Thursday, April 22, 2010

Leadership in Ministry, Part II: Leading as a follower

NOTE:  This post is part of a blog training series on leadership development, originally authored for CTI Music Ministries.     Read the series introduction | view the whole series

"Leaders can inspire, teach, entertain, and in many other ways shape the framework upon which an adventure can unfold. Within that framework, however, group members must bear much of the responsibility for the quality of their own experience." – Robert Birkby (author of the Boy Scout Handbook, 10th ed.)

Last week we equated the Christian life with the continual process of being formed in the image of Christ, and Christian leadership with the intentional use of our influence to spur others on towards that same goal of spiritual formation. Since this is exactly what our ministry is about through the fulltime program, we came to the realization that our current ministry is therefore an exercise in Christian leadership, regardless of whether or not we currently have the positional title of "leader."

None of our discussions or definitions about leadership thus far have involved position… so what prohibits us from exhibiting good leadership in our various roles as followers? After all, if leadership is a measure of our impact on others, then we're more than just capable of leading as followers… the reality of our leadership is inescapable!

  • As followers, we have the ability to shape our culture.
  • As followers, we can choose to be intentional with our influence.
  • As followers, we're free to cultivate an others-focused value in ourselves and serve those around us.
  • As followers, we are capable of spurring others on towards being formed in the image of Christ.
  • And, as followers, we can do all of these things without undermining the positional leader above us.
  • In fact, we're often more liberated to do these things than the positional leader is!
Part of the mandate of a CTI team leader is to release the members of their team into their unique giftings through an environment the group members couldn't have cultivated on their own. Team leaders help create and manage the framework upon which the CTI experience unfolds for their team members. They shape the structure, but each team member must choose what to do with the opportunities that the experience affords them.

We expect our positional leaders to be liberators. Their team members are the ones who have been liberated. It follows, then, that team members must choose what to do with the opportunities that they've been liberated towards in the same way that the servants in Matthew 25 had to choose what to do with the property entrusted to them by their master.

If we wait for the "position" of leadership to be ascribed to us before we start thinking of ourselves as shapers of our culture, we'll be wasting much more than just the influence already entrusted to us - we'll also be wasting some of the best opportunities we might ever be given to use it. I say this because of a reality that may surprise you: as the official responsibilities of leadership increase, so does the difficulty of liberating yourself to do the very things you're trying to liberate others to do.

You have much more influence as a follower than you think you do. You also have much more freedom to use it than you might if you were the positional leader instead of the follower. So what practical things can you do to exhibit good leadership as a follower? As is often the case, some of the best lessons can be learned through examples where the desired outcome was not achieved.

While visiting teams in the middle of their winter tours, I've often picked up on a singular pervasive trend that I refer to as consumerism. Team leaders are frazzled, buried in minutia and unable to catch their own spiritual and literal breath, because their team members have fallen into the pattern of consuming the leader's services instead of collaborating with their leader to help the entire team succeed at what it has been set apart to do. The leader has effectively become a "soccer mom" to the team, seen to exist mostly for the purpose of handling the administrative details of team life.

We could offer a long list of specific examples, but it should be sufficient to highlight some general tendencies that exist when this consumeristic mindset has taken hold:

