August 2007-September 2007

VITAL SIGNS #3:EMPOWERING LEADERSHIP

The Alive, Dynamic, Fruitful Church is characterized by LEADERS who EMPOWER others to serve and lead in their areas of giftedness.

In the broadest spectrum, everyone is a leader in the sense that everyone influences others.  That is, the purpose of leadership is to teach people through example how to follow Christ.  Everyone can be involved in that. 

Yet there is the spiritual gift of leadership as described in Romans 12: 6 & 8 - “...If a man’s gift is ...leadership, let him govern diligently…”  A vibrant healthy church recognizes those with God-given leadership gifting and empowers them to lead with accountability that does not overbalance the empowerment!  When a person becomes a pastor of a local church, that person becomes a very significant leader of the church, and the congregation recognizes the pastor’s leadership and follows. We expect that the pastor will have the best interests and goals of the church in mind and we follow as the pastor follows Christ. (I Corinthians 11: 1).  Good “followership” is based on doing our homework of preparation for meetings and then attempting to see the situation through the eyes of the pastor leader. Our Vital Signs bookmark describes “Empowering Leadership” in this way: “Guided by humble yet focused, pastoral leaders who find joy in promoting the giftedness of others, people in healthy congregations are empowered to take on new challenges and test their leadership abilities.”

Leaders motivate others to pursue the God inspired vision in partnership. As E.M. Kelly said, “Remember the difference between a boss and a leader: A boss says, “Go!” and a leader says, “Let’s go!”  In partnership together every participant is inspired to become all that he or she can be.  To be less than we could be is to frustrate God’s purpose for leadership.  Leaders are always bringing out the best in others and inspiring them to reach their maximum potential in the area of their giftedness.

Gordon MacKenzie shares his observations from hosting creativity workshops in elementary schools.  MacKenzie would ask the children up front, “How many artists are there in the room?”  The pattern of responses was always the same.  In the first grade the entire class would wave their arms. Every child was an artist!  In the second grade about half of the children raised their hands.  By the time he got to the sixth grade, only one or two kids would tentatively raise their hands. MacKenzie came to this conclusion: “My guess is that there was a time, perhaps when you were very young, when you had at least a fleeting notion of your own genius and you were just waiting for some authority figure to come along and validate it for you.  But none ever came.”  In a sense, most people, including followers of Christ, are somewhat like those children.  They used to know what God’s calling in their lives was, but somehow lost it among the pressures and distractions of this world.

The challenge facing leaders is to validate everyone we touch in the area of their genius and empower them especially in the area of leadership.  A memorable daily devotional stated, “No matter how long it lasts, our time as a leader is short - too short to ignore the need for training new leaders for tomorrow.”

For maximum healthy growth, let us joyfully resolve to empower leaders to fulfill their calling and gifting in Christ.  May leaders then fulfill their responsibilities to empower followers as God continues to build His church!

The full dynamic of fruitfulness is realized as we closely follow the Ultimate Leader, Jesus Christ.

Bishop John

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