Develop Healthy Leadership
Read Mark
In my earlier days as a
pastor I adopted a method of ministry that looked a great deal like a high
school football program. As the pastor I
coached the team, called the plays, led the cheers, and went out for an
occasional pass. In addition I ran the
concession stand, cared for the injured, and provided the Gatorade.
In 1996 I received a flyer
in the mail announcing a two-day leadership workshop by some guy by the name of
John Maxwell. I had heard of him through
some of my
The first thing I realized
is how alone I’d been in ministry.
The second thing I realized
is that I was exhausted. I’d been trying to be THE leader of my church all by
myself. I was determining the mission
and vision of the church and trying to set the wheels into motion. I was a
leader in the church, but I also needed to be seeking out, training and
utilizing other leaders. Unconsciously I
was setting up a pastor-centered ministry.
This was/is not healthy for the church and it certainly wasn’t/isn’t
healthy for the pastor.
The third thing I realized
is that leadership is not about position or office. True leadership is about influence. Of course that influence can be positive or
negative. Thinking back over the course
of history I can think of both kinds of influencers: Mother Teresa and Adolf Hitler are two such
examples. If I would develop other healthy
and positive influencers in the church we would begin to share in the journey
and effective ministry could be achieved.
If
you go to a bookstore and look under the heading of leadership you will be
amazed at the number of books written on this subject. My own personal library is filled with such
books. I find that I enjoy ideas and
concepts from different leadership authors; I have not found one book to meet
all of my needs in regard to ministry.
While I enjoy John Maxwell’s structural approach to leadership (The
21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership), I also am drawn to the more circular
model of servant leadership I find in Robert K. Greenleaf’s writing (Servant
Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness). One book that surprised me with some of very
good principles is Leadership Secrets of Attila The
Hun by Wes Roberts, Ph.D. Laurie
Beth Jones uses Jesus as a model for visionary leadership in Jesus CEO;
Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary Leadership. Of course these few books only scratch the
surface of relevant material on the bookshelves today. Through these and others I have developed a
leadership style of my own using bits and pieces I have gleaned through the
writings and my own personal experience.
This style is primarily based on the way Jesus trains leadership in the
gospel according to Mark. Let’s take a
closer look.
First, He called people to
come into leadership (Mark
Second, He became a role
model for them when He:
Third, He got selective and
appointed twelve people, evidently out of those He originally called, whom He sent
out to preach and have authority over demons. In Mark 4-5 He modeled how to
teach, how to deal with the demon-possessed, and how to trust God for miracles.
Finally, He sent those
twelve out in pairs (Mark 6:7-13) to do ministry with explicit
instructions. He told them what to take
and what not to take. He told them what
to do when they enter a house and what to do if they weren’t welcomed. They went out and taught, anointed and healed
the sick, and dealt with those who struggled with demons, just as Jesus had
taught and modeled for them to do.
We know that they while went
out, they likely weren’t all that far from Him at any given time. With others doing the same kind of work He was
doing (under His leadership):
·
More could be
accomplished.
·
He could build
and prepare them for the time when He would no longer be there.
·
People could see
that this was God working through people and not believe that Jesus was the
only one who could preach, teach, heal and deliver.
*I moved from Mark to Matthew because the most reliable early manuscripts don’t have anything past Mark 16:8.
These are the people who
will be there at Pentecost and receive the power of the Holy Spirit. These are the people who will be at the
beginning and forefront of the Christian church. These are the people who were
trained by Jesus and who will eventually train others, who will eventually
train yet others.
It’s like a wheel that rolls
on and on repeating the cycle as someone is trained, they train someone else,
and they train yet others. Jesus’
primary training was to:
In keeping with that image
of a rolling wheel let’s use an acronym to lay out what I believe is most
needed by leaders in today’s churches:
C ommitment
A ccountability
R esponsibility
T eachable Spirits
It
has been said that 20% of the membership of any given group do 80% of the
work. If this is true, no wonder people
are afraid to commit to boards, committees and other programs in a church! Once you are seen as a part of that 20% you might
find yourself overloaded with more responsibility than you ever wanted. Therefore:
·
We need that 20%
to become influencers who will train others who will eventually train others,
and thus multiply the workers.
·
We need these
influencers to set healthy boundaries and limits for themselves. It is better for them to say “no” than take
on another task that could well become their breaking point.
