Queen's Road Cell

In this chapter, Edmund Chan speaks of the need for wisdom in leadership, defined as, "balancing the tensions of life in the fear of the Lord". The ability to balance well comes from proper perspectives: 1) personal conviction, 2) team leadership 3) a vision of God's overall purpose, will and timing. I asked us what it means to 'fear the Lord'. We are to fear God - to have 'holy reverence' for Him because he is Creator (Je 5:21-24) and Judge (Lk 12:5, 2 Cor 5:11). We are to live our lives as 'god-fearing' people - those who are aware that they are accountable to God and fear to displease or grieve Him, rather than to displease or grieve man. I think this chapter is full of opportunities for fruitful thinking about Christian leadership. In the 'big canvas' of God's overall purpose, the ultimate purpose of mankind is to glorify God (Is 43:7 “...everyone who is called by my name,    whom I created for my glory,    whom I formed ...

I was sharing about my realization that God really, really loves us (For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him - Ps 103:11). He cannot love us any more than he does, and His electing love for us does not change when we are foolish and sinful. And I thought of how we are meant to love one another as Jesus loves us (Jn 11:35). I feel ashamed to think of how my love for people around is conditional on how they behave. We are to live a life shaped by the grace of the gospel - the grace we ourselves have received. We talked about the pastoral issue of Christians who have depression and anxiety. I was asking how we resolve the issue of the Bible commanding us "Do not fear" or "be anxious for nothing" (Phil 4:6) or  "My grace is sufficient" (2 Cor 12:9). My thought is that some of us do not have perfect mental health from genetic or environmental factors, and that we sometimes need not only prayer, Scriptural en...

Edmund Chan speaks of 'efficiency" (ability to do things right) and "effectiveness" (wisdom to do the right things). Then he adds a third characteristic of leadership that he calls "efficacy", defined as "doing the right thing at the right time in the right way with the right motive to ultimately produce the right results". His argument for the existence and practice of this third characteristic is that as Christian leaders we primarily need alignment with God, rather than accomplishment for God. He then gives examples of God's contrariwise, inefficient way of working and urges us to be like God in the way He works. I thought we should ask ourselves whether Chan's point is contrived and sourced in a love of alliteration rather than Biblical truth. Surely the standards he sets are too high for most of us to achieve! I asked: 1. How can we aim for efficacious leadership in practice? How can we tell when a counter-intuitive move is require...