Leaders need time to think for themselves

"leaders have taken these strategies and put them into practice without thinking through how they may work in a different context"

William Deresiewiez…. true leadership means being able to think for yourself and act on your convictions.

Reading a William Deresiewiez lecture, delivered at West Point, reminded me of something that had bugged me for a long time. That is, how many church leaders are looking for the perfect “off the peg idea”, on how to structure their church for growth, and then implementing these new ideas without thinking through all the ramifications and concepts behind the strategy. Over the years this had led to numerous examples where churches have been subjected to whole scale change with such notions as cell church, house church, attractional church, missional church, church with congregations, church with sites etc. 

It would be a very cheap to make some cynical remark about these different approaches as they have often come out of many years of success. My concern has not been these various church structures, but the way leaders sometimes have naively taken these strategies and then put them into practice without thinking through how they may work in a different context. The outcome often fails to live up to expectations and can leave people cynical about their leaders and their church. As the proverb says “hope deferred makes the heart grow sick”

To be continued…

Rejection can make it difficult to say yes

"My goal has always been to have the whole church active in ministry"

Rejection that is not appropriately dealt with can skew the way you think and act. It can also make it very difficult to say yes. Moses response to God, after seeing signs and wonders, was to say “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”

My goal has always been to have the whole church active in ministry. God has works of service for everyone. If we are saying “please let someone else do it”, for the wrong reason like Moses, we are hindering our personal growth and calling as well as not being a fully participating member of the body of Christ.

Jesus wanted to prepare his apostles to deal in an appropriate way with rejection. He told them “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth; it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the Day of Judgment than for that town.”

Moses let rejection fester away on the inside for years. Jesus wanted the apostles to learn how to leave it behind where it belonged. Therefore wiping dust off your feet is an external way of dealing with rejection, instead of internalizing it. It was not they who were being rejected but God. It would be God who eventually they would be answerable to.

Rejection can alter the way you see yourself (2)

Moses, unfortunately, thought the Israelites reaction to him killing the Egyptian would be one of thanks and gratitude, that God was using him to rescue his people. Unfortunately for Moses he could not have been further from the truth.

“The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’ But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘who made you ruler and judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

The result of this incident was that a very confident leader, fearing for his life ran away and started a new life as a shepherd. The years then passed and the rejection from his fellow countrymen simmered away. After forty years God met him and called him to go and rescue his people.  God also showed Moses that his words would be backed up with some amazing signs and wonders.

Moses reply to God was extraordinary, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” What a contrast with the truth that Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

To be continued…

Rejection changes how you see yourself (1)

Rejection, if not dealt with affectively, can negatively shape your life and alter the way you see yourself. It can also make a confident leader very unsure of their abilities.

Moses is a great example of this. He dramatically changed the way he saw himself after being rejected by his own people and then spending 40 years as a shepherd thinking about this event.

In the account Stephen gives for his defense to the High priest he mentions Moses. Saying “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

This was the product of being raised and educated as a member of the royal palace. This provided an amazing education and gave Moses access to all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He grew up to be a very confident leader as well as a powerful orator. Then at 40 years old he acted very impulsively out of concern for one of his fellow countryman and killed an Egyptian.

Moses had a sense of call and destiny. So his impulsive action was the result of a bigger conviction. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them. But unfortunately for Moses they saw this turn of events differently and rejected him.

To be continued…

Rejection is part of life

"Rejection can be a major hindrance to creating an empowering church culture"

Rejection can be a major hindrance to creating an empowering church culture. Leaders are not immune to this as they are on the front line and so handling rejection comes with the territory. The fear of being rejected can create a very damaging pattern of behavior in our lives. It can cause us to feel that we are not good enough and that we are failures. Jesus, when he sent out the twelve apostles on a mission, wanted to prepare them so that they would deal with rejection in an appropriate way.

Jesus understood what it was like to be rejected “He came to his own people, but they didn’t want him” (John 1:11- Message). Isaiah prophesied about him, “He (Jesus) was despised and rejected by men” (Is. 53:3). Jesus said “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law…” (Mark 8:31)

Sometimes we act in such a way that makes people reject us for the wrong reason. Jesus instructed his disciples on how they were to conduct themselves. He told them “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting” (Matt. 10:12). They were also to eat everything that was put before them. I am amazed how some people get hurt & rejected for acting in an inappropriate way and then feel they have been hard done to.

To be continued…

Delegate like Jesus - What have we learned?

So this week I have been talking about the importance of delegating like Jesus.

In part one I discussed the need to delegate properly by giving authority as well as a task. “Jesus was a great delegator. The principles we find in the narrative as he sends out the twelve disciples give us a fantastic insight into the skill of effective delegation.”

In part two of the series I looked at what our motivations for delegation can and should be. “When we give people authority, we are affectively empowering them by giving them the right to get on with the task. This should involve them having access to the personnel they need with the appropriate equipment and support from others necessary to get the job done.”

Yesterday in part three, I suggested that there is no short cut when developing people and so delegation must be done effectively. “It takes time and hard work to instruct and train people. Jesus knew when to give some very lengthy and broad reaching instructions and at other times he gave very specific and detailed instructions.”