On Leading Well

Year: 2012

  • Similarities in Leadership of Jesus and Paul – Part 1

    Jesus and Paul both left immense spiritual legacies. Their approaches to leadership shared many similarities and one profound difference. As servant leaders with a clear calling and vision for God’s glory to be spread to all nations, both Jesus and Paul exhibited core aspects of servant leadership through their lives, strategies, and methods. This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but to capture some of the key similarities in their ministries.

    Calling

    Each viewed himself as called by God as a servant sent to proclaim the good news. Understanding and acceptance of one’s calling provides a deep personal sense of security and emotional stability. This stable foundation allows one to freely serve others without risking personal worth. A clear sense of calling also provides motivation to endure through inevitable difficulty and suffering. Jesus frequently referred to his calling and purpose (e.g., Luke 19:10; Mark 10:45; John 13:1-4), as did Paul in the majority of his letters (e.g., Rom. 1:1-5; 15:20-21; 1 Cor. 9:15-23).

    Intimacy with God

    Jesus and Paul constantly affirmed and modeled the fundamentals of pursuing unbroken fellowship and abiding intimacy with God. These practices included devotion (e.g., Mark 1:35; 2 Cor. 11:3), intercessory prayer (e.g., Luke 11:1-13; Eph. 1:15-23), and walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit (e.g., Luke 4:1; Gal. 5:22-23). A servant’s ministry shrivels up when an abiding first love for God is abandoned (e.g., John 15:1-8; Rev. 2:1-5).

    Love

    Both men constantly referred to the primacy of agapao love. Jesus summarized the entire Old Testament law in two commands: Love God and love people (Matt. 22:37-40). He gave a new commandment to his disciples to love one another “just as I have loved you,” promising that “by this all people will know that you are my disciples (John 13:34-35). Jesus connected love to obedience and to the indwelling presence of the Helper, the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17). Love was Paul’s dominant ethic, far above service, self-sacrifice, faith, or hope (cf. 1 Cor. 13:1-8; Gal. 5:22-23). Paul’s missionary teams were controlled by the love of Christ as they served as ambassadors in the ministry of reconciliation (cf. 2 Cor. 5:14-21).

    How fresh is your sense of the Lord’s calling?  How intimate is your relationship with Him? Are you consistently growing in love for God and others?

  • Foundations of Leading Well over Distance

    Over the past 15 years I have constantly sought to answer this burning question, which I call the “Ten Day Rule of Heart:” If a global leader has no more than ten days per year of face-to-face time with his or her co-laborers in a multinational context, how can one appropriately serve, strengthen, inspire, align, equip, and coach those field leaders to live and lead well throughout the other 355 days?

    This question informed my recent thesis research on servant leadership across distance and cultures. This series of posts will share some of the insights I gleaned from exploring Scripture, current research and best practices, and interviews with more than 80 global leaders.

    The Need for a New Paradigm

    Effective spiritual leadership across distance and cultures is a crucial topic for all Christian missions right now as the lines between local and global cultures blur, as the majority world surpasses North America in sending missionaries, as hierarchical organizations flatten into peer networks, and as a new generation of volunteers and full-time laborers assume responsibility for the Great Commission. Ministry in the 21st century will require character-grounded, innovative servant leaders who can flex with God’s Spirit and who are comfortable leading over greater distances with less control over God’s people.

    Where do we find models of leaders like this? Whether you are leading across a city or across time zones, you are probably experiencing some of the challenges of 21st century global leadership. The New Testament offers abundant examples of servant leaders who led well in local and distance contexts.  If we focus on the ministries of Jesus and Paul, we find that while their immediate scope may have been different, many foundational elements of their leadership were the same.

    Jesus: Up Close and Personal

    Jesus’ ministry was primarily local and focused on one people group. The Jews to whom he ministered shared a common heritage, language, and culture. Geographically, the majority of Jesus’ ministry events recorded in the gospels took place within a 15-mile radius of two primary locations: the Sea of Galilee in the north and Jerusalem in the south.

    Paul: Loving Over Distance

    In contrast to Jesus, Paul’s ministry was primarily cross-cultural and conducted over great distance. Paul and his missionary teams would have covered about 1,200 miles as the crow flies from Jerusalem to Berea in Macedonia, one of their most remote areas of church planting. They covered great distances in relatively short periods of time, rarely lingering more than a few Sabbaths in any particular location.

    Though Jesus and Paul ministered in different contexts, their ministries had many similarities.  We’ll look at some of these similarities in the next three posts.

    If you have led locally and over distance, what are some of the similarities and differences you’ve encountered?

     

  • Guest post: A Tale of Two Leaders

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    It seems appropriate in this the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth that we look at a tale not of two cities but of two leaders.

    In our leader-obsessed culture perhaps we should focus not on the leader but their leadership.

    These two pictures portray leaders in action.

    The leader in the left hand picture is serving the other person by enabling them to get to their level. The leader in the right hand picture is serving the other person by enabling them to go beyond him.

    These pictures take us to the very heart of the issue, which is an issue of the heart. Where does a leader find his or her sense of identity? Is the leader secure enough in who they are and therefore willing to enable others to press on to higher things?

    In the life of Jesus we see this second picture of leadership. John 13:3-5 informs us:

    Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

    Unless we as leaders are secure in our position and in our identity, we will be unable to resist the temptation to solve other people’s problems (because it makes us feel good and massages our ego) instead of coaching our people and teams to solve their own problems. This is true empowerment. This is multi-generational servant leadership.

    What do you think?

    My friend and personal coach Paul Duncan lives in the UK and has been on staff of Agape (CCCi) since 1985. He currently is an executive agent for the European LDHR Director. He holds a Masters in Coaching and Mentoring from Oxford Brookes University; he is married with two daughters.

    Email: [email protected]

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