  1. Team members generally still consider themselves available for ministry, but they're not inclined to seek it out. Instead, they'll take the more reactionary approach of waiting for ministry opportunities to come to them.
  2. Team members will generally overlook their own ability to stay informed about upcoming ministry opportunities through the resources available to them, preferring instead to wait for the leader to inform them of their schedule and the surrounding details.
  3. Team members tend to not take ownership of their potential opportunities for impact, and team leaders end up getting taxed for information that team members can acquire on their own (such as "where are we going this Friday, and how long will it take to drive there?") This drains the leader of their ability to offer more relevant direction that might be stimulated by questions such as "Do we have any history with this venue that could help us know what to expect?" or "How can we best prepare for our ministry among these people?" Answers to these questions would present opportunities for team members themselves to choose how they would invest in such opportunities. If the leader is not able to provide this information, their ability to liberate team members into opportunities to develop and use their giftings is greatly reduced.
  4. Team members will avoid taking the social risk of initiating conversations with outsiders, preferring instead to wait until they are formally introduced and "set up" for ministry interaction.
  5. Team members aren't actively looking for ways they can serve their leader so that the leader can be freed up to do the things that only the leader can do.
  6. Teams are not in the habit of actively preparing their hearts and minds for ministry before they reach a venue or while waiting in the van for the leader to make initial contact.
  7. Team members have begun to see their musical ability as the ultimate expression of their ministry and may develop resentment or bitterness about situations where they don't feel like their gift is being adequately supported by the ministry structure around them (i.e. poor attendance at concerts, seemingly irrelevant bookings or holes in the schedule.)
Trends such as these indicate either that team members don't fully understand the leadership impact they can have as followers, or that they have chosen to bury their influence in the ground and return it to the master uninvested.

The more you understand about leadership, the more capable you are of contributing to the common goal, regardless of whether or not you are the positional leader specifically assigned to the moment. In some ways, you're uniquely equipped to contribute more towards that goal now than you would be if you were the positional leader.

Don't wait for the "position" of leadership to be ascribed to you before engaging in opportunities to shape your culture, use your influence with intentionality, serve those around you or spur others on towards being formed in the image of Christ. Lead as a follower while you have the opportunity and freedom to do so. And understand that learning to lead as a follower is essential preparation for the even less glamorous job of leading as a positional leader (Matthew 25:21).



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Week 6 reflection questions:

  1. What do you make of the notion that you have more opportunity to lead (as we've defined leadership) as a follower than you might as a positional leader?
  2. Are there ways in which you are currently more a consumer of your team leader and the ministry experience instead of a collaborator? (team leaders, be bold to offer your perspective on this one for the sake of everyone's growth!)
  3. What are some collaborative counterpoints to the consumeristic examples given above?
  4. Do you feel like your gifts are being adequately supported? Who bears the ultimate responsibility to see that they are?
This week's concept:
CONSUMERISM (taking advantage of the services of a person or an experience without contributing towards the shared goal in return) vs. COLLABORATION (using your influence to help others in reaching a shared goal.)

This week's quote:
"Leaders can inspire, teach, entertain, and in many other ways shape the framework upon which an adventure can unfold. Within that framework, however, group members must bear much of the responsibility for the quality of their own experience." – Robert Birkby

This week's assignment:
Examine yourself this week to discover where you a consumer instead of a collaborator. Ask God to reveal to you the opportunities you are missing out on, and to give you the boldness and courage to take advantage of them for His glory.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Leadership in Ministry, Part I: Christian living vs. Christian leading

NOTE:  This post is part of a blog training series on leadership development, originally authored for CTI Music Ministries.     Read the series introduction | view the whole series

“If the purpose of ministry is to convince people to live the kind of life Jesus invites us to live, how can the church be built on people who give up living the kind of life Jesus invites us to live?” – John Ortberg

Over the last several weeks, we have come to appreciate the fact that that our actions and attitudes have the potential to influence someone towards Christ-likeness or away from it. We’ve discovered that our leadership is defined by what we do with this influence, and we’ve cited the Great Commission as our scriptural mandate for Christian leadership.

I think it is important at this stage to back up a bit and underscore the fact that this commission into Christian leadership was the last instruction Jesus gave his disciples. The mandate to “go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life” wasn’t given until this way of life we were to train others in had been fully demonstrated.

Before we can live out the great commission, we must strive to live out the greatest commandment. We need to love the Lord with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind, and love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:29-31.) Living the kind of life Jesus invites us to live is a prerequisite to training others in it.

We must be disciples before we can make disciples of all nations. If we’re not being guided first by the greatest commandment, we can do great damage while trying to live out the great commission.

Christian living means being continually formed in the image of Christ. Christian leading means intentionally using our influence to spur others on towards being formed in the image of Christ… to help others achieve this same goal that we ourselves are daily striving for.

