Being a leader

A confession: I find being a leader hard sometimes. There are days when leadership is the last thing I want to do with my life, but I know it's a core part of my call to ministry. So what do I do? Well I look for stuff that inspires me and motivates me to keep going. I'd like to think that I look for stuff that helps me improve, but then again I sometimes feel like Edward Bear in the opening paragraph of the Winnie The-Pooh story.

Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think about it. And then he feels that perhaps there isn't.

Anyway, to get back to the question of leadership, I have on my wall opposite my desk a number of things. Photographs taken by my daughter Ally, the dates for Easter up to 2024, my personal mission statement and my ministerial recognition certificate just in case I forget who and what I am! There are other things and maybe I'll describe those in another post.

One of the things I have is an interesting one page description of leadership. I'm not sure where it came from, a website I think or an email newsletter of some sort, but I find it a helpful reminder of a few things. Here it is.

Effective leadership today is not about helping people find the answers they need; it's about asking the right questions in the right context at the right time. It is less about being a gladiator in control and more about being anirritatorr who asks thought-provoking and disturbing questions like Jesus often did.

Leadership is less about teaching specific skills; it's more about leaders being in close relationship with God, understanding their gifts and passions, then walking alongside others so they learn from the kind of person you are rather than from the things you say.

Leadership is less about setting vision, reaching goals, motivating, and inspiring others—important as these can be. Leadership is more about helping people create environments where they experience community with others and loving relationships that move everybody forward.

Leadership for a new era does not make sure that people are thoroughly trained before they are turned loose. The new model is on-the-job learning where the leader and everybody else is learning constantly and pouring their lives into others. The sooner people begin serving together, the sooner they experience God's presence and guidance in their lives.