Character and personal growth

Here we grow in integrity, authenticity, and fidelity.  It is taking time to nurture the fruit of the Spirit in us.  It is spending time with God so that we grow more Christ-like in our very being. 

Neglecting this takes us away from how we should be leading and how we should be behaving.  Basically it is going deeper into God.  It is abiding in Christ as he commanded in John 15.  We do this in many ways, but however we do it we must act strategically and plan for it or it won’t happen.  Leaders get very busy about a multitude of things and often they are so pragmatic that they forget the self-leadership priorities.

A key for a Christian leader is reading the Bible offensively and not merely using it as a tool of our profession.  Many preachers admit that the only real time they read scripture is in preparing to preach or lead a Bible study.  This is defensive Bible reading.  Then they grow weary and suffer exhaustion because they have not used the Word to feed their spirit. 

For the last five years I have read the bible on a daily basis, reading about four chapters a day and spending time writing down the revelations God gives to me.  This has brought enormous strength and refreshment.  It also means that when I preach I can provide fresh bread for the people.  Moreover, I listen more to what God is asking of me rather than treating prayer as primarily my requests of God.

Someone said, “The inner life is my life’s work - all else issues as fruit.”  Knowing who we are, having security in Christ, and the ability to set aside our own agenda while not having to prove ourselves makes for excellent leadership.

Skill development

Leaders are lifetime learners.  We don’t learn leadership in a day but we learn it day by day.  A leader is continually learning through a myriad of means.  I like to read and find enormous help from both secular and Christian books and journals on leadership.  Attending at least one major leadership conference annually is mandatory, to learn and for inspiration.

In addition a leader takes time to reflect on their leadership actions.  Remember that we don’t learn from experience but from active, careful and attentive reflection on the experience.  We need to keep abreast of new understandings so we can lead change and help our organisation step into a new and vibrant future.  This is necessary because we live with so much change that we have to realise that what got us to where we are is not going to get us to where we need to go next.

Relational strength

Two of the most helpful inventories I have done in recent years are the Clifton StrengthFinder and Leading From Your Strengths.  Both are available online.  Not only do these indicate what your strengths are but they also point to how you relate to others and how others might best relate to you.  This is crucial in building teams and leading others.  Emotional intelligence makes a huge difference in leadership.  Without it a leader will achieve little.  So give attention to listening, encouraging, recognising others, building into others, empowering others and releasing others to lead.

These three areas might take up 50% of what a true leader does.  But if we get this right our leadership influence will grow exponentially.  Self-leadership is top on the agenda of the leader who makes a real difference and who will finish well.

Dean Brookes

3Dnet Mission Network Leader

Leadership Development Council Executive Chair

Uniting Churches in South Australia