Sermon Audio: https://soundcloud.com/unitybaptistchurch/january-20-2019
Recently I’ve been able to attend some Lifeway Leadership trainings. In these trainings they point out about how Churches often talk a lot about discipleship but little about leadership. If we only focus on discipleship, we are left with churches that have no vision, burn out, and frustration. If we focus too much on leadership we have excellent music, preaching, facilities and programs but no heart transformation. We need both to have healthy churches.
In this post I’ll be talking about Why we must develop leaders. How we can develop them. And Who we must choose to develop.
After coming thru the tests in the wilderness of the previous few chapters we find Moses being bombarded by the problems of Israel. There is a huge bottleneck where all the people must come to him for their problems.
His father-in-law, Jethro comes to visit him and sees the insanity. He tells him this is not healthy, it is not good.
So why must we develop leaders?
Verse 18 tells why…because Moses will wear himself out, and he cannot do it alone. His system was unsustainable. Moses was not Superman. Similarly, we in the church today have too many leaders that are serving at an unsustainable rate. They may not have 600,000 Israelites at their door but they still have too heavy a task to handle themselves.
But if there was one person in the Bible who could do it all himself, who could handle it all, who was Superman, it was Jesus. Yet when we look at Jesus’ strategy, we see an interesting picture. Most of his time could be broken down into 3 groups of people: the masses, the 12, the inner 3. He could have grown his following to an incredible platform and yet he spent MOST of his time with the 12 and the inner 3. Furthermore, most of the religious founders of the world such as Confucius, Buddha, and Mohammad spent their whole lives growing their platforms. Yet Jesus’ ministry was only 3 years…and then he exited. The disciples were surprised and did not understand but Jesus did not leave them alone. He told them he would send a Coach, a helper, that they would like very much.
Not only Jesus, but also the Apostle Paul took a similar approach. In 2 Tim. 2:2 Paul tells timothy to teach reliable men, who can teach others also. That’s 4 generations of leaders. Paul could’ve had them all come to him, yet he was determined to make leaders that would make leaders that would make leaders. And Paul, like Jesus, only stayed for 2 years max in any one place. He would setup leaders then leave. But then continue to support them thru his letters, which now make up most of the NT.
How do we develop leaders?
During the Lifeway leadership training we learned about three levels of leadership. The bottom level is the least desirable called “dumping.” This level of leadership involves giving someone a task, without much support. It is characterized by what they call “Seagull leadership.” Imagine being at the beach with some friends having a good time, when all of a sudden a seagull swoops in making a bunch of noise, “Mine! Mine! Mine!” a la Finding Nemo, take a dump on your head then leave. That’s how many bosses and church leaders operate today. They give no guidance or support, but then swoop in only when someone has messed up to dump on them then leave again. I’m sorry to say that I’ve been guilty of this style as well!
The 2nd tier is the familiar term of delegating. The problem is that church leaders often mistake delegating and dumping. They often believe they ARE delegating when in reality they are only dumping. The difference with delegating is that there is an actual transference of knowledge and experience.
The top level of leadership though is developing. This level is characterized by modeling and coaching. Modeling is when we show someone how to do something not just tell them. Coaching is an on-going relationship with the person not abandonment. It is giving positive feedback as well as critical.
When we go back to Ex 18:19–20 we see in Jethro’s advice, all the facets of 3rd tier leadership. He exhorts Moses to be their representative (relationship), to teach them (give knowledge), and to show them (model). He is teaching to Moses a form of leadership development.
Who should we develop into leaders?
v.21 Jethro tells Moses to looke for capable men, fear God, trustworthy, hate dishonest gain. The first one deals with competency and skills. The last three all have to do with character.
I believe another way to say “fear God” is “submit to authority.” Someone who fears God is someone who submits to the authority of God’s word. They obey God’s word out of reverence to Him. But God has also commanded that we submit to various levels of authority in our lives such as: children to parents, wives to husbands, employees to employers, and church members to church leaders. Therefore, a sign that someone fears God is looking to see if they show signs of submission to authority in their life.
