It occurs to me that I ought to say something further about leading at SMC and especially where I am coming from... my leadership emphasis.
I prioritise faith-based leadership - confident that I/we can hear and see the Lord and therefore will be led out by him. Jesus said 'as the Father has sent me so I send you' - we are an apostolic people and supposed to lead apostolically as those who are sent.
I seek to use Lifeshapes (see http://www.3dministries.com/ & http://www.missionorder.org/) especially the Circle and the Square to help me to lead. The Circle helps me to live a life of constant learning - repent and believe. The Square helps me to see different leadership styles that I need to function in a different times. I make many mistakes and have my share of failures yet tools like 'Lifeshapes' are crucial to keeping me in an apostolic frame of mind.
Mike Breen talks about the need to be 'a shepherd from in front and a sheep from behind' - in other words I need at the same time a leader and led, a shepherd and a sheep.
2 comments:
I find that comment about being both a shepherd and a sheep interesting and challenging. Interesting because at their extreme, both roles seem to be irreconcilable; a challenge because I would prefer to be either one or the other, depending on context and where I see myself in certain situations. This is certainly worth musing on! Am I a shepherd when leading others, and a sheep when following Jesus? This distinctive division is easier to live with, for me, at least, though I think a more integrated approach is what you are hinting at. Now there's the rub!
The thing is that Jesus seemed to be able to be both shepherd and sheep - he did what he saw the Father doing - so he was led... but in doing so he was the lesder of others. An integrated apporach is necessary here - we probably need to cultivate an approach that assumes we are always leading others - always shepherds. We are always therefore in need of being led by God - a sheep, because 'apart from me you can do nothing'.
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