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Workers for your Joy (WFYJ) is about what Christ calls leaders in his church to be and do, particularly the teaching office in the church (i.e. pastor or elder).  It presents a biblical vision of leadership by going through the fifteen qualifications of elders listed 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. The central question Mathis is basically asking is – how should we pastor or lead the church in light of these qualifications? The target audience of the book seems to be those who are in the early stages of pastoral ministry. The book was part of the seminary syllabus at Bethlehem. However, the author does explicitly state that the book is also meant to be of use to church members in considering what Christ expects of leadership in the local church.   Mathis has written this book because he believes leadership has fallen on hard times. The church in the west and the society around us has become increasingly discontent with being led due to the high-profile cases that have sprung abou...

J Oswald Sanders (1917-1992) was a Christian leader for seventy years.  He wrote more than forty books on the Christian life including one book I dip into often, The Incomparable Christ. He was the director of the China Inland Mission (Overseas Missionary Fellowship), where he was instrumental in beginning many new missions projects throughout East Asia.  Spiritual Leadership encourages the church to pray for and develop Spirit empowered leaders. People who are guided by and devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ. The book presents the key principles of spiritual leadership. He illustrates his points with examples from Scripture and biographies of men who have led the people of God in history.  The book has 20 chapters. I have tried to summarise the main conclusions of these chapters under five key questions. Most of the ideas presented in this article are directly from the book. But I have  communicated these ideas in my own way, except where direct quotes are given. Tow...

A couple of years ago, Lord Harris of Peckham, one of the largest donors of the UK Conservative Party said some unkind things about the then Prime Minister, Theresa May. He said, Mrs May was a “hopeless” leader of a “weak” government. He went on to remind her that she was “no Margaret Thatcher”. Mrs May certainly did not agree with him because history tells us she went on to run the election campaign on the slogan of “strong and stable leadership”.  I mention that that story not to imply Lord Peckham was right. Although some would argue he was vindicated in the end because Mrs May did go on lose her majority after a poor campaign. My immediate point is simply that we all have an interest and opinion about leadership regardless of our station in life because it affects all of us! So it is good for us to be aware of the criteria for effective leadership. All of us face situations where we choose leaders whether nationally or in our communities. And of course many of us serve as leade...

It's important to realize that...not everyone is called to be a leader. After all, for leaders to succeed, there must be followers. Most of us need to be good, dedicated followers in our earthly pursuits. And all of us, naturally, need to be followers of the Lord Jesus. In God's sight, leaders are not more highly valued than followers. He loves us all. A quote from Bob Briner's 'The Leadership Lessons of Jesus'. There is tremendous value in re-reading a book. First time I read this I only saw negatives. My view was that the authors missed the point that everyone is called to lead in some way, and should earnestly desire to lead.  The reason is that we are all leaders in one way or another. Some are managers at work, others are teachers of students or even a school prefect. Some are leaders at home. Think of a mum on her own leading your children in the way they should grow. Others are simply role model to their friends!  If it is true that...

This week I am kindling ' Be A People Person : Effective Leadershio through Relationship ' by John C Maxwell. He has a great chapter on how to be a person people respect. A key part of having respect is "failure proofing" your life through listening for the “alarm bells” in your life. Here are Maxwell's 10 questions every leader must ask to help spot those warning signs. 1. Is My Personal Walk with God Up to Date? Every leader should be able to answer the question, “Do you have a word from the Lord that is up to date?” or “What have you been learning recently from the Lord?” We should have something that God is teaching me us today. 2. Am I Keeping My Priorities Straight? Countless numbers leaders have become “successful” only to discover the tragic price for their success was a broken marriage or loss of health. At some point along the road to success, their priorities shifted. Our priorities must be God, family and vocation - in that order.

We are all leaders in many areas. And even to our friends informally. Leadership is unavoidable. But how do we know whether we are taking our responsibilities seriously? The Bible is a manual for life and therefore it comes as no surprise that it has a lot to say about leadership directly through letters of Timothy, Titus, Ephesians and 1 Peter. But interestingly enough the overwhelming instructions are indirectly by people who modelled godly leadership leadership. One good example is Epaphras, the church planter of Colossae. Here is what Paul had to say about him in at the beginning of his letter to the Colossians :

I have just finished reading ' A Thousand Pieces of Gold: A Memoir of China's Past Through its Proverbs ' by Adeline Yen Mah. Ten years on since my first read, I am even more impressed by how Yen Mah weaves an engaging account of the life and times of the First Emperor of China as recorded in China's Grand Historian Sima Qian's book Shiji and seen through her eyes. Here is how she describes the leadership of warrior Liu Bang : It is amazing that a man like Liu Bang, who came from a low-class background and maintained the habits and behaviour of a peasant, should have succeeded in capturing the people’s imagination in such a short time. By all accounts, he was lazy and feckless as a young man. Even when he became chief of a ting, he was always squatting down on his mat like a peasant, something considered undignified by nobles. His language was uncouth. Scholars and officials alike looked down upon him and, with the exception of Zhang Liang, all his followers wer...