Isn’t that exactly what your current ministry is all about?

If so, doesn’t that mean that your current ministry is itself an exercise in Christian leadership, regardless of whether or not you’ve been given the title of “leader”? (more on that next week.)

The greatest myth that the world reinforces about leadership is that you have to be at the top to lead. Scripture tells us that Christ led from the bottom – he left the highest place and “made himself nothing.” Christ led in meekness.

This kind of thinking is upside-down to a world that equates leadership with power (see our common cultural assumptions about leadership in our post from week 1.) Leading from the bottom doesn’t result in much earthly recognition or reward, so it’s not very gratifying to those who hunger for this kind of approval. It takes a lot of persistence to stick to a path of personal life choices based on doing nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility considering others better than ourselves. The world will not affirm this path, so we must seek our encouragement from a source that is not of the world.

If you’ve been diligent with our weekly assignments so far, you’ve been asking God to help you identify those moments when your tendency is to serve yourself, and to help you cultivate an awareness of the impact you have on others and a passion to serve them above your own interests. Such a prayer focus is critical for ministry leadership, because it is only through prayerful communion with God that we receive the encouragement we need to live and lead this way.

Among the greatest scriptural exhortations given to “ordinary” men and women are Paul’s words in Colossians 3, written not to the leaders, but to the husbands, fathers, wives, children, and slaves in the church at Colosse: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24.)

We must take this exhortation to heart if we are to receive any encouragement in our leadership in ministry. Remember that it is the Lord Christ you are serving. It is Him that you are working for. You may not receive the approval of men. You don’t need it. You will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. Keep your focus on serving Him, for He is the only one who can truly say the words “Well done, good and faithful servant” to you.

Learning to receive this approval from our Father, rather than from men, is also essential preparation for future positional ministry leadership. If our course is not firmly rooted in the approval of the One in whose name we lead, we will be easily swayed by the glamour of the world’s approval.

If you’re not ready to work as for the Lord, not for men, then positional ministry leadership is a dangerous place for you to be.


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Week 5 reflection questions:

1. Do you put more emphasis on the great commission than the greatest commandment?

2. We’ve said that Christian living means being continually formed in the image of Christ, and Christian leading means intentionally using our influence to spur others on towards being formed in the image of Christ. This is a great definition of your current ministry, which makes you a leader right now.
  • a.  Does this concept scare you, or excite you?
  • b.  Does this realization have any impact on how you view the significance of your present ministry?
3. The founder of Christian leadership led from the bottom, in meekness. This doesn’t make sense to the world, but it is the path we are called to as ministry leaders. As you approach a season in which you may be called upon to be a positional ministry leader, what personal preparations do you need to make in order to align yourself more with Christ’s leadership model and less with what the world says about leadership?

4. Are you someone who thrives on the approval of men? What can you do to take the exhortation of Colossians 3 to heart and firmly root yourself in the approval of the One in whose name you lead?


This week’s definition:
CHRISTIAN LIVING = being continually formed in the image of Christ.

This week’s quote:
“If the purpose of ministry is to convince people to live the kind of life Jesus invites us to live, how can the church be built on people who give up living the kind of life Jesus invites us to live?” – John Ortberg

This week’s assignment:
Are you living the kind of life Jesus invites you to live, or have you given up that pursuit? Are you being continually formed in His image?

Get back to the basics this week. Evaluate your decisions in the light of the greatest commandment instead of the great commission, and make it your focus to work for the Lord, not for men. These will be essential disciplines for your continual development towards positional ministry leadership. They will also help you develop the frame of mind you’ll need for next week’s post.

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Good leadership vs. Godly leadership

We must cultivate an others-focused value in ourselves if we want to develop godly leadership.

If influence is a measure of our capacity to shape our culture and the people around us, and leadership is a measure of how we use that capacity, then we need one more qualifier in order to determine the overall value of our leadership:  We need to know what it is that we should use be using that influence for.

