Seeing Things Clearly

Seeing Things Clearly

In 1789 William Wilberforce stood before the British parliament and eloquently cried out for the day when men, women and children would no longer be bought and sold like farm animals. Each year for the next eighteen years his bill was defeated, but he continued his tireless campaign against slavery. Finally, in 1883, four days before his dath, Parliament passed a bill completely abolishing slavery.

 A compelling vision is at the very core of leadership. Inspired leaders can change the world.

Proverbs 29:18 says “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained.” They can’t focus, they can’t follow their dream or their goal. Jesus told the church what to do. He ordered people around, told them what to do with their lives and how they were to do it. From one aspect his motivational style could look like a command post. He says “follow me” and “go into all the world”. He directs his followers toward the vision of God for them, and influences them by doing it himself. The followers of Jesus discover that this task is not only important for its own sake but that it matters personally to their leader.

In a time of great change, people are looking for direction. Discerning God's vision for a church or organisation is vital, but that is not enough. Leaders themselves are often at a loss for how to invest their time and energy given the many opportunities and demands around them. And in all this, it is so easy to lose our primary vision, that of God Himself. What has God asked us, personally to do with our lives on earth? 80% (maybe more) of our personal vision from God is alrready outlined in the bible, it's figuring out the remaining 20% that we need to focus on.

"The Place god calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meets" Frederick Buechner
 

As a leader, discerning your personal vision from God is imperative to being motivational, inspirational and visionary in your ministry. We need to find, understand and fulfill God's particular calling for our lives and use it to give direction to how we use our time, talents and treasure.

"In a society which presents many of us with a large range of options for ourselves and our families, discerning a personal vision is becoming increasingly important as a tool in charting our way through life's decisions" Steve Croft
 

A personal vision statement is a written tool to help us identify God's priorities for our lives. It's like a compass that helps give directon. It's wholistic and doesn't focus exclusively on our service or ministry. God desires us to be fully transformed and focussed to His purposes in all aspects of our lives. therefore, a wholistic vision statement will include spirtual intimacy, godly character, community/reltionships and service components.

A great personal vision includes the 6 P's

Personal - Is this unique to me?
Purpose - Is it compelling?
Passion- Does reading it fill me with energy?
Priorities - Does it help me say 'yes' and 'no'?
Prayerfulness - Does seeking to live it out put me on my knees?
Perserverance - Will it motivate me to press on in the midst of challenges and obstacles?


Looking back on my own leadership journey, I can see in my own life what I could not see at the time - how the job I lost helped me find work I needed to do, how the "road closed" sign turned me toward the terrain I needed to travel, how losses that felt iredeemable forced me to discern meanings I needed to understand. on the surface, it seemed that life was lessening, but silently ad lavishly, the seeds of new life were always being sown. Having a personal vision steers me toward what God has laid out for me in life, striving toward extending His kingdom and glorifying His name. Because my deepest awareness of myself is that I'm saved by Jesus Christ!

How To Have a Church that Loves Kids and Kids that love Church! Part 2

How To Have a Church that Loves Kids and Kids that love Church!
- part 2 Environment


I thought it was time to continue my little series on providing the best church for kids and the best kids for church. So here is my second post in the series and it's all about - Environment.


Where are you right now? At home? in your office,?on the bus? Wherever you are, look around and take in the environment around you. What in the environment makes you comfortable? What makes you uncomfortable. What is your environment set up for? Is your office cubicle set up for work? Does your home reflect a little bit of everyone that lives there?

Environment is such a vital part of life, we create our environments to make ourselves comfortable, to be productive and to invite others in. We even do this in church, there has been many a discussion on how comfortable church pews are, we have music playing as congregants enter, set design, lighting, sound, media, interactive worship and sermons all play a part in how the environment makes people feel. The goal, in big church, is to create a place where people can connect with God, be free to worship Him, and be comfortable to stay for up to 2 hours.

So then, how important is environment when you think Children's Ministry?

The environment a children’s ministry provides for its children is vital to attracting and keeping children engaged and must go hand in hand with the ministry’s relational and family ministries. What a child experiences in their first ten minutes of walking into a church building will give the child and their parents their first impression about how that church views the importance of kids. The environment can draw in families and help engage kids. Whether it results in multi-million dollar refurbishment or just simple murals or better budgeting, or hiring staff to focus on children, a priority on the environment of children’s ministry can only help to build the Kingdom of God through reaching and teaching kids.

