I was pondering, on the drive back from cell this evening, about how a good leader in any field has the properties of all five-fold “office” ministry gifts. Here’s a quick summary, I’ll expand when it’s not 30 minutes after I should be sleeping:
- Pastoral – easy, a leader cares for the people he’s leading. A more modern and forceful take on this is that a pastor takes an interest in the individuals – even if it requires scolding, fighting or pushing people (gently, mind!) past what they think they can achieve.
- Teaching – leaders need to both teach and learn – learn new ways of doing things from those they lead, and teach the existing methods. Leaders who are incompetent in the field they lead rapidly gain a reputation as such, and their reputation wanes, resulting in less effective leadership.
- Evangelism – a good leader doesn’t find a crowd heading in a direction and gets in front of it. A good leader has a vision, drive and a plan. With these, and a bit of boldness, a leader can recruit those who share the vision. A leader who can’t recruit is typically a leader who isn’t forceful or driven enough.
- Apostolic – leadership is a universal trait. A good leader in one field can often be transplanted from one scenario and/or field into another. Leadership which is dependant on scenario often smacks of stagnation and a lack of dynamism – no leadership is going on, you just have a great team who ignore you.
- Prophetic – speaking what is instead of what we perceive is a terribly difficult task for most, but it is essential for any form of leadership. When a team is failing (in their own eyes) and a leader can say with authority and authenticity that this is a short-term problem or something they’ve survived before, the leader is operating in prophecy. Lying and exaggerating destroys the trust this is based on, but so is speaking negatively over the scenario. Work out how to speak relevant truth, and if it can’t be uplifting, then let it encourage towards solving the problem.
*Yawn*. Off to bed, but I’m glad I’ve got this thought down :)
