My Theology of Leadership (part 3)
Leaders empower the people around them.
- It’s less about the leader. It’s more about the God-ordained vision.
- It’s less about the leader. It’s more about those being led.
- It’s less about the leader. It’s more about synergy of the body.
I’m still a big proponent of clear vision in churches. Clear vision leads to unified effort which results in ministry impact. A clear vision also provides a lot of freedom for people to be empowered to be who God created them to be. I’ve heard it described as freedom within a framework. That’s essentially a picture of the Christian faith. There’s actually more freedom for us if we stay within God’s designed framework.
Paul described the responsibility of leaders in the church this way:
“Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13)
That’s what I mean about it being less about the leader and more about those being led. Our role as leaders is to “equip God’s people to do his work.” The leader doesn’t do the work – God’s people do his work. God’s people don’t do the leader’s work – they do God’s work.
We see this reflected in Paul’s writings on spiritual gifts in I Corinthians 12 as well. Each believer is given one or more gifts. Paul uses the human body as a metaphor to express how the various parts of the body of Christ are indispensable. In other words, we have failed as leaders in the church if we do not embrace the unique gift-mix that God designed. And, we won’t fully know the power and impact of the local church until people are empowered to be who God wired them up to be.
We aren’t telling them what to do to accomplish the vision. We are helping them discover their gifts and freeing them to use them to fulfill the vision. It’s not delegation. With delegation, I’m still responsible. It’s empowerment. Someone else is responsible, but, as a leader, I still hold them accountable.
In the Old Testament, we see this play out when Jethro tells his son-in-law, Moses, to:
“Select from all the people some capable, honest men who fear God and hate bribes. Appoint them as leaders over groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten” (Exodus 18:21).
In the New Testament, we see this demonstrated when Paul instructs Timothy:
“You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others” (2 Timothy 2:2).
We see this model of leadership throughout the Bible where people are entrusting responsibilities with other people to carry on the ministry. Leadership isn’t leadership if it isn’t released to others.
With that, here are some questions we may want to consider about our leadership:
- Is there a clear vision that offers freedom within a framework?
- Is my leadership more about getting people to do what I want them to do, or helping people be who God designed them to be?
- Am I entrusting leadership to other capable people, or am I just delegating tasks?
- If I wasn’t here, would the ministry continue to grow without me?
It’s so contradictory isn’t it? We’ve been so conditioned to equate leadership with a person. Yet, that’s not how God created it. In God’s design, the sum is greater than its parts. Leadership doesn’t rest with one individual, it’s entrusted to capable men and women.
Does your leadership empower people?
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Other Posts in This Series:
- Part 1 – Overview
- Part 2 – Servant Leadership
Thanks for sharing these thoughts on your theology of leadership. This post did a great job clarifying several things -
* “It’s less about the leader. It’s more about those being led.” is not a postmodern rant or a consumerist plea, but a direct teaching from the passage you quote in Eph 4.
* God has wired the people HE brings to our churches with a specific gift-mix for HIS purposes, so to empower those people to live out their purpose, the church grows in the way that God wants, rather than the way we want. –> empowering people isn’t a softer or weaker alternative to getting “what we need to do” done, it’s God’s way to get what He needs done.
* The difference between delegation and empowerment “We aren’t telling them what to do to accomplish the vision.”
Those are some awesome thoughts, Tony. Thanks!
I feel like most talks on leadership I’ve heard had centered around marketplace wisdom and only thrown in Bible verses in order to make them sound biblical. However, it really seems like you’ve allowed the Sciptures to be the basis of your leadership belief, and for that reason, I find your ideas far more compelling in a church context.
I once worked at a camp where the director told us:
“Camp is for the Camper. It is not necessarily for the comfort, ease, or convenience of the staff.”
I love this statement: “Our role as leaders is to “equip God’s people to do his work.” The leader doesn’t do the work – God’s people do his work. God’s people don’t do the leader’s work – they do God’s work.”
Understanding this concept and putting it into practice will both help the leader accomplish more and God’s people experiance the joy of ministry.
Thank you, Tony, for broaching this subject! I agree, God has gifted all of us, and we all need to use our gifts for building the Kingdom, and it is the leader’s job to equip the saints for the work of the ministry! Thank you!
I think this is a major problem in the Church! It seems to me that most churches only offer you opportunities to serve in their existing programs, using a minimal set of gifts and abilities of the Christians involved – like parking cars, stacking chairs, and watching kids. I believe this implementation falls woefully short of God’s intention explained in the bible.
That’s why I’m skeptical of a large church that has one primary speaker and 4,000 attendees who do little more than sit and soak – just doesn’t feel biblical to me, or nearly as effective as if those 4,000 (or just 1,000 of those 4,000) were empowered to own the ministry, and perhaps branch out and start more ministry.
Just wanted you to know that the Killing Cockroaches tour schedule page showed up on my X3 Watch internet accountability report. My wife asked,”What kind of tour is this?” Had to show her the book to ease her mind. It left us both scratching our heads, but we got a good laugh out of it.