A call to leadership
Dec 13, 2009 Discussion Topics, Leadership Lessons of Jesus
Is there such thing as a “special calling” for those in leadership? I’ve often argued against it, believing that often those claiming a “special calling” of God upon their lives have used it inappropriately to guilt others into following them. I confess that’s a bit too cynical–I do in fact believe God can write a special purpose on the heart of individuals, but I believe it is more personal and subject to fallible human interpretation than some would like to believe.
Yet between us and God, we have to seek the Lord’s will for our lives, and look for affirmation or denial of what that will is. The book Leadership Lessons of Jesus calls that “laying out the fleece,” an apt use of Gideon’s test of whether God was behind him or not:
Judges 6:36-38 – Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised-look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
Then there is the idea of a “general calling” rather than a “special calling.” I am definitely more comfortable with the scriptural application of this principle. All are called to study the Word like the Bereans. All are called to ministry. All are called to service. We are each to find our niche and opportunistically look for ways to live out our calling as believers.
Questions for discussion
- What is the difference between a “special calling” and a “general calling?”
- Can you think of examples in scripture supporting a special calling? Was it a personal conviction only, or a conviction that came with the authority to carry it out?
- God blesses each of us with unique gifts or talents. Are you gifted in a particular area? Are you using that gift?
- In areas where you think God has given you a special gift or talent, do you feel called to step out in front and lead? Did Moses.
- Is “laying out the fleece” something we ought to be doing today or was this a situation unique to the Old Testament era? Was Gideon’s test commendable or a sign of weak faith?
Scriptures to consider
- Judges 6:36-38 – Gideon laying out the fleece
- Romans 12:5-7 – Gifts and talents
- Ephesians 4:1 – General calling
- Acts 16:9 – Special calling
Tags: Calling, Gifts, Leadership
Who speaks for you?
Dec 6, 2009 Discussion Topics, Leadership Lessons of Jesus
This lesson deals with the fact that for leaders to be leaders, there necessarily must be followers. To use a business management analogy, you can’t have “all chiefs and no Indians.” I know, this is politically incorrect, but it makes a great point.
Jesus had people following him: his disciples. His disciples, chosen by Jesus to carry his message to the world, in turn had followers of their own. They led, and people followed. There is a caveat, however:
1 Corinthians 1:11-14 – My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
The caveat is that a leader who is following the example of Jesus and his disciples shouldn’t be leading in order to amass the greatest number of followers to himself. He should be leading to amass the greatest number of followers to Jesus. When a leader’s “followership” becomes a cult of personality, it detracts from what should be the primary mission.
Rather than urge his followers to follow him per se, Paul urged them to follow his example:
1 Corinthians 11:1 – Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
1 Corinthians 4:16 – Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
Philippians 3:17 – Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
So as Christian leaders, whether we’re leading an organization, a ministry, a family, or just a group of friends, we should seek to lead by example.
The book uses the example of John the Baptist as a spokesperson for Jesus who was trustworthy and loyal, never putting himself between the people and the leader he advocated for. Here are some questions to consider about the concept of “Who speaks for you?”
- Is it a worthy aspiration to want to have followers? What are the benefits and dangers?
- As a person who is going to lead people in any setting, do you need to care about what other people say about you?
- Why do others’ opinions of you affect your ability to lead? What are the dangers in caring too much about what other people think of you?
- There is a story about a politician who looked out his office window to see a parade going by in the streets below. He quickly interrupted the meeting he was having and told his staff he needed to get out in front of the parade because his followers needed him to lead them. What is the difference between a politician and a leader?
Tags: Leadership
The Leadership Lessons of Jesus
Dec 6, 2009 Discussion Topics, Leadership Lessons of Jesus
The following is the chapter list of a great little book on leadership called “The Leadership Lessons of Jesus: A Timeless Model for Today’s Leaders.” I’d like to use this topic list as a study outline for discussion over the course of our Edge meetings on Sundays.
Better yet, I’d like to have each of the guys step up to lead some of these discussion. There are 52 lessons here to give a lot of great insight into the qualities of godly leaders and becoming a person who can influence the world for Christ.
- Who speaks for you?
