You ARE a Leader. Right now. The only question is, “What kind?”
You have people who are watching you? You have influence in people’s lives? Are you in a position to serve others? Then you’re a leader.
Leadership is different things to different people. For some, it’s control and authority. For the believer, it’s influence above all else. We can’t change hearts and we aren’t called to control people. But we can influence by how we live, serve, love, pray.
7 Principles of Leadership that Makes a Difference:
1- We see it as a privilege, an honor, to serve Jesus by serving his people. (There is a burden in serving. But if the feeling of burden trumps honor, I need to re-examine my motives, my focus, my spiritual temperature.
2- We don’t need praise for it. Praise is due God, not us. Even if we did do well in an area of service, while we can humbly accept a compliment, we know that any talent or gifting comes from God. So it’s always to his praise and glory- not ours.
3- We are above nothing. In other words, just because we serve in public ministry doesn’t mean we won’t clean toilets when needed. We serve to serve, not to be seen or to gain praise. (When toilets get cleaned, we don’t trumpet our service to everyone else. See #2.)
4- We understand gifting and seek to recruit people into areas of service alongside us that they may experience serving in their own area of calling. In other words, we don’t have to do it all ourselves in some kind of control-freak manner. We trust people and know that mistakes can be learning experiences. Perfectionism is a lie that robs us of contentment. Working hard to do well? Sure! Perfectionism? Nope.
5- We know that comparison is lie. Esp. when it’s, “Look at what I’M doing compared to what they are.” This breeds either pride and arrogance or inadequacy and self-loathing. My comparison is to God’s call on my life. Nothing more (or less). Besides, the whole “They got to…so why don’t I?” smacks of whiny-ism that turns people off. And we’re not entitled to anything.
6- We value character over reputation. Reputation is what they say about you. Character is who you are. Many great leaders of the past have fallen because it was discovered their reputation didn’t match their character.
7- We intentionally create God-focused moments. Times in which we stop and focus on God. And call others to do the same. In which we thank God for the opportunity to worship him by serving others. By the way, that means we don’t allow unimportant and passing things steal our focus from our Lord and our mission.
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