Finishing Well in Leadership

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finishing well in leadership

“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:23)

Every leader would want to hear this commendation from the Lord at the end of their time here on earth. Every leader wants to finish well.

But in Dr. J. Robert Clinton’s research on biblical leaders, historical leaders, and contemporary leaders, he concluded that few leaders finish well. About one in every three leaders finishes well. We can observe this in the Bible; even today, many Christian leaders fall from grace and do not finish well.

We know very well why many Christian leaders do not finish well. I John 2: 16 tells us that the lust of the flesh (illicit sex), the lust of the eyes (abuse of money) and the pride of life (power & pride) are the common causes of the downfall of leaders. However, in Dr. Clinton’s study, he outlined six characteristics of effective leaders who finish well, lessons we can all learn from.

Six Characteristics of Leaders who finished well[1]

  1. Leaders who finished well maintained a vibrant personal relationship with God right up to the end.
    Daniel in the Old Testament and Peter, John and Paul in the New Testament demonstrated this in the tone of their writings. They all demonstrated the touch of God, the revelation from God and their trust in the enabling grace of God in their lives that made them finish well.
  1. Leaders who finished well maintained a learning posture and can learn from various sources – life especially.
    They continued to study and learn from the Scriptures and were life-long learners. Futurist Alvin Toffler once said, “The illiterates of the future are not those who can’t read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
  1. Leaders who finished well manifest Christlikeness in character as evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.
    In the New Testament, for example, we note the evidence of character transformation in the life of the Apostle Paul. Over his lifetime, Paul moved from a strong personality with roughness in his leadership style to a strong personality with gentleness.
  1. Leaders who finished well lived out the truth in their lives so that convictions and promises of God are seen to be real.
    Joshua’s statement about God’s promises having never failed him in his closing speech demonstrates this characteristic of someone believing God and staking his life on God’s truth. (Joshua 23.14).
  1. Leaders who finished well left behind one or more ultimate contributions.
    Effective leaders left behind lasting legacies.
  1. Leaders who finished well walked with a growing awareness of a sense of destiny and see some or all of it fulfilled.
    Over a lifetime, a leader is prepared by God for a destiny, receives guidance toward that destiny, and increasingly completes that destiny. No biblical leader who accomplished much for God failed to have a sense of destiny, one that usually grew over his lifetime.

These are some of the characteristics of leaders who finish well. Finishing well in leadership involves intentionality in the leader’s life. It just does not happen by chance. Above all, God is also the One who develops the leader over his lifetime. Leadership evolves and emerges over a lifetime. Leadership is a lifetime of God’s lessons. This is why Dr. Robert J. Clinton defines leadership as a process rather than a formal position:

Leadership is a dynamic process in which a man or woman of God with God-given capacity influences a specific group of God’s people toward His purposes for the group.[2]

Do you want to finish well as a leader? We can learn from these characteristics. The Apostle Paul warns us in I Corinthians 10:12 – “Therefore let the one who thinks he stands, watch out that he does not fall.” This is a piece of sound advice for us all.

Ike Agawin
ServeBeyond Director

[1] Clinton, Robert J. The Making of a Leader: Recognizing the Lessons and Stages of Leadership Development, 2nd ed. (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2012). p. 204-207
[2] Ibid, p. 10.

Leadership’s Battle with the Binary…

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leaderships battle with the binary

This or that. In or out. Up or down. Left or right. Black or white. Our world is filled with binary choices where options are often reduced to right versus wrong. While there is a need for binary presentation and responses to some absolute truths, I want to suggest that, as leaders, we default to binary thinking more than we should, and this is to the detriment of the people and organizations we lead.

We are in a ministry season of rebirth, reforming, restarting, and rebuilding.  And while our ministries need strong leadership in these uncertain times, I believe that as leaders this is also an important time for us to re-examine how we lead.  Older patterns of leadership may not have the same efficacy in this new era. And one of many areas I believe leadership needs to carefully consider is the place of the “binary” in processing, decision making and communication.

I must begin by affirming again that there are areas of theology where a definitive stand is necessary.  But scripture is less (or more) than black and white in many areas of theology and most areas of methodology.  As leaders we cannot compromise the essentials of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  But it is imperative that we do not make absolute what is not.  In so doing we model a dangerous pattern for those we lead, who will then also codify and absolutize things that do not belong in the “essential” file folder.  This can lead to conflict and chaos in our ministries. In fact, much of the division in churches comes not from the essentials but how we hold and navigate the non-essentials.  As leaders we must practise and communicate being biblically discerning in this battle with the binary.

Langer and Muehlhof, in their extremely helpful book Winsome Conviction, make the argument that we have lost the ability to nurture, value, and live with, a middle ground where options can be respected, discussed, even encouraged.  Our culture is instead polarized and argumentative. Leaders who lead with that binary polarized posture are not leading well.  As we communicate with people, as we respond to people, as we think about people, we must be careful about a hardfisted binary approach where everything is right or wrong, and we are arbiters of those parameters.

Leaders, as you work hard to reignite, reshape, and rebirth ministries, I implore you to be very careful where you draw hard lines.  Certainly, our world needs now, more than ever, leaders who will hold the appropriate hard lines, but even then we must hold them firmly but with a soft tone.  But, most issues are not hard line/soft tone issues, they are soft line/soft tone issues.

A soft line/soft tone means we seldom say “never” or “always” in our ministries. We start, or restart, events and ministry with words like: “We will try this.”  “We will do it this way for now.”  “We will continue to listen.” “We will consider options.”

As leaders it is important that we set the tone and show and practise drawing hard lines in the right places and drawing soft lines elsewhere.