So next time you step into your children's ministry space, ask yourself...How does this environment make me feel? Am I comfortable? Am I about to have fun? Does this space speak of the importance of children in this church? Will kids connect with Jesus in this space?

Environment is important, how's yours?

Time to get some work done?

Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

This is an amazing passage of scripture. We are God's handiwork, his masterpiece, created to do good works prepared in advance. What does it have to do with Leadership? A Christian leader should be constantly asking God to work on them. To develop them spiritually so that they mature in their faith and understanding of God. If you cannot put your own spiritual and character development first and your work for the kingdom second you will fail as a church leader.

Godly leadership encapsulates honesty and integrity that comes from consistency between  words and actions. Godly character should encompass a heart to serve, a relational outlook. A Godly leader must have vision, influence and motivational capabilities. Perfection is not an issue so much as coherence among these requirements that can enable a leader to shape a local church or Christian organisation for Godly purposes.

In the progress of redemption, God raises up and uses human leaders to accomplish his saving purposes. Those who are set forth in Scripture as Godly leaders exercise their powers under the authority of God’s holy word.

The first eleven chapters of Genesis describes God’s creation and covenant making with humankind. People were commanded to fill the earth and to welcome diversity. Instead they built the monumental city of Babel with a homogeneous society. With Abraham came a promise of blessing and a sense of call from God. Abraham became a leader, a patriarch to the nations and generations and a leader with a purpose. Abraham would pave the way for God to choose more leaders throughout the Old Testament that had purpose and Godly character. Although leader after leader, generation after generation these leaders would fail to glorify God in the way they were called to.

A new hope is found in the New Testament. Under the new covenant Jesus comes as the leader, the one promised by God. Jesus’ purpose of redemption was to restore the perfection of God’s purpose in creation.Jesus is the model of true leadership. Jesus’ life is so profound and so beyond our common experience that it must continually be examined.Jesus leads as a servant, relating to others, with influence and holiness.

So what characteristics of Jesus do you as a leader need God to do some work on?

Consider some of these principles...

1. Leaders  speak God’s word because they are steeped in it. My practice is to read about four chapters of the bible each day and to write in a journal what I perceive God is saying to me. Consequently when I speak and preach I can bring fresh bread to hungry people.
2. They are teachers and mentors worth emulating and their faith is an example to follow.
3. They carry authority in their very being through living a life of integrity, excellent character and high competency. Hence they deserve willing “obedience.” Serving such a leader is satisfying because they have the passion and skill to grow your leadership and your capacity.
4. They carry great responsibility; they keep watch and consider the big picture. They study trends and they monitor progress. They consider the whole of the organisation and how each part relates to the whole. They also, together with others in the organisation, decide what is to be done and what is to be left undone.
5. They are accountable. Perhaps more than others in the organisation they have to report on progress and account for their leadership and the health and productivity of the organisation.
6. Wise and fruitful leaders gain success through the people they mentor, release and empower in leadership. They surround themselves with people who complement their own strengths, and in other areas are smarter than they are. Hence they have inner security in Christ, excellent self-acceptance and deep humility.
7. They experience much joy in their leadership, because they are at the helm of a very effective organisation and, particularly through empowering others, they also have excellent life balance which creates a healthy culture throughout the organisation.

It's a big list and a lot of things to consider. If you're a leader I encourage you to consider each of these principles and ask yourself - Where do I need some work?

The heart is precisely what god observes and addresses in human beings. He cares little or nothing for outward show. He responds to the heart because it is, above all, who we are; who we choose and have chosen to be. What God wants of us can only come from there He respects the centrality of our will and will not override it. He seeks goldly character in us and for us, to fulfill the eternal destiny he has in mind for us.  (Dallas Willard: "Renovation of the Heart")

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Leadership and Feet

Leadership and Feet

John 13:1-17

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet

13 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
⁷ Jesus replied, “You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
⁸ “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
⁹ “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.


This story has always made an impact on me personally. Man, I hate feet.I would hate to wash all those dirty disciples feet. But more importantly Jesus is modelling, what I believe to be the most important element of character that a Christian Leader should
have. -Servanthood.
As Jesus ties that towel around his waste and kneels before his followers he is displaying the incredible power of authority serving his subjects. Jesus, the son of God on his knees, hands in a bowl of water picking out pieces of dirt from his loyal followers toes - Wow!

