Building Leaders

A professor of spirituality and ministry discovers that trust grows when leaders notice and release their own agendas.

Perhaps what might help us over our hurdles is not to hide how costly disciple-making is, but to be utterly honest and explicit about the costs, and hold them out in the light for us to see, and then find whether something in us might just rise to the peculiar glory of it all.

As Christian leaders in God’s house, I hope these seven essential priorities help you to make the improvements that are within your power to make. God knows, we need healthier, stronger, leaner, more flexible leaders who can stay the course! You can absolutely improve your health!

How can I help you? On face value it appears to be a great question which explains why it’s one that’s also so commonly used within church leadership or management strategy: it seems to be servant-hearted, empowering and supportive. However, the reality is that this question is something of a foolish wolf in sheepish disguise.

Discipleship of the emerging leader is as crucial as a lion nurturing his offspring or a father his child, but it goes deeper than a father to child relationship. It is much broader than teaching skills or fine-tuning character. Malcolm has written a letter that goes straight to the heart of discipleship and what emerging leaders need from those more experienced leaders.

May students not be seen as projects, but instead be seen as extremely valuable people who need to be reached through the Gospel, discipled in the Gospel, and set free with the Gospel to reach other students for the glory of Jesus Christ!

To be a good leader, choose compassion over cruelty, clarity over chaos, and humility over self-consumption.

Somewhere in your town, in your church, in your class, is someone who can become a mighty instrument of the Lord. Someone just needs to reach them, to tell them of Jesus and to disciple them.

Change must be directed and pursued with intentionality and within reason lest it becomes simply spinning circles.

Every leader has values, it’s just that some leaders haven’t clearly identified them or taken the time to process them through yet.

If you’re serious about seeking out godly leadership, begin by visiting your children’s and youth ministries.

As a child in Africa, it took two weeks for us to learn of the death of my own grandmother by way of a telegram relayed from continent to continent and handed off to a bicycle courier who made the day-long trip in hopes of a gratuity upon delivery. Things have changed.