Both Baxter and Witmer, in their books “The Reformed Pastor”,” The Shepherd Leader”, argue about how to be a good leader in a biblical way for Maturate Pastoral Ministry. While Baxter is describing from his own point of view, Witmer harmonizes with Baxter including other points. Firstly, in this essay, we will Compare and contrast Timothy Witmer’s framework for leadership with his “old shepherd friend” Richard Baxter in The Reformed Pastor (1657)
Secondly, we are going to Evaluate Witmer’s framework for leadership in which extant is biblical, practical and relevant to our personal context.
Finally, there will be a Self-assess of my personal leadership in the church and home against this (modified) framework, with explaining strength and weakness point area.
Both Baxter and Witmer uphold the biblical foundations for shepherding or leadership and the importance of this responsibility. In this case, we can see that both of them argue that this responsibility comes from God and there is a consequence for negligence. For an example from the Bible, “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deed,” declares the Load (Jer 23:1-2), here we can see a clear picture of this consequence and we cannot deny us from this duty.
Baxter emphasizes on to build-up personal relationship for understanding the needs of the flock and giving a better service, where he mentions “many other passages of
Robert Greenleaf and Christianity call for people to serve. They argue that power comes from giving it away and putting oneself in a position to serve others. This essay discusses the similarities and differences between Greenleaf and Christianity’s views of servant leadership. The Christianity’s views are based on Matthew 20: 20-28 .
In order to demonstrate my leadership development, I will complete an assessment of my personal leadership styles and behaviours, as evidenced through a series of validated self assessment methodologies and tools. My self reflection will include a summary of leadership strengths and weaknesses, in
Atkinson (2014) believes effective leadership displays, “No person is less divine than another, and therefore no person is less than another” (p. 145). Throughout the bible, there are many people in scripture that God placed in leadership roles. Jesus, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart.
In today 's culture the congregational expectations on a pastor are quite different from the vocational spiritual disciplines required for faithful pastoral ministry. The office of the pastor, for the congregation, has become nothing more than a managerial position of running a religious organization. In response to this Eugene Peterson offers his take on the distinctive work of the pastor and the practices that shape pastoral integrity. In his book, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity, Peterson outlines the practices of prayer, Scripture and spiritual direction as the backbone of faithful pastoral ministry. The following will discuss these practice, there benefit to pastoral ministry and why Peterson call to these practice are important to pastors today.
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
In these chapters Banks and Ledbetter draw attention to the raw spiritual, theological, and religious concepts of leadership. Here the authors conduct a case study of a significant author of leadership material, Stephen Covey. It is revealed that many readers are influenced by his Mormon faith without truly understanding or discerning the undertones.[3] This continues with an exploration of other perceived authorities on the topic of leadership. One such study is of Laura Beth Jones, an woman writer with increasing influence as it relates to leadership. Chapter five addresses how to translate practices of leadership into individual context through the use of three basic yet important values: faithfulness, integrity, and a servant-like attitude. Exploration of these three traits is undergirder with discussion of authors such as Robert Greenleaf. He is one of many leaders who brought into popular leadership thinking the idea of ‘servant leadership’.The book closes by offering examples in the form of case-studies. These studies provide deeper insight into the foundational qualities of successful leaders over the span of several years and many different context. This offers the reader a broader view of leadership by showing its success in many different forms and context.
Mc Neal expounds on leadership and those who will seek to carry it out. the work is not overtly religious, yet it is balanced in the biblical references included. The illustrations of real people in real situations and with real leadership styles are instrumental in bringing clarity and focus to an exhaustive subject.
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
“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.
Good and virtuous leaders are exemplified throughout the bible, but what was required of these early church leaders and are the requisites applicable to modern leadership? As leaders continue to incorporate a biblical ethical component to their leadership practices, it is hoped that good ethical leader succession will be duplicated. This applied exegetical paper will utilize a socio-rhetorical criticism approach to convey what was expected of the early church leaders and how those expectations can relate to modern leaders. I will analyze Titus 1 a Pastoral Epistle written by Apostle Paul through the process of Social and Cultural Texture analysis. Then, the analysis will explore the virtue and ethical leadership ideas of the Apostle Paul. Lastly, this paper will highlight how the ethical concepts are applicable to modern leadership practices.
There are many people in scripture that God has placed in leadership roles. Jesus himself, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart. Leaders establish a model of the way others should be treated and how goals should be pursued, with standards and examples of what others should follow by exemplifying God’s example. Christian leaders inspire a shared vision to make a difference
I really enjoyed executing this interview. It was a privilege to be able to include my interviewee in my assignment, as he has been supporting my decision to further my education and proceed with my calling through Christ. Bill Kidd has been an associate pastor for over 7 years at Bethel Baptist Church. Pastor Kidd was in school at the same time as myself and we always were able to connect and relate to each other whenever we got together at meetings or other gatherings. I look up to and respect his achievement in ministry and I am looking forward to learning from him as I pursue my role in ministry.
Leaders are appointed to serve here on earth on behalf of Christ since Christ is the good and chief shepherd. Leaders should lead the believers based on how Christ related with the church when he was on earth[5]. Shepherds had to feed the people of God and to protect them from predators[6]. Churches today ought to do things how the New Testament churches did[7].
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).
Divided into three distinct classes, the estate system of early Britain provides little opportunity for self-advancement, invoking impure religious proclamation to assert anchor-fast mobility upon peasantry. To this working class, little option remains in place but to hold fast clergy doctrine, begrudged to wait out their bondage by conception until release by cessation. As a diversion from daily ails and renew religious fervor, guilds present mystery plays, bible-based skits determined to capture an audience from hardened, uneducated workers. In the mystery play, The Second Shepherds' Play, The Wakefield Master proclaims in three variations the qualities of Christ to analyze and critique traditional class hierarchy, thereby challenging early Britain's warrior-estate ideology of religion and citizenship with a disputable emphasis on individuality.