- A call to leadership
- Temptation is part of leadership
- Leaders call followers
- Leaders teach with authority
- A leader takes care of his people
- Leadership requires discipline
- Leaders care
- Leadership and timing
- Leaders should expect the unexpected
- Leaders are teachers
- Choosing a team
- Eating with the troops
- Facing opposition
- A new way of thinking
- Leading with and through traditions
- Unwarranted attacks–be ready!
- The inner core
- Leaders plan
- Strategic withdrawal
- The place
- Authority, the stuff of leadership
- Painful attacks on your leadership
- Leaders tell stories
- Unity, a leadership requirement
- Leaders are often unappreciated
- Special relationships
- You win some: You lose some
- Truth and timing
- Leadership expectations
- Publicity, public relations, and leadership
- Evaluate
- A leader is faithful
- Little things–important things
- Leadership calms the storm
- Flexibility
- Publicity
- Decisive action
- Leadership is expensive
- Preparing successors
- Practical vision
- The best and the worst
- The use of authority
- Leadership teams
- Misinformation
- Facing a loss
- Visible leadership
- A leadership retreat
- Capturing unplanned moments
- Boldness builds leadership
- Establishing order–a priority
- Leaders pray in gratitude
So we’ll start this week with topic #1, Who speaks for you?
Tags: Leadership
Relationship evangelism in the school and workplace
Nov 29, 2009 Discussion Topics
To often, I think evangelism is viewed as a science, or as a marketing objective. So-called “church growth experts” give us statistics on how best to reach the largest quantity of people with the least amount of resources (i.e., time and money). This search for evangelistic efficiency is great – if you’re an organization, perhaps.
But even the church growth experts agree that the most effective tool is…you:
In a survey cited by [Win and Charlie Arn], 14,000 people were asked, “What or who was responsible for your coming to Christ and your church?” The top response, given by 75-90 percent of the respondents was “a friend or relative.”
Source: Evangelism.net
Is it possible that institutionalized evangelism can disenfranchise the average believer and lull them into thinking that evangelism is only for those with advanced degrees, big budgets, or mass audiences? So what about you, the individual? What can you do to influence people for Christ?
First, I think we need to lose the idea that evangelism is best left to others, and take a personal role in evangelizing the lost. We need to be passionate about it. How do we do that? At least one way is relationship evangelism.
We need to look at evangelism, not as an event, but as a process. It starts first with seeing others in our sphere of influence, not as co-workers, fellow students, clients, or customers, but as human beings worthy of our time. We shouldn’t even look at them first and foremost as prospects for evangelism; that can make the relationship fake and conditional.
Think about it. That class clown at school, or that rude guy you work with every day may be facing a family crisis that could draw them closer to God. How will you know if you’ve never taken the time to build a relationship with him?
Questions to consider:
- Which is more efficient? Mass evangelism where you can reach millions of viewers at a time, or relationship evangelism where it’s largely one-to-one?
- What limits do you think you might encounter in efforts to evangelize your workplace: As an hourly employee? As a manager? As a business owner?
- Do you think we ought to accept those limits, or try to subvert them in the name of our faith?
- How do you get to know someone and gain their trust and friendship: If you couldn’t really care less about them as a person? If they annoy you? If they are hostile to you? If they have a foul mouth and really low moral standards?
Verses to consider
Relationship evangelism
Nov 22, 2009 Discussion Topics
Leading the world to Christ one relationship at a time
Sometimes I think we do more to bring the lost world to Christ by living it out in front of them than by inviting them to church or reaching them through mass media. Not that we shouldn’t invite them to church, or reach out through mass media, of course. But the church is really intended to be the training ground for believers; it’s where we go to get encouraged and prepared to re-enter the mission field when we walk out the doors.
Someone we barely know who we invite to church is really in need of a deeper relationship before they’re going to get much out of church. Think about it – if you bring a friend, they already have a relationship with you, so their experience at church with you starts with your relationship. If you bring someone to church who knows neither you nor anyone else, and they don’t get to know anyone else, their experience will be much different.
It is only when we build real relationships with people that we can impact their lives in a meaningful way. If we want to lead people (and all believers should, to some degree), we can’t shy away from developing real relationships with those who don’t (yet) know Christ.
