional command-and-control management practices.

“Servant-leadership is more than an attitude; it is a form of radical discipleship, a choice to be made in terms of how we live our lives based on the model of Jesus Christ in relationship both to God and others. It is a pervasive mindset that guides one in terms of how they live all aspects of their lives, regardless of whether or not they are in a formal leadership role.”

- Tim Geddert, Lori James and Ron Toews

Geddert, James and Toews

The Purpose of Servant-Leadership in the

ChurchThe Purpose:

To equip God’s people “for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (Ephesians 4:12).

The Result:

Christ, the head of the Church, and the entire body of believers is served in the act of providing leadership.

Geddert, James, and Toews

Humility

Servant-leadership is conscious of the fact that all people in the church – leaders no less than all other participants – stand at a level place at the foot of the cross.

Servant-leadership from a biblical perspective models relationships that are free from abuse of power, free from coercion, and are based in mutual respect for the other.

LEAD LIKE JESUS

HeadLeadership is next, a matter of the mind.

There, you examine your beliefs and theories about leading and motivating people.

You develop your leadership point of view that defines how you see your role and your relationship to those you seek to influence.

Jesus taught His point of view throughout His season of earthly leadership, which was servant-leadership.

Two roles of servant-leadershipSetting/charting the course, the destination – this is vision

Doing and influencing/inspiring/empowering others to do what it takes to achieve the vision – this is implementation

Establish a clear, compelling vision.Why are you doing this?

What will the future look like as a result?

Establish goals.

Assign responsibilities.

Implement by becoming a servant of the vision and by serving people who are being asked to act according to the vision and accomplish the goals.

LEAD LIKE JESUS

HandsOthers will experience what is in your heart and your head when your motivations and beliefs about leadership find expression in your actions (hands).

Your thinking and behavior will begin to rub off on those you seek to influence. Through your hands, you transmit what is in your heart and your head about servant-ledership.

Servant-leaders become performance coaches for others, setting clear goals, observing performance, praising efforts and redirecting inappropriate behavior.

Jesus poured Himself into His disciples for three years so that when He left His earthly ministry, they would be able to carry on His vision.

LEAD LIKE JESUS

HabitsYour habits are how you renew your daily commitment as a leader to serve rather than to be served.

Jesus found ways to constantly refresh and renew His servant perspective in spite of all the pressures, trails, temptations He faced.

Solitude – being completely alone with God to seek His face

Prayer – pray for discernment, direction, understanding

Dwell in the Word –

BIBLE – Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth

Trust in God’s unconditional love

LEAD LIKE JESUS

To Lead Like Jesus

You must love Jesus.

Jesus to Peter: Do you love me?

Not: Do you fear me? Do you respect me? Do you admire me?

Instead, he asked: Do you love me?

Jesus wants to see evidence that you love Him.

Do you love God enough to love His lost sheep?In as much as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me. (Matthew 25:40)

Treat other people like you would treat Jesus.

LEAD LIKE JESUS

The Habit of Intimate Community

Henri Nouwen: The time Jesus spent in fellowship with His disciples seems to have been for their benefit and His.

Be willing to accept feedback from your closest team members – it’s a gift; be thankful for it.

Establish accountability with others.

Change that Lasts

A change of heart is the only thing that changes behavior for good.

ReferencesBlanchard, K. and Hodges, P. Lead like Jesus. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005.

Geddert, T., James, L., and Toews, R. “A closer look at servant-leadership.” In Touch Magazine, Summer/Fall, 2006.

Kotter, J. P. What leaders really do. Cambridge: Harvard Business Review, 1999.

Kotter, J. P. and Cohen, Dan S. The heart of change. Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press, 2002

Rowe, C. K. “Visibility: A feature of thriving communities. http://www.faithandleadership.com/content/visibility-feature-thriving-communities?page=full&print=true

Spinks, D., 2012. “Christian leaders wanted.” http://community321.com/2011/12/16/christian-leaders-wanted/