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Peter Drucker, “the father of modern management thinking,” explained, “The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers.”
Some would list the following as the top characteristics of a leader: charisma, forcefulness of authority or even physical height! When Tom Peters and Robert Waterman published their book,In Search of Excellence in 1982, they wrote, “surprisingly … only a few brave business writers have taken the plunge and written about values.”
This changed drastically especially after the fall of the Enron corporation in 2000. We have seen many leaders in business, government, sports and religion fall because of their lapse in values.
In Leading the Congregation Norman Shawchuck and Roger Heuser report that McCormick Theological Seminary conducted a large nationwide study exploring the role expectations of the pastor in congregations of all sizes in several denominations. Out of 21 ministry roles, the top characteristic was personal integrity. (p.116)
Professor Aubrey Malphurs in Values-Driven Leadership points out that leaders have increased followership when they have credibility in three areas. The first could be described as competence credibility. In Matthew 25:21 Jesus’ parable proclaims that a person who has been faithful in small tasks will then be trustworthy when given even larger tasks.
The second element is content credibility. Does the content of a leader’s message match the values of the organization, clientele or the followers?
The third is character credibility. In Matthew 7:17-20, Jesus gives the example of trees bearing good fruit or bad fruit. First Timothy 3 and Titus 1:6-9 list character qualities for church leaders.
Professor Gary L. McIntosh has consulted with congregations in over 90 denominations or associations. In his book There’s Hope for Your Church he observes that often a fog surrounds the leaders of an organization. It keeps them from seeing or admitting their true condition. In a 2014 seminar for the West Virginia Baptist Convention McIntosh elaborated that there is a fog of fatigue where we lose perspective.
A second fog is frustration in which we lose patience. The fog of fear causes leaders to lose heart.
McIntosh reports that one of the ways to de-fog is through an initiative of prayer. A study in the magazine Your Church in September 2006 revealed that deeper prayer was a key factor in 75 percent of re-vitalized congregations.
It is fairly common for leaders in both secular and sacred organizations to drift into the “only-I-can-do-it, Lone-Ranger” syndrome. Kenneth O. Gangle writing in the journal Studies in Formative Spirituality (February 1982) terms this a “dehumanizing fog of selfishness.”
St. Paul uses the Greek word prohistemi eight times to interpret leadership as linked with gifts of giving and mercy. The early Christians found themselves able to empty themselves of self-centeredness, but not just by following the model of Jesus emptying (kenosis) himself (Philippians 2:7).
In the same journal issue Father George A. Maloney, Russian Byzantine Rite priest and professor at Fordham University, reminds us that it was the power of God working in Jesus’ followers to the effect of immeasurably more than what they could do by their own powers.
Writing the foreword for Your Church Can Be Healthy by C. Peter Wagner, church consultant Lyle E. Schaller declares, “Two of the most important characteristics of creative leadership are the foresight to anticipate what tomorrow may bring and the ability to distinguish between symptoms and problems.” Many leaders do not have the gift of curiosity to search for the nature of a basic illness.
Schaller lists a third aspect as the ability to name the problem. One of the most frightening scenes in America’s memory was in 1976 when an alarming number of men at a convention in Philadelphia suddenly became sick with no determined cause. For weeks, the story of this mystery led the news with the eventual deaths of two dozen. Fears were finally calmed when the U.S. Center for Disease Control put a name to this epidemic—Legionnaire’s Disease.
The fourth characteristic Schaller lists is the ability to take corrective action after a problem has been identified and named.
George G. Hunter III in Leading and Managing a Growing Church reports that compared to congregations which set no numerical growth goals, “The churches whose leaders did set growth goals, however, were much more likely to have experienced significant church growth” (p.67). These goals should not be the vague wish: “We want 100 new members.” Instead, the measurable goal would be: “We will seek to reach 100 new members by each member inviting and assimilating one new member this year.”
In a seminar at the East Ohio United Methodist Conference Leander Keck, former dean of the Yale Divinity School, admonished church leaders: “Spend your life offering the Gospel to the world, because it is the only thing we have to offer the world that it doesn’t already have.”
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 | Jim Farrer is the founder of Vital Signs Church Consulting and a member of the Society for Church Consulting. A broadly-trained church consultant, Jim is also a veteran of ministry positions in Canada and the U.S., he has trained leaders from 18 denominations and led seminars and coaching sessions nationwide. His articles have been published in the Journal of Evangelism and Missions and the Great Commission Research Journal. You can reach him by e-mailing revup1@yahoo.com or calling 814 629-5211. Learn More » |
Have you ever felt the pull to full-time ministry work as a missionary or pastor? If not, you can still make a Kingdom impact without quitting your current job. In this eBook, you will learn the four essentials that can change your perspective of work, your workplace, and most importantly, your heart.
 | Kris Eldridge lives in Louisville, Kentucky and is the Local Outreach Pastor at Northeast Christian … |
Ryan Sanders serves as the Director of Content for BiblicalLeadership.com. | |
 | Phillip A. Foster, Ph.D., as a psychologist and Director of AuthenticQuest.org, provides spiritual direction, counseling, … |
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