I listened to a pretty good sermon in church today about leadership and felt a need to share it.
Before I do let me thank Colin our pastor for sharing this with us today. I love to listen to him preach everytime and always feel reinvigorated and refreshed for many days after.
Let us begin with the scriptures.
Romans 12, 6-8
We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
So if your gift is leading, then lead very well.
I have always said that leadership is NOT a title. It is a RESPONSIBILITY.
Many people who are called leaders are NOT leaders they are only BOSSES.
Let me explain the difference: A boss is very good at dishing out instructions and controlling things. We can even say he has excellent organisation skills. So he is a good even great show runner.
A leader is someone who SERVES others (note that I did not say his followers).
The best leader is the best servant. Leadership is about serving others or if you like, looking out for others.
You do not have to be perfect to be a leader but you must be ready to subject yourself to the HIGHEST LEVELS OF SCRUTINY.
It means that you must subject yourself to questions and queries and must be as transparent and honest as possible.
Your followers don’t often expect you to be perfect either (as demonstrated in so many examples of leaders who have stumbled but still enjoy the respect and support of their followers), what they want from you is mostly your honesty and openness.
As a leader you must enjoy the trust of your followers. The funny thing is that they usually willingly give it right from the start. So oftentimes, leaders don’t even have to earn that trust. They however must do all they can to keep it.
A leaders first question every morning should be: “how many people can I lift up today?”
Lift up spiritually, emotionally and even physically.
But I must say that leadership is also a very unpopular job. If in doubt ask Theresa May or any other global leader, spiritual or political.
Leadership is like volunteering to be unpopular because as a leader you will have to make some really tough decisions, some people will scratch at you and try to bring you down. Others will wage wars against you and try to upstage you and take your place.
Let me point out that leadership can be natural or it can also nurtured. Although I believe quite UNAPOLOGETICALLY that great leaders are born and not made.
Not everyone is born to lead and not everyone can be a leader, but people can be nurtured and groomed successfully to lead. These are the less natural and often rehearsed as we have in many of our political parties globally.
It is my hope and prayer that the real LEADERS amongst us will rise and begin to take their rightful place in our institutions and our world.
I wish you all a pleasant Sunday and thank you for reading this.
