The Presbyter's Page
Electronic Edition – November 2002
Original articles published October 2002
Section 12 - LA
District UPCI
Donald Bryan - Presbyter
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Sermon Thought: "Three Marks Of Greatness In God's
Kingdom"
Putting
People First - 10 Attributes of a Leader
The Five
Hidden Costs of Leadership
Sermon Thought:
“Three
Marks of Greatness In God’s Kingdom”
Note What Jesus Measures.
1.
Obedience – In Matthew 5:19, Jesus
addresses greatness in his kingdom by saying, “Anyone who breaks one of the
least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called
least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these
commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” We can’t qualify this measurement in the
annual church report or list it on our resumes, yet Jesus commands us to anchor
our ministries in personal obedience.
So ask yourselves:
·
How do I strive for personal obedience? Obedience to God is not just nice; it is
critical. A significant work is
resisting an inroad of moral compromise known only to me.
·
In what ways can I perpetuate obedient
behavior? Jesus says the way to
do this is “teaching these commands.”
How can I help train genuine disciples who obey Scripture’s demands in
their personal lives, their homes, and their service for God?
2. Humility
- In the church we feel the
tension between the demands of confident leadership and the need for a humble
spirit. Can we truly lead and yet
cultivate humility? Some questions to
answer:
·
In what ways do I let self-pity masquerade as
humility? Obviously, humility
does not mean abdicating our leadership abilities or belittling our unique
gifts. When humble Moses pleads with
God to be excused from leadership, God rebukes his thinly veiled self-pity as
unbelief. The larger hurdle for us is
usually not humility without leadership, but leadership without humility.
·
In what ways do I fail to give appropriate credit
to others? Usually, my humility
is most threatened by how I handle affirmation. Do I offer it as praise to God?
·
How do I handle failure? Peter Marshall said, “Lord, when we are
wrong, make us willing to change, and when we are right, make us easy to live
with.” This reality humbles me, makes
me listen better, and encourages me to be gentile with others who fail.
3. Servanthood
– If obedience is our motive and humility is our attitude, then serving must be
our action. We are tempted to view
others as existing to benefit and serve us.
Ask yourself how you can be a true servant. Some suggestions:
·
Come to help on a church workday.
·
Do something for the Lord that is unseen and
un-credited.
Putting People First
10 attributes of a Leader
What attributes qualify us for leadership? Here is my list and suggestions on how these qualities might be put to use.
1. Integrity – Where integrity is at stake,
the leader works publicly. Behavior is
the only score that’s kept. Lose
integrity, and a leader will find himself in a directionless organization going
nowhere.
2. Vulnerability – Vulnerable leaders trust in
the abilities of other people and allow those who follow them to do their
best. An invulnerable leader can be
only as good as his own performance.
3. Discernment – This attribute lies
somewhere between wisdom and judgement.
Leaders are required to see many things (pain, beauty, anxiety,
loneliness, and heartbreak). Two
elements to keep your eye on: the
detection of nuance and the perception of changing realities. What kind of antennae do you have?
4. Empathy – Without understanding the
cares, yearnings, and struggles of the human spirit, how could anyone presume
to lead a group of people? Person
skills always precede professional skills.
5. Courage – When conflict must be
resolved, when justice must be defined and carried out, when promises need to
be kept, when the organization needs to hear who counts – these are the times
when leaders act with ruthless honesty and live up to their covenant with the people
they lead.
6. Humor – A compassionate sense of
humor requires a broad perspective on the human condition and an accounting for
many points of view. You’ll find a
sense of humor essential to living with ambiguity.
7. Intellectual energy – When you seek out the
competence of your followers, you begin to enable them to fulfill their
potential. When followers are allowed
to do their best, they make leadership infinitely easier, and you’re free to
learn even more.
8. Respect for timing – The future requires humility
in the face of all we cannot control.
The present requires attention to all the people to whom we are
accountable. The past gives us the
opportunity to build on the work of our elders.
9. Breadth – A vision of what an
organization can become has room for all contributions from all quarters. To borrow from Walt Whitman, leaders are
people large enough to contain multitudes.
10.
Comfort with ambiguity – Healthy organizations exhibit a degree of
chaos. A leader will make some sense of
it. The more comfortable you can make
yourself with ambiguity, the better a leader you will be. Organizations always delegate the job of
dealing constructively with ambiguity to their leaders.
The Five Hidden Costs of
Leadership
Are you willing to pay them?
1.
The price of people’s projections.
Church leaders can become targets of people’s projections of negative
feelings toward authority figures in their past.
2.
The price of being a lightning rod. As
leaders, we can be lightning rods for people’s pain. One way to prevent this is to teach the difference between godly
and selfish ambition. Selfish ambition
focuses on a role, whereas godly ambition focuses on a need.
3.
The price of displeasing people. If we live
to please people, we become slaves of people.
Instead of one master (Jesus, whose yoke is easy), we end up with
numerous Pharaohs who are never satisfied with our performance, no matter what
we do.
4.
The price of unrealistic expectations. Unrealistic expectations can come from others, but some are
self-imposed. James 5:17 tells us that
Elijah was a man just like us. He
prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain. He prayed again, and it rained. But I Kings 18:4 offers a different
perspective. It says that Elijah sat
under a juniper tree and prayed that he might die. I can identify with both moods.
5.
The price of fatigue. Leaders often experience
post-adrenaline depression after a heavy ministry or relational demand. Leaders must pay the price of fatigue, yet
also learn how to prevent it.
Ten questions to determine readiness
1.
Have I led in the past? The best predictor of the
future is the past.
2.
Can I catch the vision? A leader feels the thrill of
challenge.
3.
Do I look for a better way? If someone says, “There’s
got to be a better way to do this.” I
ask, “Have you thought about what that better way might be?” If he says yes, he’s challenged by a
constructive spirit of discontent.
That’s the kind of creative itch inherent in a leader.
4. Are my ideas practical? Highly original people are often not good leaders
because they are unable to judge their output.
Leaders seem to be able to identify which ideas are practical and which
aren’t.
5. Do I take responsibility?
6.
Will I finish the job? The person who grabs hold of
problems and won’t let go until they’re solved has leadership potential.
7.
Am I mentally tough? No one can lead without
being criticized or without facing discouragement.
8.
Have I earned peer respect?
9.
Does my family respect me? A family’s feelings toward
someone reveal much about his or her potential to lead.
10.
When I speak, do people listen?
Potential
leaders have a “holding court” quality about them. When they speak, people listen.
Other people may talk a great deal but nobody listens to them. They’re making a speech; they’re not giving
leadership.
·
Remember, human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature
cannot be changed.
·
Showing your compassionate and caring nature will aid you in forging
successful relationships.
·
When you extinguish hope, you create desperation.
·
You must set, and respond to, fundamental goals and values that move
your followers.
·
Do the very best you know how – the very best you can – and keep doing
so until the end.
·
Try not to feel insecure or threatened by your followers.
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