1. Throughout the years, I have come to understand leadership as the ability of one to positively or negatively affect the actions of others. As the shepherd, I must agree with David Hansen. He states, “I am a shepherd. Everything I do is leadership. Everything is calculated as to how it bears on the whole. For better or for worse, I think about my church, my people and our mission constantly.”[1] Often, “Christians have a warped way of looking at work. Unless someone is working, ‘In the ministry’ they see his work as secular.”[2] The Bible instructs us to do all things as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23).
2. The leadership model is congruent with management responsibility. However, doing things right in management for worldly success
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Our capacity to grow determines our capacity to lead.”[5] Laniak had two things that motivated his interests, “I found that the cultural world of the Bible became increasingly important as I sought to understand its teaching. Moreover, listening to Christian leaders in other parts of the world constantly challenge my interpretation of Scripture.”[6]
4. When shepherds and ministry leaders stay focused on the Christological centered approach to ministry they will serve longer, more willingly, and joyfully. “The flock will be less likely to suffer abuse, attack, not being fed, not protected, and not led.”[7] While Peter reminds us of our responsibility to the flock, Jesus reminds us that we are called into servitude, “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve (Matt. 20:28).” Jesus Christ provides the best model of pastoral, ministerial, and managerial Leadership ever displayed by any human. The world possesses many attractive and profitable methods of leadership, many of which are in direct opposition to the example portrayed by Jesus Christ and the teaching of the Holy Spirit. I am a firm believer in the blueprint we inherited from Jesus Christ the great “I AM.” There is no other
Good management and leadership are essential for organizations to operate and additionally for the businesses to prosper. When businesses are well administered, they can function successfully and they can function effectively. Managers have exceptionally effective and strong plans, mangers have systematized structures, organizations, and they also assess effects. When businesses are appropriately directed, they acclimate to modifications in the situation and cultivate cultures that encourage obligation and improvement. Mutually good management and good leadership are essential to maintain organizational performance.
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.
The process of leadership requires self-identification of behaviors and reflection on one’s attitude (Bell, 2010). Among the thousands of leadership books in print today, this book is one that takes a different approach to examining leadership from a Christian perspective as well as relating to the process of leadership along with many
Robert Banks and Bernice M. Ledbetter believe the subject of leadership to be one worth exploring, and they do so in their book much to our profit. In this short book, Banks and Ledbetter begin by presenting the overall question they want to answer: Do Christians' core convictions shape their views and practices of leadership or are they affected by wider cultural assumptions? [1]The book begins by exploring the many reasons for the increased interest in leadership today. The authors offer a plethora
From the group Biblical Integration Paper, it was understood that servant-leadership is not only a gift of purpose that God places in the hearts of His people, but it is also a calling in one’s life to truly touch the lives of others in need. Living a successful life, as a servant-leader is not one that focuses on self-fulfillment, rather it is in seeking a fulfillment that comes from Christ when one pours him/herself out for the sake of others. It is through servant-leadership that one is able to bring hope into hopeless situations (Group Integration Paper,
In this article the author deals with the concept of growing mature leaders in a way that is in-line with the New Testament. One of the areas that this article addresses is that of the servant leader. This is especially important for this writer’s research due to the fact that the apostle Paul was a servant leader following and encouraging others to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ; who is the ultimate model for servant leadership. Another area addressed is that of spiritual renewal. There is a danger when leaders are out-of-touch with God and yet are striving to lead God’s people. The author also makes reference to and cites many passages of scripture penned by the apostle Paul. Many of those passages will be relevant to this writer’s topic of study and examining how this author understand and interprets those passages will add value and insight especially when it comes to applying the biblical truths of leadership in a modern
“There is much that can be learned about leadership from Scripture” (Smith, 1992, p. 39). The Bible provides us with what God not only desires His man of God to be, but requires His under shepherd to meet His character traits.
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate what I have learned about spiritual leadership. This paper outlines principals and personal experiences that I have encounter throughout my life. I have applied those learning experiences to various concepts discussed in this course. Identifying leadership as it pertains to the work I do, examining the leader’s role and goal, exploiting the leadership dynamics, and the personal reflection on purposeful prayer. Biblical principles and ethics of leadership are grounded on basic ideas regarding intellectual, biblical, and moral principles.
It is not an easy task to carry out public leadership, you have to know almost everything, counseling marriage on the verge breaking down, baptizing dying babies, administering Holy Communion for dying individuals, leading marriage ceremony with unusual and complicated scenario. It is also not easy to accept ministry as God calling rather than as job placement or vocational opportunity. It is tough to accept the people, their culture, tradition and the whole identity. God called us to ministry so that we will be able exercise his full authority (Matt 28:16-18) with full humility (Philippians 2:6, 2Cor 8:9, Rom 5:6-8). We have to deny ourselves and follow the footsteps of Jesus our Lord (Luke 9:23).
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.
Chapter sixteen discusses various leadership theories which can implemented by leaders to achieve success. The choice of leadership theory differs from leader to leader as they possess different vision and way of managing. A theory isn 't always perfect in itself, it is the endless effort of the leaders which makes the theory a perfect one. Two approaches of leadership that I prefer are Situational Leadership Theory and Servant Leadership Theory. Among many theories I prefer these two because I tend to practice those principles most of the time and I assume these are theories that I truly tend to continue in a long run.
I never thought to be a Christian leader. As a matter of fact, I am a person who did not know about God for 26 years. I was the center of my life, and there was no room for God to enter. Even when I was attending church service, I was trying not to be exposed to other church people. In other words, I was the kind of person who was afraid to walk into a life of faith. However, in the past three years, God has changed me in many ways, and showed me so many miraculous things. And, finally here I am. Being a Christian leader seems the most challenging job in the world. I am working as the chairman of a youth ministry, and walking on the path to be a church leader. When God called me to work for the
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].
In brief order, the role of a pastor or leader is to be a servant leader. The Bible provides pastors and leaders in a Christian church with the best model of a servant leader in Jesus Christ. According to Thorsten Grahn (2011), “Jesus submitted his own life to sacrificial service under the will of (Luke 22:42), and he sacrificed his life freely out of service for others (John 10:30). He came to serve (Matthew 20:28) although he was God’s son and was thus more powerful than any other leader in the world. He healed the sick (Mark 7:31-37), drove out demons (Mark 5:1-20), was recognized as Teacher and Lord (John 13:13), and had power over the wind and the sea and even over death (Mark 4:35-41; Matthew 9:18-26. In John 13:1-17 Jesus gives … responsibility of the house-servant” (Grahn, 2011, p. 2).