When I was in seminary, our school journal ran an article about how to not “blow-up a church.” (http://news.sbts.edu/2010/04/16/seven-sure-fire-ways-to-blow-up-a-church/). Our seminary professors were concerned because many of the grads were coming out thinking they were hot stuff. They had an arrogance about them that ultimately led to their own firing or church divisions. To counter this they told us very practically, when you go to a new church, don’t change ANYTHING for one year… I see the wisdom of this more and more as I go thru ministry. When we come into a new church or a new job or a new company we show submission to the current authority by simply going with the program for some time. This will then earn us the credibility to have a say in making any desired changes in the future.
By the time I got to my first pastoral position in 2012 I found myself falling into the same mistakes as many of the former grads before me. I came into my current church thinking I knew so much better than others. I came in thinking that everything my senior pastor asked me to do was STUPID. So I often brushed aside his requests. I thought all the programs the Korean Congregation had were STUPID. I thought the events they planned were STUPID. I was headed for a cliff in terms of ministry, but thankfully my co-worker in the office, Pastor Han, talked some sense into me. He basically said “Hey STUPID, the decisions in the Korean congregation may not make sense but you still have to submit to their authority and the senior pastor’s.” He really helped me see the arrogance of my ways and I have been joyfully trying to submit since that time.
Dr. Randy Stinson once said “Show me someone who doesn’t submit to authority and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t know what to do with authority when they get it.” I believe he means that in order to be a good leader we must first be a good follower. I think this is so wise. If we submit to the authority of a good leader then we will learn from that leader how to lead well. We’ll see good practices to make note of and incorporate ourselves. But we also can learn by submitting even to bad leaders (as long as they’re not sinful). By submitting to bad bosses and bad pastors, we will learn what NOT to do and mistakes to avoid in our own ministries.
A trustworthy person is someone who is dependable. Someone you can count on. Someone who under-promises yet over-delivers. We need to look for these kind of people to develop into leaders.
Finally, a person who uses dishonest gain I believe is someone who follows the rules. As I get older I’m realizing the important of this as well. Far too often when I was younger I thought I was above following the rules. Afterall, we live in a country that celebrates and was birthed by rebellion! There is a time and place for breaking the rules but should be done sparingly in the face of gross injustice and not just because we think it’s cool way to be a non-conformist. I’ve heard it said that “rules are meant to be broken.” I disagree. RECORDS are meant to be broken but rules are meant to be followed. And if you never follow the rules, you will NEVER BREAK ANY RECORDS! Don’t believe me? Two words: Lance Armstrong. Two more words: Bill Cosby. Do I need to continue?
All of these traits: fearing God, being trustworthy, and following the rules are all signs of the greater trait of being a humble person. Humility is the overarching thing we should be looking for in candidates for leadership.
Why humility? It’s because of the leadership structure of the church. Most companies in business have a pyramid structure with the CEO at the top, other high-ranking executives and then employees at the bottom. However, in the church, CHRIST is our CEO. And instead of using others for His gain, he flipped the pyramid and put himself on the bottom.
Christ said that if you want to be first you must be last, if you want to be the greatest you must become the least and servant of all, if you want to live you must die. He said to follow Him you must carry your cross daily, each day we must re-strap ourselves into the electric chair. But by dying to ourselves we would truly live. However, Christ not only talked about these things he also showed us how to do it by wrapping a towel around his waist, kneeling down and washing His disciples’ feet. He lived a life that was always faithful to the Lord. He followed every rule perfectly from God. And he showed perfect submission to the Father’s authority. Nowhere was this submission tested more than when He was in the garden. He begged that the task could be taken from Him. More than fear of the physical burden of the cross, he was burdened and fearful of losing what he desired most, intimacy with the Father. He knew that when the sins of the world were on Him, that at that moment, for the first time in His existence He would experience a break in His perfect Union with the Father. Yet He still said “Your will be done, not mine.”
Thus thru His words and His life he flipped the pyramid and bids us to come and meet Him at the bottom. He calls people to intentionally lower themselves, consider others better, put their needs before your own, lift up others, and give life to those above us.
Will you join Him at the bottom?