A person who has some amount of influence with the people in their world but does nothing with it is a poor leader and a poor steward.  Another who has some amount of influence with the people in their world and uses it to promote chaos and disruption might be a great and effective leader, but their leadership won’t increase the Master’s profit.

What makes the difference between a good leader and a godly one? 

Good leadership simply requires us to make use of the capacity we’ve been given to influence others.  Godly leadership requires us to use it for a specific purpose.  Jesus himself left us with instructions about what this purpose was.  You know these instructions well:

“Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life…” (Matthew 28:19a, MSG)

The Great Commission makes it clear that God’s desire is for us to use our influence to train people in the way of Christ-likeness.  Godly leadership, then, means using our influence to spur others on towards being formed in the image of Christ.  Developing that kind of leadership requires us to make an intentional choice to use our influence to serve someone other than ourselves.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2: 3-4)

Godly leadership isn’t about native ability, raw potential, charisma, tenacity or drive.  It’s about intentionally using our influence to serve others.  Those who exhibit godly leadership seek to maintain an “others-focused” state of mind.  They consider the needs of others before the needs of self.  They are aware that their actions impact those around them, and they intentionally choose to see that impact as more important than their own interests.

The Apostle Paul articulated this concept beautifully in his exhortation to the church at Corinth: “I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life.” (I Cor. 9:22, MSG, emphasis added.)  Paul had influence among people, and he intentionally used it to serve them in order to spur them on towards Christ-likeness.

But outward actions alone do not define godly leadership.  We can force ourselves to act in a way that isn’t true to what we value or believe, but we know that God does not look at the outward appearance – he looks at the heart (see I Samuel 16:7.) 

Our actions flow from our hearts, our beliefs and values.  Godly leadership must therefore begin not with our outward actions, but with our inward attitudes.  As Paul goes on to say in Philippians 2: 

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
        did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
        taking the very nature of a servant…  (
vv 5-7)

God himself came to the earth to serve the ones that He created.  Motivated by love, His purpose for serving us was so that we might be restored to fellowship with Him.  We who seek to be formed in his image should do likewise.  Our attitude should be the same as his: others-focused. 

We must cultivate an others-focused value in ourselves if we want to develop godly leadership. 


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Week 3 reflection questions:

1.       Our definition this week equates godly leadership with using our influence to spur others on towards being formed in the image of Christ.  We can sum this up in the term disciple-making – the task Jesus commissioned us to.  Is this something that you currently have a passion for?
a.       If not, do you think it’s something you should be asking God to grow a passion for in you?

2.       What are some common ways that we tend to look out for our own interests at the expense of the interests of others?  In what situations do you find it more natural to serve yourself first?

3.       List some situations in which it’s easy to overlook the impact your actions can have on others.

4.       What steps do you need to take to cultivate an others-focus?  How can you ensure that this is more than just an outward action with no associated change in your heart?

This week’s definition:
GODLY LEADERSHIP = using our influence to spur others on towards being formed in the image of Christ. 

This week’s quote: 
We must cultivate an others-focused value in ourselves if we want to develop godly leadership. 

This week’s assignment: 
Continue your prayer focus about your attitude this week.  Ask God to develop your passion for serving others, and to cultivate an “others first” awareness in your heart.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Intentionality

NOTE:  This post is part of a blog training series on leadership development, originally authored for CTI Music Ministries.     Read the series introduction | view the whole series
“Intentionality makes the difference between mere influence and leadership. For our influence to become leadership, we must be intentional about whom we will use it to serve.”


You know that one of the two main focuses of our ministry is developing the Christian leadership and character of the people who participate in our programs. Note the careful wording: we’re developing it, not creating it. You already have it. God has given you opportunities for leadership through your specific capacity to shape your culture and the people around you. We want to help develop that leadership and character by identifying the influence you have, and by focusing on the choices you make about how you will use it.

If we define influence as our capacity to shape our culture and the people around us, then what we choose to use that influence for is of eternal consequence. It matters enormously! Personal leadership development is therefore a mater of stewardship, because it involves the management of a resource entrusted to us by God.

