Paradigm 3: Mentoring the Foundation of Leadership (11/1/19)
We asked ourselves the question: What is leadership?
I said this can be defined as speaking and acting (= influencing) others in order to achieve a goal. John Piper helpfully notes that in Christian leadership, 1) The goal is Biblical 2) the followers can come from any gender or ethnicity (i.e. they are potentially universal) and 3) the leader has a Christlike character. We also mentioned how a Christian leader would have a pastoral concern for the spiritual health of his/her followers
Edmund Chan defines aspects of leadership as follows:
We asked ourselves why individuals with little stature or substance are promoted to positions of great status? Sometimes this is due to self promotion. Sometimes their immediate superior is impressed with apparent status or stature, or wants to surround himself./herself with non-threatening, incompetent subordinates to look good. Bad leadership then begets bad leadership. At times Christian leaders with more stature and status than substance fall into sin. These failings are not impossible in church/Christian situations. We need to be vigilant in ourselves to reject these models of leadership.
Wen Jin wisely noted that leaders with substance can provide enduring leadership, whereas those without may impress people and lead them for a time, but will burn out quickly.
Paul's testimony in Phil 3 seems to be more about "confidence in the flesh" (v.4) with respect to salvation, rather than leadership. So I don't think this passage is particularly helpful. I took King David as a better examples of leadership.
I highlighted 3 incidents in David's life that are noteworthy:
a) the incident when he refused to kill Saul when he could (1 Sa 26:8) - this tells us the he understood well the principle that spiritual leadership is a gift of God, not to be grasped with his own hands.
b) the incident where he refused to drink water from the well of Bethlehem that his men had risked their lives to obtain (2 Sa 23:15ff) - this tells us that he never sought to take the place of God in the estimation of his followers.
c) the incident where he 'strengthened himself' in God when even his own followers blamed and spoke poorly of him (1 Sa 30:1ff) - this tells us that his relationship with God was untouched by circumstances and the regard of others
Substance gives us stability in the face of changing circumstances because our identity and security in Christ can never be broken. If we do not have substance we will always be longing for affirmation and afraid of criticism. We will be reluctant to give offence.
I said that we gain substance through spiritual disciplines (prayer, fasting, Bible study, fellowship, service etc.). Done well, these strengthen the authority of the spirit/mind over the body (c.f. Susannah Wesley's definition of sin: "Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself.) We do not drift into godliness - we grow by pursuing holiness.
I said this can be defined as speaking and acting (= influencing) others in order to achieve a goal. John Piper helpfully notes that in Christian leadership, 1) The goal is Biblical 2) the followers can come from any gender or ethnicity (i.e. they are potentially universal) and 3) the leader has a Christlike character. We also mentioned how a Christian leader would have a pastoral concern for the spiritual health of his/her followers
Edmund Chan defines aspects of leadership as follows:
- Status (official position, title)
- Stature (how others view us, how we view ourselves)
- Substance (how God views us)
How do we know how God views us? We cannot only have subjective feelings of assurance and comfort, for we can be self-deceived and our consciences faulty. We also cannot only have a fearful compliance to God's revealed will in His word, hoping that somehow we are pleasing Him. We must have both subjective assurance based on objective, revealed truth.
We asked ourselves why individuals with little stature or substance are promoted to positions of great status? Sometimes this is due to self promotion. Sometimes their immediate superior is impressed with apparent status or stature, or wants to surround himself./herself with non-threatening, incompetent subordinates to look good. Bad leadership then begets bad leadership. At times Christian leaders with more stature and status than substance fall into sin. These failings are not impossible in church/Christian situations. We need to be vigilant in ourselves to reject these models of leadership.
Wen Jin wisely noted that leaders with substance can provide enduring leadership, whereas those without may impress people and lead them for a time, but will burn out quickly.
Paul's testimony in Phil 3 seems to be more about "confidence in the flesh" (v.4) with respect to salvation, rather than leadership. So I don't think this passage is particularly helpful. I took King David as a better examples of leadership.
I highlighted 3 incidents in David's life that are noteworthy:
a) the incident when he refused to kill Saul when he could (1 Sa 26:8) - this tells us the he understood well the principle that spiritual leadership is a gift of God, not to be grasped with his own hands.
b) the incident where he refused to drink water from the well of Bethlehem that his men had risked their lives to obtain (2 Sa 23:15ff) - this tells us that he never sought to take the place of God in the estimation of his followers.
c) the incident where he 'strengthened himself' in God when even his own followers blamed and spoke poorly of him (1 Sa 30:1ff) - this tells us that his relationship with God was untouched by circumstances and the regard of others
Substance gives us stability in the face of changing circumstances because our identity and security in Christ can never be broken. If we do not have substance we will always be longing for affirmation and afraid of criticism. We will be reluctant to give offence.
I said that we gain substance through spiritual disciplines (prayer, fasting, Bible study, fellowship, service etc.). Done well, these strengthen the authority of the spirit/mind over the body (c.f. Susannah Wesley's definition of sin: "Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself.) We do not drift into godliness - we grow by pursuing holiness.
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