Musings on Spiritual Matters

Robert Clinton notes that the ability to initiate structure is one of the classic signs of leadership ability.[1]  This talent separates an active follower from a leader.  A member in the congregation can support a ministry, but the leader can create a structure to conduct a ministry.  This takes a vast amount of commitment.  On the LeaderLoop, the strategy increases significantly for those who create structure in the church.  A true leader has to match people with various tasks. He or she must recruit others to accomplish goals with the work.  This aspect of leadership is mobilizing members to contribute to a ministry.

In much of the literature on leadership, this quality of initiating structure is missing.  This aspect is also missing from congregational assessments of people for leadership.  But it is at the core of a leader.  Paul left Titus in Crete to create order.  “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you” (Titus 1:5). Also, the Apostles initiated structure in Acts 6 concerning the Greek widows not receiving the same benefits as the Hebrew widows.  Acts 6:3 states “Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.”  Those individuals who can assess a situation and create active steps toward solving the problem are best able to handle leadership in a congregation.

Related posts:

1. A Person of Vision
2. A Person of Influence
3. Review of “Building Leaders”
4. Will The Leader Stand UP
5. Review of “Leading the Congregation”

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This entry was posted by Matthew on Wednesday, May 30th, 2012 at 10:16 am and is filed under Church News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.