Leadership Ideas

Every once in a while I will gain some insight into how to best lead in a church setting. Too often those in leadership positions think that, just because they are in a leadership position they have influence on those people sitting in the pews on any given Sunday. Influence is not something that can be voted on necessarily. Often times someone who does not have a formal level of authority has influence. I have begun to understand that Humility is the greatest characteristic of someone who has influence. Once again humility comes from an understanding of who I am and who God is.

If people sense that a leaders confidence comes not from an inflated view of himself or herself, but rather from God's grace and truth spelled out in our everyday lives then they want to be a part of that. Realness that is a result of true humility reveals to others that the common denominator is always God and not ourselves. When I can connect with other people in a way that shows how God works in my life in all of the struggles that are around us, they get the sense that we can work together towards a common goal, even if what I say has nothing to do with the common goal. I have seen this several times when I listen to my wife talk about struggles in her family. In one instance, before she sang a song in church she talked about a breakdown in some relationships in her family and how much the song she was about to sing had meant to her in the midst of it. People came up to her after the service and mentioned that what she had said and sung really meant alot to them. She had influence on those listening because she was being real and did not just try to give the "right" sunday school answer to the problems she was facing. Leadership is not necessarily having all of the answers all the time. Rather understanding that truth and hope in a God who is God connects us in ways that we could not set up or plan.