Leaders Act!
Healthy Leaders | Issue 41
Welcome to Issue 41 of Healthy Leaders. In this issue, the time to act is now.
Hello friends,
Welcome back to our ongoing conversation on healthy Christian leadership and leader development.1
In our last issue, we talked about the leader’s need to do more than just think the proper things. As leaders, we must act.
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. (Calvin Coolidge)
The healthy Christian leader will strive to grow, to solve, to build, to overcome — always pushing, pressing on, moving forward to fulfill God’s highest purposes.
And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father … (Colossians 1:10-12)
This is an inward growth orientation, a decision to move forward, a choice to act with purpose expecting growth, ultimate victory and fruitfulness. This comes directly from looking at God, and it’s exactly the orientation of Caleb and Joshua in taking the Promised Land (Joshua 14:12, Numbers 13:30), or the apostles throughout Acts. They believed God for what could be, and moved forward in full confidence.
It’s natural for leaders to fall prey to laziness, discouragement, or exhaustion — especially when we are trying to push people forward out of pride, fear, duty, or just our own strength mixed with any shreds of passion we can muster up.
But we do not live natural lives in Christ. In Him, we have new life! And our new life in Him means we pursue His highest purposes for us and those we lead. In Him, we can act!
The natural consequence of acting, of course, is change. This is the definition of the healthy Christian leader, after all — to move the people from one place to another, better place within the purposes of God.
A leader starts with where the people are now and he challenges the status quo with a new vision of possibility. He shows the people where they could go, establishes the new direction, and aligns the people with it. Then he empowers, motivates, and inspires the people to go in that direction.
But none of this can happen until we experience change ourselves, as one of our East Asian leaders concluded after a Building Healthy Churches training:
“The concept of healthy church overturned my inherent thinking about the church. In the past I have been disappointed with my co-workers and full of pessimism. I felt hopeless. Through this training I understood God’s perspective on His Church, and it brings me hope. I started to see my co-workers in a positive way and build their life through the 4Ds. Now I often affirm and encourage them. I have been changed from ministry work-oriented to people-oriented, and my goal of building people has become clearer. Right now in our church, people are beginning to understand each other, accept each other, and judge less. Everybody takes action and functions, and people have become more generous toward each other.”
Like everything else in Christian leadership, it has to start with you. Your team, your organization, your church — all of these circles of leadership are rooted in your action as a leader, which is rooted in your fellowship with Christ.
As another leader put simply:
“I can’t lead others to move if I don’t move as a leader. So I can’t stay in the comfort zone and satisfy the status quo any more; I need to be willing to take risks, face the pressure, and embrace the challenge with boldness.”
Change is hard. But change is essential if we are to pursue God’s highest for ourselves and for His people!
And change has to start with a leader who acts.
What about you?
If you’ve been a leader for any length of time, you’ve probably encountered resistance to change from your followers or even fellow leaders. This resistance comes about for a variety of reasons:
A lack of trust
The perception that change is not necessary
The perception that change is not possible
Economic threats
Relatively high costs
Fear of personal failure
Loss of status or power
Threats to values and ideals
Resentment of interference
Resistance to change is not necessarily the simple result of ignorance, inflexibility, weakness of character, or rebellion. It can be the normal defensive response of people who want to protect what they know and possess, as well as their own sense of purpose.
For this reason, you must listen to your people. Inviting them to share their perspectives reveals ways in which the change effort should be modified and improved. Instead of beating down resistance, harness it. Opponents who know you are willing to listen to their feedback and adjust accordingly often convert to supporters.
One of the leader’s primary instruments of change is prayer, that God will open the hearts of the people to embrace His purposes. Your people are not the enemy — Satan is the enemy (Ephesians 6:10-12).
Just as it takes miles to turn a large ship at sea, it often takes years to implement significant change. Dramatic moments of “revolutionary” transformation are only a small part of it.
If you want to see true change in your life and in the lives of those you serve, you must not only act today, but also tomorrow, and the next day, and continually.
You must be committed to the long haul. God certainly is!
“… being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)
Until next time, we’re with you!
— Chris
Recommended Resources
Article: Jesus Is the True Fountainhead of All True Christian Leadership
Book: Understanding Change by Malcolm Webber
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!
Interesting!
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Very insightful