Leadership Resources

The Making of A Christian Leader

The church should be raising up the greatest leaders for every area of society. There is a desperate need for positive, constructive, dynamic and creative leadership. Leadership in the church is different from leadership in the world – Luke 22:24-27.

What is Leadership?

Leadership is influence. Here is a leadership proverb for you: "He that thinketh he leadeth and no one followeth simply taketh a walk."

There are 5 levels of leadership:

• Visionary – People follow because you keep things on the cutting edge
• Reproduction – People follow because of the growth you have facilitated in them
• Competence – People follow because of what you can do
• Relationship – People follow because they want to
• Position – People follow because they have to

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Forsight: The Leader's Lead

Goals – heading towards the future

The first essential characteristic of leaders is that they are going somewhere, aiming at goal or objectives that lie in the future

Leaders are always on the way, they are heading towards objectives, aiming at targets and reaching out for things that are ahead of them

Foresight – dealing with the future

• Being future oriented is a necessary requirement for leadership, but it is not a sufficient requirement
• What distinguishes the leaders from others is that they not only have an interest in the future but they also have the capacity to deal with the future
• What then is involved in this ability or capacity to deal effectively with the future that we call foresight?
• Firstly, foresight requires vision, in the sense of imaginitive insight or "seeing" with the inner eye. Vision is what enables leaders to "see" the possible future further and more clearly than others, to "see" better than others at identifying opportunities and possibilities, and knowing how to respond to forthcoming events or likely situations
• Secondly, foresight consists of a sense for the unknown, an instinctive "feel" or anticipatory prescience for what is not here yet, an intuitive kind of knowledge or awareness of things prior to their existence or occurrence. It is therefore largely a spiritual capacity and one that, from a Christian perspective, carries with it the potential for, or the openness to inspiration or revelation

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Relational Leadership Modeled by Jesus

Components of Relational Leadership:

• Relationship to the point of instant recognition
• Established relationship built on trust
• Modelled leadership

3 ways to cultivate relationships with others:

• Know them – Jesus "calls His own sheep by name."
• Grow them – They "hear His voice and come to Him."
• Show them – Jesus "walks ahead of them and they follow Him."

Relationship Principles That Make A Difference:

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The Price of Leadership

Let's look at some aspects of where the cost is high for people in a place of leadership or aspiring to it.

• Criticism – Saying "I can't handle it" basically means you are emotionally immature. If you can accept it, it will work for your good. Criticism is hard to take at the time, but the only way to really get to know ourselves is by feedback from other people. Backslappers help us feel better about ourselves but we don't actually profit by them. Real change and emotional growth comes by facing our weaknesses and personality defects as others see us. As a leader, you are more visible, which means you are more susceptible to criticism. A mature leader is able to say, in essence, "Thank you for your criticism of my life. It has led me to a deeper self-examination, which I needed."
• Fatigue – Genuine leaders know when to put in extra hours and must be willing to rise early and study longer than others. Some have great stamina, but fatigue will frequently set in if you want to go somewhere with an organization. A wise leader will try to find a balance and seek and avocation, a change of pace to reduce stress. He must seek some pleasurable recreation or he will eventually lose his usefulness. Proper health care, rest and balance will help a leader maintain his ability to persist.

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