Friday, June 13, 2008
Humility and Leadership
Milt Stanley quotes a post by Chris Wignall on leadership. Wignall alludes to Jacob wrestling with the Lord and says:
But as the people of God's church we have a very different approach. GOD IS THE LEADER, the only leader. The person up front is merely the organizer. This means we are on a mutual journey. We are not being lead by someone who has been there before, we simply have someone whose skills our such that we must rely on their guidance as they journey with us.
The "limp" to which Wignall refers emphasizes that our guides have not completed the journey either. That they are mistake prone, and sinful people just as we are.
As long as we are talking Old testament imagery - think Moses. Moses took the Israelites on the greatest journey of their corporate life, but he was not allowed to reach the finish line. Worse, the nation knew he was not going to get their - it was set forth early in the journey. They knew their leader was FLAWED. They grumbled, complained, and generally did not always respect him as you might think worthy a man of Moses' stature. They felt free to do so, in part, because his flaws were known form the outset.
Are you guiding or leading? Are your flaws exposed for your group to see? Remember - IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU
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I’m nervous around leaders of any age who don’t have that limp; who never seem at a loss and always have complete confidence in their direction. They seem impenetrable, which is dangerous.I would say that Wignall, and I for that matter, are nervous around worldly leadership. The problem is that such leadership makes the leader the thing.
But as the people of God's church we have a very different approach. GOD IS THE LEADER, the only leader. The person up front is merely the organizer. This means we are on a mutual journey. We are not being lead by someone who has been there before, we simply have someone whose skills our such that we must rely on their guidance as they journey with us.
The "limp" to which Wignall refers emphasizes that our guides have not completed the journey either. That they are mistake prone, and sinful people just as we are.
As long as we are talking Old testament imagery - think Moses. Moses took the Israelites on the greatest journey of their corporate life, but he was not allowed to reach the finish line. Worse, the nation knew he was not going to get their - it was set forth early in the journey. They knew their leader was FLAWED. They grumbled, complained, and generally did not always respect him as you might think worthy a man of Moses' stature. They felt free to do so, in part, because his flaws were known form the outset.
Are you guiding or leading? Are your flaws exposed for your group to see? Remember - IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU
Technorati Tags:leadership, church, humility, flaws
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