Rick James

A lot of people are very fearful of trying to bring discernment into management decisions. But our own intellect may not be enough in making decisions.

The funeral last weekend was harrowing. An energetic young mother of two little girls, struck down by cancer. I have no idea how her...

Obviously it’s almost impossible to really know someone’s character before they start work. But that’s no excuse for just ignoring it. We can at least try to find out what drives people and how they react in difficult situations. And it does not stop with recruitment – what about staff appraisal and development?

We want to bring the best of ourselves to work. There is a science to how we rest and restore our energies and creativity.

A large Christian NGO in Africa demonstrates the powerful combination of strong, servant leadership with relentless prayer and painful personal confession. Change was not cheap, easy or quick. But it happened.

Forgiveness is hard work. You are dealing with a reality of pain and loss that cannot be pretended away. As leaders we must ask forgiveness as well as forgive, even if it seems impossible.

It seems that like breathing, we can all rest naturally; but to perform at our peak, we can all learn to do it better. It turns out that we have to work at taking deliberate rest. What do you do to rest and recover? How do you detach from your work?

I realized at the funeral that I need to change my perspective. As the Bible clearly commands: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice” (Phil 4:4).

We all know about founder’s syndrome – where a successful leader is unable to let go and move on. Christian leaders are in no way immune. It may be painful and challenging, but it does not have to be fatal. We therefore need to avoid the syndrome or treat the underlying issues in a timely and appropriate way.

Without followers, leadership does not exist. It’s the first followers who “transform a lone nut into a leader.” Or as the Malawian proverb beautifully puts it: “A leader without followers, is simply someone going for a walk.”

Water is essential to life, and in some areas of the world, humans must dig deep wells to keep water readily available. In the midst of organizational change, we desperately need to draw on our spiritual resources. How easily we do this may depend on our spiritual habits – our rhythms of life. How deep have we dug our spiritual wells?

Frustration and fear feature strongly in change processes. Churches and Christian NGOs are no exception in my experience. Not surprising I suppose, given they are staffed by humans, not angels. But left undealt with, frustration and fear give rise to mistrust and effectively block efforts at change.

Three years ago, the TEF (Tangababwe Evangelical Fellowship) was closed due to resource constraints, weak leadership and lack of clear direction. During one of the workshops, the chair publicly acknowledged his failings and accepted responsibility for many of the errors that had left TEF in such a state. This set the tone for the short biblical devotion that followed. Each participant fell on their knees. Many major church leaders were openly weeping and confessing how they, as TEF, had failed to be an authentic evangelical voice. One participant remarked that, “When the Bishops repented, God showed up.”

We all put off difficult decisions. It’s part of human nature. Churches and Christian organizations and leaders seem particularly prone to this failing. We want to appear loving. We want to be nice. But the consequences of delay may prove disastrous.