A common question among
church leadership is this: If I don’t do it, who
will?
Answer: If you are setting healthy boundaries and
limits for yourself, and no one
else
steps up to the plate to take on a ministry, then maybe it isn’t the
right time for your church to take on this ministry.
Jesus asked for commitment
when He said, “Come, follow me”. That call to commitment was not just for the twelve, however, it was for all of them. In the same way Jesus is calling us to
commitment in our churches today; not just 20% of us, but all of us. It is important to set healthy boundaries
because people who over-commit are the ones who bless the church and then burn
out to a place where they never want to come back.
Accountability requires
evaluation, feedback and critical analysis.
This may not be negative in the least, but many of us are afraid of any
type of criticism. We are willing to go
along and do our thing, but if someone wants to comment on it, we get defensive
and sometimes even quit. Accountability
can be a wonderful tool for growth.
Those Jesus called and trained were accountable to Him. Those who would go out in His name to teach,
heal the sick and deal with all sorts of troubled people would ultimately be
accountable to Him for their actions.
This accountability teaches by reinforcing what they are doing well and
going back over those areas that need work.
If we can look at accountability as a tool for growth in our ministry,
we will find blessings there. Someone
who is not willing to be held accountable may not be a healthy influencer in
your church.
Along with commitment and
accountability, responsibility also comes with the leadership territory. If we agree to accept a position then we must
also be responsible for that which is required for that position. A responsible person takes it upon
him/herself to know the expectations for their area of ministry and to follow
through with them. A person who is in a
leadership position but cannot be counted on is only holding an office, not
serving as a leader.
Perhaps most importantly of
all, good leaders/influencers have teachable spirits. If we go into a ministry assuming that we
know it all, we will fall short of our responsibility. We must be open to new and different ways of
doing things as well as to change in general. Do you want to know where the
CART is most apt to get stuck? It’s with those who believe they already know it
all and who refuse to let go of what they know in order to grow. These
individuals consciously or unconsciously affect the growth and development of a
ministry more than we might realize.
With commitment,
accountability, responsibility and teachable spirits in our leadership the
church can move on to where God is calling it to go. The pastor cannot and should not do all of a
church’s work. If he or she chooses to
do so, the church may well find itself immersed in an unhealthy pastor-centered
congregation. A healthy pastor will
model, teach, train and empower healthy leaders. Healthy leaders:
·
Have teachable
spirits; willing to learn new ways to do things
·
Are committed
with their time, gifts and talents
·
Are accountable;
able to honestly admit problems and faults as well as joys and successes
·
Are responsible,
on time and reliable. You can count on
them to get the job done and done well
·
Exemplify the
character of Jesus—These people walk their talk
·
Can agree to
disagree during conflict; don’t have to have everything their own way
·
Deal directly
and lovingly with others in the church
·
Have healthy
life priorities in place
·
Are both
encouraging and empowering to others in the church
·
Are not
threatened by spiritual concepts different from his/her own
·
Encourages
others to find their own relationship path to God
·
Can admit to not
having all the answers
If these qualities are
taught and modeled, and others can learn them and incorporate them into their
own lives and ministry, thus modeling and teaching them to yet others, the
church will be able to move in the direction God is calling it. This positive cycle will continue to roll,
the leadership will grow, the pastor and other leaders will no longer burn out,
and the church will be blessed.
Knowing that Mother Teresa
held no high office or rank in life, what made her so popular and loved?
Recognizing that Adolf
Hitler held no high office or high ranking in the military, what led to his
rise in power over the German army?
Name someone who was an
influencer in your life when you were growing up? How did she/he influence you?
Who is an influencer in your
life today? How does she/he influence
you?
Can you name one or two
influencers in your church today? What,
in your opinion, makes them an influencer?
On a leadership/influencer
scale of one to ten, with ten being an absolute HALLELUJAH YES and one being an
ABSOLUTELY NOT, what number would you give yourself? Would you ever want to become a
leader/influencer in your church? Would
you be willing to train to become one?
If you are a pastor, can you
think of others in the church that have more influence
than you have? Is their influence
positive or negative? Are you tapped
into them and utilizing them in a healthy way in the ministry of your
congregation?
How might this study on
developing healthy leadership influence your church?