I recently read Love Works: Seven Timeless Principles for Effective Leader s by Joel Manby a quite popular CEO in the United States. The book seeks to challenge leaders to allow integrity and faith to guide their decisions by outlining seven principles that break down the natural walls within corporate cultures, empowering managers and employees, disarming difficulties, and cultivating an atmosphere that builds long-term success. The book is not perfect, but its got many gems like this one : Leadership is a lonely business. When we rely only on our own perspective, we miss our blind spots. We do the best we can, but if we have nobody telling us the real truth, we will not improve over time. The unfortunate news is that the more senior you are in your organization, the more difficult it is to get the truth about how you’re performing. Finding someone you can trust to give you honest feedback is a rare gift that all leaders need but few receive. You will have to find these companions...

More leadership has failed from a lack of intimacy than from any other cause. Leaders, no matter how brilliant, cut their tenures short or accomplish less than they might otherwise when they fail to establish close relationships with a few key people, a core of their followers. I have been in situations where followers, including myself, sought a closer relationship with a leader—not for personal gain, but for his sake and for the sake of the enterprise—only to be rebuffed. Every time a leader tries to go it alone, something less than the best occurs. - Bob Briner ( Source : Leadership Lessons of Jesus) It is an insightful observation. Many leaders clearly find it difficult to be vulnerable with others for two possible reasons. The first is the "big man" syndrome that we so often see in African political leadership. The leader feels that he towers above everyone - sort of like the village chief. It is almost as if being vulnerable means a reduction in that assumed...

Tragedies occur when we fail to take on leadership responsibilities that we are clearly called to fulfil or when we pursue or demand leadership responsibilities without objectively and prayerfully examining our ability to lead. When either of these occur, people are hurt, resources are wasted, and good opportunities for growth are retarded. - Bob Briner ( Source : Leadership Lessons of Jesus) The challenge of course is knowing when the balance is right. It seems to me the reason many of us face this tragedy comes back to a single problem : we fail to place our inadequacies at the foot of the Cross. I have often shunned taking on full responsibility in one area because I have felt "not up to it". I have done so without sufficiently considering that God is able to enable me to fulfil that which he may be calling me to do. In those moments I forgot God's words to St Paul, "my strength is sufficient for you because my power is made perfect in your weakness...

It's important to realize (again) that there is nothing disgraceful or shameful about failing this or any other tests of leadership. Not everyone is called to be a leader. After all, for leaders to succeed, there must be followers. Most of us need to be good, dedicated followers in our earthly pursuits. And all of us, naturally, need to be followers of the Lord Jesus. In God's sight, leaders are not more highly valued than followers. He loves us all . - Bob Briner ( Source : Leadership Lessons of Jesus) I would add that leadership comes in all shapes and size. So perhaps it is better to distinguish between public and private leaders. We may not be public leaders, in the sense of consciously leading the crowd, but we are all private leaders in the sense that someone is watching how we live and learning from us. So in a way we are all leaders and followers at the same time!

Leaders are the people who show the way because they have a clear sense of where they're going. They walk into the future with courage, challenging others to follow them. They are often misunderstood and sometimes bitterly opposed. They stay focused on the things that matter, but they never forget that people matter more than things. They fight tenaciously for what they believe in because they believe in a cause bigger than themselves. This cause consumes them and becomes the rallying point for everyone who follows them. - Bob Briner ( Source : Leadership Lessons of Jesus)

Memos, manuals, and seminars are useful instructional tools, but they can never replace the quiet lunch or dinner as a means of teaching, learning, and growing together. Private executive dining rooms and solitary working lunches may have their place in a leader's life, but the wise leader will be sure to “break bread” occasionally with those he seeks to lead. - Bob Briner ( Source : Leadership Lessons of Jesus)

Loyalty, like unity (with which it is closely allied) is a leadership absolute, an imperative. It is something a leader should expect and on which he should be able to rely. Without loyalty, there really is no leader/follower relationship. A leader must cultivate and reward loyalty and must punish and expel those who are disloyal. This may seem harsh, but it is a leadership lesson of Jesus. Loyalty does not mean mindless, uncritical devotion. That is worship, and no one other than Jesus is worthy of worship. Leaders make a grave mistake when they exercise the kind of leadership which requires any kind of submission. When this happens, leadership has degenerated into paranoia. This is not loyalty. Loyalty is exercised primarily outside the group. Sometimes the most loyal thing a follower can do is to openly disagree with a leader to his face. Because he cares about both the leader and the mission, he is willing to say, “Wait a minute. I think we're making a mistake here. Please ex...

Sydney Finkelstein, the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College on Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful Executives. Habit #1: They see themselves and their companies as dominating their environment. Habit #2: They identify so completely with the company that there is no clear boundary between their personal interests and their corporation’s interests Habit #3: They think they have all the answers Habit #4: They ruthlessly eliminate anyone who isn’t completely behind them Habit #5: They are consummate spokespersons, obsessed with the company image Habit #6: They underestimate obstacles Habit #7: They stubbornly rely on what worked for them in the past I believe these habits can be found in many executives. But they should be a warning to anyone in any leadership capacity - whether in a small local shop or sitting on a church board. More detail on each can be found Forbes .