Welcome to Issue 58 of Healthy Leaders. In this issue, transformation is within reach!
Hello friends,
Welcome back to our ongoing conversation on healthy Christian leadership and leader development.1
In a recent proposal for nonformal and formal collaboration in developing leaders, Malcolm makes the case that in order for leader development to keep pace with the new churches being planted around the world, we need to regain a culture of people-building in the Church itself. This was how the Early Church did it! They didn’t have universities or Bible colleges to do it for them. They did it “in-house.”
He offers five fundamental questions we need to ask:
How did Jesus build leaders in the Gospels?
How did the Early Church build leaders, as revealed in Acts and the Epistles?
Practically, what might that look like today in the Church around the world?
What are the necessary components of the initial foundation that must be laid in the lives of emerging leaders?
How can healthy leader development be embedded in today’s new churches from the time of church-planting onward — with the right people being identified as leaders and being given the spiritual nurture, relationships, experiences and instruction they need in order for their lives and leadership to be built well?
These questions are great starting points for pursuing leader development that actually brings about transformation in the life of the leader. This doesn’t just happen because we want it to. It takes dependency on God and intentional work.
Here’s Malcolm with more:
We’ve shared some of how a transformational goal, process, and design can take place in a university setting.
But think for a moment about how Jesus did this with His disciples.
He focused intentionally on building each of them holistically, as healthy leaders — not just head knowledge or teaching skills. He built them spiritually and in community. He built their character and strengthened their calling. And He built their ability to think and act well. He wasn’t interesting in a walking, talking head. He was interested in whole people. And His holistic, Four-Dynamic process matched this goal!
But we’re talking about design, aren’t we? Jesus designed both prepared learning experiences and responded to circumstances with purpose and intentionality. This is difficult to do in a modern institutional context.
Traditionally, we have not given sufficient thought to leader development design, often simply teaching as we were taught. Jesus, however, designed an extraordinary collage of diverse learning experiences for His emerging leaders.
In the new paradigm, we learn how to intentionally design learning experiences as Jesus did. Leader development is a somewhat disorderly, complex and multifaceted experiential collage of diverse people, relationships, experiences, responsibilities, opportunities, pressures, etc. that all work together to build the emerging leader. Thus, an effective leader development process is not a neat series of lectures but a fiery immersion in real-life, real-time experiences, reflecting the complicated and fundamentally difficult nature of Christian leadership, bringing deep heart issues to the surface to be dealt with and compelling the emerging leader to look utterly to God for victory and fruitfulness.
The best leader development design interacts with all this to build the lives of emerging leaders in a way that incorporates the transformational goal and the transformational process. Consequently, it is precisely designed for the specific needs of the specific people in the specific moment, and it is responsive and flexible. In our experience, in a well-designed and well-led holistic training program, the very deepest transformational opportunities come by being alert, and then wisely and skillfully responding to God’s design — serendipitous and providential opportunities that arise — not by rigidly following a linear set curriculum. (from “A New Proposal for Nonformal/Formal Collaboration in Leader Development,” emphasis added)
This kind of rigorous, lifestyle leader development is the natural result of placing Christ at the center of everything we do, instead of our desires, traditions, or pet projects.
One of our minister friends in Cameroon had this to say about that shift:
“The teaching about the nature of Jesus’ leadership has opened my eyes! It has completely convinced me that without total dependence on the Holy Spirit, the work of our ministry will be laborious and fruitless.
During my quiet time this morning, the Holy Spirit revealed to me areas I needed to work on in my personal life and ministry, all in line with the 5Cs you taught us yesterday. The Holy Spirit reminded me of the picture of the goal: Christ at the center and at the circumference. He kept telling me that ‘Christ in you must be seen outside you also.’ I must change our evangelism strategy. May God help me!"
What about you?
Take a moment to evaluate yourself: is Christ at the center and circumference of your life? Is He motivating and guiding you, or are you doing it in your own strength?
Go into His presence now, giving Him praise for His grace and power, available to you in Christ. Ask Him to renew and hold you as you go forward in your life and leadership. Tell Him you trust Him to do His work!
Pray this prayer with the Psalmist, Asaph:
Nevertheless, I am continually with You;
You hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward You will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:23-26)
What other passages of Scripture have encouraged you to keep Christ central in your leadership? Share them with us in the comments.
Until next time, we’re with you!
— Chris
Recommended Resources
A New Proposal for Nonformal/Formal Collaboration in Leader Development
Book: Building Leaders
For more resources, visit our website.
Thanks to our friends at Fifty-Four Collective for putting together a comprehensive set of video courses for growing healthy organizations, starting with this series of courses on leadership by Malcolm. We’ll be using some of their videos and some of our own. Be sure to check out what they’re doing!