Healthy Leaders | Issue 34
Establish, align, motivate.
Welcome to Issue 34 of Healthy Leaders. In this issue: the three essential parts of leadership.
Hello friends,
Welcome back to our ongoing conversation1 on healthy Christian leadership and leader development.
Today we’re aiming to understand the three parts of leadership:
Establishing the direction
Aligning the people to that direction
Motivating and inspiring the people to move in that direction.
These three parts revolve around the vision of the leader.
Here’s Malcolm with more:
We see the three parts of leadership throughout the Bible.
For instance, we see it in the Great Commission:
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
Jesus established the direction here, sharing a clear and compelling vision with his disciples:
Make disciples of all nations
Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you
Jesus had already aligned His followers in that direction through His teaching (“everything I have commanded you”). Now He aligns them in the specific direction He wanted them to go and essentially said, “Get going!”
And finally, He motivated and inspired them to keep moving and fulfill the vision.
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Nehemiah (a mighty leader in the Old Testament) offers us another example of the three parts of leadership.
First, Nehemiah saw the vision. As he was serving King Artaxerxes as cupbearer, Nehemiah heard that the walls of the city of Jerusalem had been broken down and its gates had been burned (Neh. 1:3). Going before the Lord, Nehemiah wept and interceded for his people (1:4-11), and God gave him a vision to return to Judah and rebuild Jerusalem (2:5).
Now that Nehemiah had the vision, he began aligning the people with it. The first person who needed to own the vision was King Artaxerxes. As Nehemiah came before the king, he stated his case clearly and passionately. “If it pleases the king,” he pleaded, “and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it” (2:5). The king granted Nehemiah’s requests, sent letters of recommendation to the governors of the area, and gave him timber from the king’s forest as well as soldiers (2:7-9). King Artaxerxes had caught the vision! Once Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he went before the people and shared his vision, explaining the damage to the city and the plan for rebuilding it (2:17-18). When the people heard him, they embraced the vision and began to work (2:18). The plan was in motion!
Then Nehemiah kept the people moving toward fulfilling the vision. Each family was given a portion to repair and soon the wall was “half its height, for the people worked with all their heart” (4:6). There were some who sought to attack and destroy the city, but Nehemiah, not deterred, encouraged the people to continue laboring, half of them building and half of them bearing arms (4:15-18, 20; cf. 2:20). Despite setbacks and conspiracies against Nehemiah, he did not give up. They “continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out” (4:21). Nehemiah’s leadership was effective. After only fifty-two days of work, the wall was completed (6:15) and God was glorified (6:16)!2
What about you?
Think about your life and/or ministry right now. Who are you leading? Where are you leading them to? How can you do it better?
We’d love to hear your insights in the comments.
Until next time, we’re with you!
— Chris
Recommended Resources
Book: Leading
For more resources, visit our website.
Thanks to our friends at Fifty-Four Collective for putting together a comprehensive set of video courses for growing healthy organizations, starting with this series of courses on leadership by Malcolm. We’ll be using some of their videos and some of our own. Be sure to check out what they’re doing!