Leaders Needed!
What do you make of my leadership definition?
Last year, church leaders met in Detroit to strategize with the hope of church planting.
Between the whiteboard and the table of bagels in the back were men and women praying for churches revitalized, planted, and strengthened in one of America’s great cities. Everyone had a longing for more churches advancing the Gospel of Jesus.
And we deeply need to see the Lord move…
3 churches close in the U.S. for every 1 that begins!
The local church is the center of God’s work in the world. The church, the gathering of believers in worship who then disperse to evangelize, disciple, and share life, should be the center of every strategy to impact people, and the world, for eternity!
The multiplication of biblically healthy churches committed to the multiplication of biblically healthy disciples is the most important data point we can measure in our community, nation, and world.
The church is a big deal to the Lord and a big deal to His people.
What holds the big dreams and deep convictions back? Certainly, the Lord’s Arm is not too short and He can move as He pleases! So in one sense, nothing is holding this back.
In another, the Lord works in our working and there are challenges. We face thorns and thistles, droughts and fires, in the work of planting churches just like a farmer planting his fields.
What resource is hardest to find? Leadership.
Each ministry had pressing financial needs, shepherding needs, and facility needs. The need for leaders stood out because leaders play a crucial role in meeting each need through God’s provision.
To raise up or recruit the right leaders we must understand leadership within a biblical framework and identify the core components of a biblical leader.
Detroit is unique in many ways, but not in needing leadership.
This gathering in Detroit is a microcosm of a universal challenge: the critical need for effective (biblical) leadership.
Wise leadership is a demonstration of God’s grace to all people. In many ways, our entire culture is facing a drought of leadership.
The need for leadership is pressing upon industries, ministries, and municipalities across the United States.
God’s sovereign plan for history is woven into the fabric of human activity. The activity of leaders has a large impact, it creates the seams on the fabric of human history.
When leadership is good it brings direction, conviction, and clarity to God’s gifts, servants, and plan. When leadership is bad it brings frustration, confusion, depression, and destruction.
2 When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice;
when the wicked rule, the people groan.
Proverbs 29:2
How should a Christian think of leadership? What is the core of Christian leadership? These questions are worth meditation.
I want to instigate your meditation with a working definition of leadership in all settings–leadership that applies God’s common grace to humanity. Then, I’d like to suggest a way that the Spirit of Christ takes this definition forward.
A common grace definition of leadership: Leadership is expanded responsibility from increasing influence toward greater impact.
A Christian definition of leadership: Christian leadership is expanded stewardship from increasing investment toward greater glory.
What do you make of these definitions? How do they impact your life?
Can you see how God entrusts you with new responsibilities and weights when He also gives you greater influence on others? Are you excited to harness that for God’s glory?
Men become husbands and expand their responsibility (care for their wives) because of a greater/increased influence (leading a home) with the hope of greater impact (fruitful and multiply).
Christian men understand their wife is a gift from God and seek to influence their wife for her growth (washing with the Word, cf. Eph 5) toward God’s glory (in creation mandate and great commission).
This Christian definition revises several keywords to clarify the leader’s relationship to God. Leading is a God-given stewardship to be measured by God’s Word. Christian leaders view increasing influence as a trust or investment from God, not merely a result of their efforts. The personal ambitions of a Christian leader take a backseat to his doxological purpose.
None of us can run ahead to solve the big-picture problems without addressing our pixels. Before we plant more churches and change the world, we should evaluate our responsibilities and influence.
What has God entrusted to you now?
Are we stewarding the responsibilities God has given as His investment for His glory and the good of others?
Will you pray with me that Detroit will experience a renewal of Christian leaders seeking to increase Gospel impact and pray for greater opportunity in this region?