Countries disintegrate, place of worship and corporation fail, people become dysfunctional, descendants lose their direction, and mankind drift from God on behalf of one distracting reason; insufficiency of leadership. These disappointments are often for the reason that of the deficiency of instruction, appropriate leadership, and misperception on what Christian leadership subsists and exactly how that leadership is pertinent to every component of professional and personal life. From a Christian worldview perspective, Psalm 112:5 explains, “A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion” (NKJ). A Christian manager should always keep in mind that bounteousness and admiration for God, demonstrates that one has placed trust in Him, and not our material possessions.
The book selected for the assignment is, ‘Be a people person: Effective leadership through effective relationships,’ by John C. Maxwell. Mr. Maxwell is an author, speaker, leadership expert who is internationally recognized and a pastor. He wrote books on leadership (The John Maxwell Company, n.d.). He has a doctorate in ministry and started his career as a pastor. After 14 years of preaching the word of God, he devoted himself to speaking and writing. He became a religious leader (Christian Books Previews, n.d.). Maxwell has recognized the role of interpersonal relationships in making and breaking a leader. He has also realized the importance of developing personal skills from the people (Victor Books, 2002). In his book, Maxwell explains how a person who follows can turn to a leader by connecting with people and relating to them from a biblical perspective. The author places 50 percent emphasis on others, 25 percent on self and the remaining 25 percent on God in his approach to the followers (Barnes and Noble, n.d.).
Satterlee, A. (2013). Organizational management and leadership: A Christian perspective. (2nd ed.) Roanoke, VA: Synergeistics Publishing.
The Christian worldview of leadership is distinctly different from most secular views on the subject. In the secular, leadership tends to be viewed primarily in terms of a company’s bottom line and how well the leader can urge employees to produce more and better work. That view is profit-centered rather than person-centered, and it does not give much attention to employees’ human needs and qualities nor on how developing excellent work relationships can promote productivity. In the Christian worldview, however, people are key, and their human needs are important. The leader in the Christian worldview understands how meeting employees’ needs promotes the kind of productivity desired and
From a personal perspective, leadership from a Christian worldview is about transforming your skills, abilities, and knowledge of the vision of life, beliefs, values, and principles. Due to the differing worldviews as a leader from a secular or biblical perspective, the ways of life as a leader divert the values that guide us, beliefs that direct us, and principles that motivate us to act or behave a certain way. Jesus lives in disciples, and we should all be living as his light and world. In Paul’s plea he stated, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1, New International Version). Not everyone is in the public eye, but everyone is in the eye of someone, and there he or she is a leader. I will discuss my growth and development into the leader from a Christian worldview and from course material as support.
Lynch and Friedman (2013) express that “Servant leadership is a valuable approach in politics and industry. Adding the spiritual component−striving to build a spiritual workplace and working to improve society− completes the paradigm and makes it more valuable as a leadership theory” (p.
In the book Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders, by Reggie McNeal it examines the need for strong spiritual Christian leaders in today’s society. McNeal looks at the good and bad characteristics of a leader in order to help leaders understand and develop the characteristics needed in one’s own life to be a good leader. McNeal states “we are desperate for great
This is a study about one’s ethical and moral behavior and Christian World View as related to personal and professional growth and development. This study examines my personal views of moral behavior and Christian World View as it relates to my expectation of what a manager in a leadership position should posses and why. Growing up in a African-American Baptist church and ultimately landing in a diverse Christian Church has shaped my life and viewpoint when it comes to values and beliefs. There are 5 characteristics that I believe a Manager should possess: Authenticity, transparency, empowering, trustworthy and competence. These five characteristics help to build rapport and trust in a manager, which are good qualities to possess when leading a team.
There are, however, principles of Christian leadership that are distinctively Christian. Distinctive to Christian leadership are the principles of modeling after the person, the life, and the teachings of Jesus Christ, displaying a high sense of morality and ethics, exercising a Christ/cross centered theology, and expressing dependence upon God. These points provide the basis of a distinctively Christian theology of leadership.
In the process of interviewing a servant leader, this paper investigates the defining behavior of servant leadership from a practical and philosophical standpoint. There are practical behavioral characteristics that can be uniformly integrated into the business infrastructure that is founded upon Biblical principles yet not used as a pool to proselytize. Through research and group discussion boards, this paper analyzes the institutional applications and the interpersonal relationships
Leadership and management for many go hand in hand, and may be perceived as one in the same. In the book titled, The Servant (1998), James C. Hunter challenged this mainstream view, and literally turned this concept, which so many are coached on, upside-down. The notions of what characterizes a virtuous leader, as well as what it means to serve others, are the primary focal points of Hunter’s book. He did an eloquent job of revealing his theory concerning effective leadership by using an allegorical approach which, made the content easier to digest and much more personable. The Servant deeply resonated with me, and I gained significant value from the attitudes Hunter presented which, I can apply to my schooling, personal life, and future career paths. I was also able to discern what I felt to be applicable elements regarding the mark of a worthy leader, and arrived at my own theories.
A sentiment common to almost any organization is that the one fact that remains constant is change. As society changes, and human understanding grows, any organization that maintains a static posture, assures its demise. Churches and Christian organizations are no exception. The gospel may remain the same, but the method for communicating it must speak to the audience to assure understanding. The Christian leader must be prepared to meet this challenge by incorporating an effective model for change into his theology of leadership in order to keep the ministry relevant and effective. Searching for such a change agent can prove to be challenging as well. To aid in this search, four
Effective leadership approaches from a biblical perspective consist of God’s nature in his manifested character. Christian leaders are willing to pay the price to lead in Christ’s affliction. Paul said there is a price to pay in order to lead and Jesus reminded us, “Remember what I told you: 'A servant is not greater than his master. ' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also” (John 15:20, New International Version). Christian leaders need core attributes of God’s styles and approaches, support and linkage from scriptures, and knowledge of his leadership models of truth for effective leadership. However, these perspectives will gave me a better appreciation and insight of who God is and who I can be with his guidance.
Nations crumble, churches and business fail, families become dysfunctional, children lose their way, and men stray from God for one disturbing reason; lack of leadership. These failures are often because of the lack of instruction, proper leadership, and confusion over what Christian leadership is and how that leadership is applicable to every facet of business and personal life.
The New Testament leaders are an example of how church leaders of today should also behave and work[8]. They ought to be able to teach, guide the believers in the way of God and nurture their spiritual gifts. The New Testament leaders had to boldly defend the word of God in case of any false teaching. Basing on this New Testament leadership, it is important to make sure that any believer appointed to the leadership office has the laid down qualifications[9].