The development of Christian leadership and character begins with an active choice to look for and identify the opportunities we have for influence among those whose paths God has crossed with ours. Failing to look, and thereby choosing to remain ignorant of the resources we’ve been given, is poor stewardship.

But we have a second choice to make. Once we recognize that we have been given some capacity to shape our culture, we must choose what to do with that capacity. We must choose whether we will embrace those opportunities to serve God and others, or use them to serve ourselves. This, of course, is also a matter of stewardship.

You might recall that we discussed this concept on the very first day you were with us at your orientation picnic. That evening, we highlighted the fact that your effectiveness in leadership would be directly tied to how you answered the question of who you were going to serve. In the same way that the nation of Israel was admonished to “choose this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15), we told you that you that you would need to choose, in advance, what you wanted to do with your influence before you discovered that you had it, because the default choice would be to use it to serve yourself.

Intentionality makes the difference between mere influence and leadership. For our influence to become leadership, we must be intentional about whom we will use it to serve.

Leadership, stewardship and servanthood are inseparable. Develop one and you’ll develop the others.

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the story of three servants who had been entrusted with some property by their master. Two of them were intentional about what they did with that property, and so increased their master’s profit. The third was not intentional with what had been entrusted to him. He therefore did nothing to increase his master’s holdings.

Two things about this parable are especially significant to me: First, it was the servant who had been given the smallest amount of influence over his master’s fortune that was the least intentional in what he did with it. Perhaps he considered what he had been given to be insignificant. Or perhaps he didn’t think he was qualified to do anything significant with it, and so he neglected to develop the potential he had been given. Either way, it was his poor stewardship of this seemingly meager resource that drew his master’s ire. He was referred to as wicked, lazy and worthless.

The second thing that I find significant is how the master responded to the others: “'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'” (vv 21, 23.) It is almost as though the master was testing their worth with this small task in order to prepare them for a greater one.

We may never be given greater influence as long as we believe that the influence we have right now is insignificant. The Master wants us to be intentional with how we use what He has already given us.

God has given CTI influence among young musicians. Music is the common ground that brings us together, but the more important thing is what we do once we’re gathered. We have intentionally chosen to use that influence – the environment provided by this community that God has drawn together – as more than just a way to minister to others. We’ve chosen to see it as an opportunity to grow in, and grow each other in, the likeness of Christ.

And we’ve asked and equipped you to use the resulting influence that God has given you through this environment in a very specific way. Every time you seize the opportunity to encourage the church, challenge Christians to loving action, or share the hope of Christ, you are leading, because you are being intentional with your influence. You are being a good steward of opportunity. And I expect that the words “Well done, good and faithful servant!” are ringing through the heavens in response.

You are being faithful with a few things. Expect to be put in charge of many things.

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Week 2 reflection questions:

  1. Do you tend to view the amount of influence you have as insignificant? Does our discussion of the parable of the talents (Matt. 25) have any impact on your view?
  2. In what ways can you identify how leadership, stewardship and servanthood are inseparable?
  3. Have you made a conscious and specific choice to use every resource that God has given you to serve Him? Are you willing for Him to reveal to you ways in which you’re not doing that?
  4. What opportunities for influence are you currently using to serve yourself?

This week’s definition:
LEADERSHIP = influence + intentionality

This week’s quote:
Intentionality makes the difference between mere influence and leadership. For our influence to become leadership, we must be intentional about whom we will use it to serve.

This week’s assignment:
Last week we asked you to reflect on and identify areas where God has given you influence - some capacity to shape your culture and the people around you. This week we want you to reflect on what your default response is in those situations where you discover that you have influence:

  • Is it your natural tendency to use that influence to serve God and others?
  • or… if you’re honest, do you often engage in more self-serving behavior?

Make it a focus in prayer this week to ask God to intervene in those moments when your inclination is to serve yourself. Moving from an inward to an outward focus in this regard is a perpetual aspect of developing in Christian leadership and Character. (It’s also the focus of next week’s post.)