6/37 Christian Foundations looks at the Qualities of a good Leader
In our discussions on church Leadership, we need to remember that the Lord is building His Church. It isn’t the institutional, religious system, nor is it a structure of legalism and rules that come from self-effort. In all this discussion, then we must remember that the Lord will rise up His leaders as well.
The Lord raised up special judges to rescue His people, Judges 16:2. It was the living relationship the Judge had with Jehovah that gave him the ability to rescue His people. This is the vital, alive quality of leaders today.
God deals with His people through His leaders. God brings the victory and success to the masses through His leaders. We need to grasp this rather than to expect the Holy Spirit to do all the work! Sometimes it is a cop-out to just say “I’ll give it to God and let Him do it all.” Where is our responsibility?
Everything matters about leaders, as they are the key to the people’s success. Its about people instead of programs. Israel was the problem but the solution was in their leaders. Left to their own, people are like sheep; they will wander and seldom achieve as a group.
A. The Qualities of good leaders
1. The good leader is a person of vision.
Often the good leader can see what others can’t. They look beyond the crowd’s vision and see the potential for God’s people. The Church is presently made up of different denominations – rather than God’s plan for each group to exist for different objectives. There are many churches but what is their reason for being different? We need a divine order to have a different vision.
There also needs to be a divine order for the leader. They then influence the people as to what their group is meant to be. Good leaders see behind the physical – they find the solutions. There are problems versus problem people.
“The world is full of madness. The greatest madness is to see as we are, rather than as we can be.” Quote from Don Quite
The spiritual law is “We reap what we sow”. As leaders, we can learn to sow into people’s life the God-given seeds. We create in our own image.
2. A good leader is a person of action.
We accept things in the church world that we wouldn’t from the world. “You can’t do that…” is the attitude of the traditionally minded, or “That isn’t done here!” These sorts of attitudes can hold back many good leaders.
The question is one of ‘over-active’ or ‘under-active’. God can pull back the over-active but it is hard to motivate the passive leader. Leadership means being active yourself against telling others what to do. “You be it and they will become it!” You teach by your actions, model it, live it and they will become it.
3. A good leader is a person of faith and belief.
Know the Will of God for your people. Have faith and have a belief in them more than they have in themselves. We raise ourselves when others have faith in us. Be committed to pray for them!
4. A good leader is a person of integrity.
This is the foundation of all that we do as a leader. We will crumble and fall if we are not solid. Build integrity and we will not lose the future.
Take the attitude of being accountable instead of: “There is too much red tape in this place”. Leaders of integrity are looking for accountability; they are not afraid of others looking over their shoulder. Your integrity will save you on many occasions. Without integrity, you will eventually lose your leadership.
5. A good leader is a person of stability.
Leaders need to be steady, stable and constant in every task. They ought not be the manic leader who is in constant up and down motion. If you have a problem in your life, don’t take it to your group but to the people who lead you. Some people think sharing with their group is being open, transparent, but you will lose your leadership this way. Who would follow a messed up leader?
6. A good leader is a person of maturity.
Some leaders are like cheese and wine, they begin to smell funny with age, just sitting around doing nothing. It is the active leader’s personality that is important; their anointing and gifting in the Lord rather than their IQ, their diploma on the wall, or their latest fad teachings.
7. A good leader is a person of compassion.
Good leaders are not cold, distant or not relating, especially when people are hurt. They cannot bring effective change if they are judging their sheep.
8. A good leader is a person of patience.
This is an under-rated quality. Leaders can feel their plans are too important to wait on God for His will. The people will change if you are patient with them.
9. A good leader is a person of commitment.
A good leader is willing to sacrifice to grow the people. God touches their time, money and other resources when the leader follows Him. Three quarters of the Bible is filled with stories about leader’s sacrifices.
10. A good leader is a person of zeal.
With your living relationship with God, you are the ‘petrol in the engine’. If you want a good response from the group, there are two ways to get it:
a. Through the Anointing and gifting of the leader. Some speakers bring out the best in the group by sharing their heart and ‘sitting under their anointing’.
b. By your Zeal – your energy. You often have to put in 10 points of zeal in order to get a 1 point rise in the group’s zeal.
B. Conclusion
The NT church did not create a position and then look for the person to fill it. They saw the gifts happening, saw the need and used the gifts on the spot. He has called each of us to a powerful ministry in Him – what stops this today? The church is where God is revealing Himself to us, to the world and to the enemy. We, as leaders, are the key to this happening.
Adapted from a talk by Alun Davies to Crossway Baptist Church leaders, March 17, 2001
I trust you will examine your our leadership role as we discussed the best quality of the leaders that the Lord Jesus is using with His Bride!
Susanne Fengler, Blog Author
www.christianfoundations.jesus-treeoflife.info
Tags: Qualities of a Leader
Filed under: Challenges to the Christian Faith
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