The bottom line: Lead people to Christ, then they’ll want to follow your lead and come to church. That requires investing in a relationship with them.
Verses to consider
- Matthew 9:10-13
- John 8:3-11
Questions for discussion
- What’s an example of someone that impacted a situation because they took action rather than passed the buck to someone else? It can be spiritually related, but it doesn’t have to be.
- In the church
- In the workplace
- In school
- What’s an example of a situation where no one took action, so something important didn’t get done?
- What’s the best answer to the question, “Why me?”
- What’s the worst thing that can happen if we cross the line and are “too bold” in our leadership?
- What’s the idea behind these phrases?
- Intentional leadership
- Intentiona relationship / purposeful relationship
- The first step in becoming a better leader is to _____________ .
Tags: Leadership
Believers need to be leaders
Nov 15, 2009 Discussion Topics
Leadership is a huge issue for Christians. It’s often said that when you want to get something done, ask the busiest person, and that’s often true. In any organized effort to accomplish something, whether it is moving dirt around, or providing spiritual guidance for a congregation, there will always be leaders and followers. Which are you?
Areas where believers need to be leaders
- In the church (what does that mean?)
- In the assembly (public worship)
- In the home
- With your (future) spouse
- With your (future) kids
- In the workplace
- Co-workers
- Subordinates
- Employers
- Customers/clients
- At school
- Fellow students
- Teachers
No slackers allowed
While there is a place in the Kingdom for visible leaders as well as leaders who are less visible to the public eye, there is no room for slackers. We all are followers at times, but if we never step up as leaders as well, we will become stagnant and won’t grow spiritually. Worse, we will never be able to help someone else grow spiritually.
If we are slackers, our impact on the church will not be neutral – it will be devastating. Here is what a culture of slackers in the church will look like down the road:
- Complacency will set in.
- Another generation of slackers will learn from our example.
- The church will drift and gradually blow away in the wind.
- The church won’t have new public or behind-the-scenes leaders.
- Marriages will fall apart
- Kids won’t have a spiritual relationship with their parents
- Parents won’t have a spiritual relationship with their kids
- Parents won’t even have a spiritual impact on their kids at all
Think about this topic of leadership as it applies to your life.
- How do we go about preparing ourselves to lead in the church, home, workplace, etc?
- Was Moses leadership material? Did he think he was?
- What is leadership style taught in the Bible and how can we imitate it?
- Do we need to be set apart by the church for ministry in order to be a leader in the church?
Verse to check out
- Romans 12:4-8
- Ephesians 5:21-33
Tags: Leadership
What’s on your iPod?
Nov 3, 2009 Discussion Topics
Here’s something to think about…what’s on your iPod? Would you feel comfortable handing it over for anyone to browse your music selection? If Jesus was sitting next to you, and you really wanted him to hear that cool new Casting Crowns song, would you quickly take the iPod back after the song was over so He couldn’t browse the rest of your music collection?
Taking that a step further, our thoughts and actions are heavily influenced by the media we listen to and watch on a daily basis; news, radio stations, talk radio, etc. Some worldliness we can’t get away from, but we usually have a choice of what messages we choose to subject ourselves to. Do we always make the right choices?
Think about the following questions:
- Does the music we listen to build up our Christian faith or chip away at it?
- How about our television choices? What other external influences do we allow “on our iPod” that maybe we should consider “deleting.”
- What kind of effect does our music and media choices have on people around us? Does it lead them to Christ or walk people away from Him?
- When you have a family, what media choices will you want your kids to make?
- What about novels? Do those have any effect on our thought life or faith?
- Is there such a thing as “Christian music?” How do you define it? How do you respond to those who say Christian artists are wrong?
- For Christians who create music, what should be their goals?
- As we start to clean up our “iPods” (meaning all the external media choices we make) what are some ways we can intentionally use it to influence others for Christ?
Verses to think about
1 Peter 1:13 – Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Psalm 10:4 – In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
Psalm 139:23 – Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Colossians 3:1-2 – Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Tonight, let’s talk about these questions, and feel free to add your own. Also feel free to bring your iPod and share any stories you might have of times of how good or bad media choices have influenced you or your friends.
Tags: CCM, Christian Music, iPod, Media