Our world is divided and polarized and argumentative. The battle of the binary (in or out) feeds the antagonism of our culture. But not all who disagree are enemies and other models and options are not necessarily wrong.

Our culture does not need a mirror of itself in Christian Leadership. It needs an inspiring model that is grounded and equipped by the gracious gospel of Jesus Christ, but leads with a humility and generosity that is different than what we often see.  Our ministries need leaders who can discern the essentials and absolutes, but are willing and able to resist the temptation to put everything in the either/or world and instead wrestle with the messiness that comes with courageous leadership.

Terry Kaufman
EFCC Leadership Catalyst

Leading into Unity

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leading into unity

I can remember the moment as clearly today as if I was still standing there. I had just left a board meeting that had not gone well. Being new to this pastoral role, I was about to call my dad and mentor (I am a pastor’s kid). As I walked home to get on the phone, I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks with a sobering realization! If I handled this the way my father would have I would end up with a church in conflict. There was another way that would more likely lead to harmony. My world shifted as I realized I was not going to ask him for advice this time.

The internal struggle of a pastor in a congregational church setting is often between what he thinks is the right decision and what the congregation or lay leaders think. That simple sounding three letter word, “lay”, is where I realized my problem resided. By thinking of myself as being different from, and therefore above the “lay” people, I could justify my pride in thinking I know what God wants of the church and the board members or congregation do not.

Leadership in a congregational church is predicated on the conviction of the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:5). This conviction is illustrated when “…the apostles and elders together with the whole church…” (Acts 15:22) indicated that, “…it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” (Acts 15:28) what the decision should be. This account reveals two principles of community decision making that have been my guide ever since that day on my walk home from the meeting.

  1. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit – The point of the discussion was not to win the argument but to determine the direction of the Holy Spirit. God’s will seems to have gradually become evident to all as all spoke and were heard.
  2. It seemed good to all of us – In Acts distinctions are made between different roles in the church (apostles, elders, the whole church), but when the decision is written down these distinctions are absent (Acts 15:24-29). I take this to mean that everyone’s input was given equal weight.

… it is impossible to reflect the image of God if there is no unity in the church.

It would be easy to consider this a matter of leadership style or personality except for the fact that it is impossible to reflect the image of God if there is no unity in the church. Jesus said “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them, and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.” (John 17:22-23). What is more important, that I get my way in some decision that will be forgotten a few years from now or that the congregation I lead demonstrates the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? I know how I answer this question. I aim to lead in such a way that the unity of the church takes precedent over my agenda.

Marvin Penner
EFCC Alberta Parkland District Superintendent

The Centering Act of a Leadower

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centering act of a leadower

If you Google “the first rule of leadership,” you will find lines like, “Mission above ego,” “Everything is your fault” (ouch), “It’s not about you,” or “Lead yourself before others.” When it comes to Christian leadership what if it was, “A Leader must also be a follower.” That ties our last blog theme of discipleship, with this new season of blogs on leadership.

If leaders are also followers, does that make us leadowers? (that’s probably a better fusion of words than folders, ha-ha). As followers of Jesus, who lead other followers of Jesus – leadowers, I wonder if a shift in how we view the church is helpful.

Typically we have thought about the church as a bounded set. A bounded set has a clear boundary line. We know what or who is inside the line, and what or who is outside the line. Just like there are words inside this box and other words outside it. The church as a bounded set has merit – those who are in Christ Jesus are inside the line. That’s very important! But thinking about the church only as a bounded set has some problems. Could it lead to an “us and them” mentality? Is simply being inside enough? As leaders, how do we help people progress if getting in is the goal?

What if the church was more than just a bounded set, what if we also thought of her as a centered set. A centered set is focused on moving towards a middle bullseye. In the church’s case, that center bullseye is Jesus. The goal of discipleship is Christlikeness. Just getting in isn’t the goal. Getting to the center is. Christian leadership is the act of following Jesus as you lead others deeper into following Jesus. I suspect many of us have always thought like this to some degree. But I think digging deeper into the metaphor could be helpful.

Could it broaden our understanding of who we lead and how we lead?

I’m convinced thinking like this can reshape our leadership. All kinds of people, both “inside” and “outside” of the bounded set are moving toward Jesus in a variety of ways. It is our privilege and responsibility to walk with some of them. Sadly, there are sometimes people we consider “inside”, even at some point close to the center, who have acted in ways which move them away from Jesus. We are called to walk with some of them as well. This fuses evangelism and discipleship into one continuous journey. It’s both the journey of those we are called to be with, and our journey as well.

I said “walk with” in the last paragraph because our leadership style shifts if we are on the same journey. Instead of leading from a place of arrival, a place where we have all the answers; what if we led from a place with questions? What if our journey was marked by curiosity and searching? What if we followed the example of a question asking Jesus as we lead? You might call it Spiritual Direction or Coaching, but it is simply the art of asking questions that help others dig deeper into Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is the transformative power in our lives. He is the one who ultimately moves us closer to the bullseye. Questions create space. Space to be in the presence of God. Space to know Jesus more. Space to be open to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, both in our lives and in the lives of those we lead.

As I end this blog, here are a few great leadower questions:

  1. Where do I (you) see God at work right now? How can I (you) join him?
  2. What is the one thing God is inviting me (you) into today? Or asking me (you) to obey?
  3. What is the thing I (you) could do now to create space for God to move me (you) closer to Jesus?
  4. How does this decision/activity draw me (you) closer to Jesus, or push me (you) away from him?

Neil Bassingthwaighte
ServeCanada Director & Interim Prayer Catalyst