A Christian leader is a servant. Throughout the New Testament the message of leadership being all about servant hood is very clear. Jesus shows this in Matthew 20:25-28 where he defines servant leadership as the humble service to others based on our love for them. “Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you” (Matthew 20:25). Jesus is teaching his disciples that servant leaders lead humbly. The emphasis is on the leader’s humility.[1] In a sense the terms servant and leader seem paradoxical, and servant leadership seems to be an oxymoron. Yet the term captures the earthly life and mission of Jesus Christ.  Jesus says in Luke 22:27 “ I am among you as the one who serves”.  Jesus’ followers expected something quite different from Him. The religious leaders at the time demanded titles of reverence and respect. The business leaders expected to be ravished with gifts, waited on hand and foot. Jesus’ disciples wanted exactly that kind of power and honour for themselves. In Luke 22:24-29, Jesus’ disciples argue over which one of them most deserved the highest position in the coming Kingdom.  The fullest picture of servant leadership can only be seen in God taking on human flesh to live and die among humanity. In Jesus, humanity finally saw with its own eyes what true servant leadership is like.[2]

A great example of a servant leader from the bible is David. David is commonly described as a “servant of the Lord” a title of honour and excellence for a man who discovered a joyful abandonment to the will of the Lord. David is signalled out in the scriptures, because he exemplifies a passion for God’s glory and a concern for the spiritual welfare of the covenant nation – Israel.  From his early years as a fugitive the future monarch nurtures the habit of dependent prayer as the Lord’s servant. After his enthronement, the Lord speaks a word of promise to “my servant David” (2 Samuel 7:5,8). David expresses through prayer his sense of wonder in God and gives thanks for his God given purpose. In turn he promises to bring glory to the name of the Lord in Israel and its surrounds (2 Samuel 7:25-27). David continually refers to himself as “servant” when addressing his people and his Lord God. David is immortalised as the servant-king who departed from the standard practice of monarchs and submitted his rule to the will of God. By leading as a servant, King David shaped and influenced a nation and its future and the lesson of David’s servant hood lives on in the local church today.[3]

Another good example of servant leadership in a more modern context is that of Pastor Graham Clarke. Graham is the senior pastor of Barrabool Hills Baptist Church in Geelong, Victoria. Blessed with a leadership gift, Graham leads his church as a true servant leader. Graham acknowledges that his own gifting comes from God and that the gifting of his team also comes from God. In a time and in a country where the senior pastor of a church is the most common face in a congregation, where churches elect their best speaker over their best leader to lead the church and where power and authority can become addictive, Graham stands out. Like David, Graham has departed from the standard practice of leadership and leads as a servant. He acknowledges that he is not the most gifted speaker or preacher in the church and only preaches around forty percent of the time, enabling the truly gifted communicators of the church family to preach the word of God to the congregation. He empowers and encourages his team to use their gifts to shape Barrabool Baptist Church for Godly purposes. Like Jesus and David, Graham comes as the one to serve, not to be served and his style of leadership is shaping the local church for Godly purpose; Graham and his team strive to reach people with the life changing message of Jesus and bring glory to the name of God.

This lesson in servant leadership has completely reshaped the way I lead in ministry and in life. The idea that to lead is to serve has empowered my ministry and pointed it all to the glory of God. I am not only serving God, I am serving my leadership team, the children in our ministry and their parents. So now, whenever I make a decision affecting the ministry to children at my church I ask who is this serving? Often I find it is serving only myself, my ego or my dangerous ambition and so the decision is changed. This process brings life to ministry, allows me to shine the light of Jesus and improves my character as a leader.

Servanthood is a hallmark of the spiritual leader. Christ told His disciples to turn away from the pompous attitudes of the pharisees and religious leaders and instead take on the lowly bearing of the servant. As in those days, so today servanthood is least admired in culture. However, the spiritual leader will choose the hidden path of sacrificial service and approval of the Lord over the flamboyant self-advertising of the world.

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[1] Malphurs, A, Mancini, W, “Building Leaders”, Grand Rapids, 2004, pp20

[2] Fyar, J, “Servant Leadership: Setting Leaders Free”, St Louis, 2001, pp8-10

[3] Howell, Don N, Jr, “Servants of the Servant: A Biblical Theology of Leadership”, Eugene, 2003, pp7-8