Musings on Spiritual Matters

As an Active Follower, the individual will have various characteristics and behavioral patterns, and as this person moves forward on the LeaderLoop, he will develop new characteristics that will make him an effective leader in a congregation.  No one will have all of these qualities one hundred percent.  People will be stronger in some areas than others.  A good leader will have some capabilities in all of these areas.

Consider the life and ministry of the Apostle Peter.  Peter’s leadership development is one that is interesting.  He has the gift to lead.  In Matthew 16, Jesus even provides the keys to the Kingdom to Peter.  Jesus saw Peter’s potential, but he was someone who truly needed to be mentored to have a positive effect in the church.  Even after Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus never gave up.  He returns to Peter to restore him to his God ordained role.  In John 21, Jesus asks Peter three similar questions concerning his love for him.  Each time Peter responds that he truly cares for Christ.  And each time, Jesus instructs Peter to “feed my sheep.”  In this command, Jesus is asking Peter to perform various leadership roles.  Peter is to be influential in the early church, which is seen in his letters he penned and his participation during the Jerusalem counsel in Acts 15.  This is after Peter was a visionary, even though somewhat hesitant to introduce the Gentiles to the gospel in Acts 10.  But like all leaders, Peter had weaknesses.  In Galatians 2, Paul has to confront Peter to his face because of his hypocrisy concerning eating with the Gentiles.  He was fellowshipping with them until some Jews entered the dining hall.  This caused Peter to compromise the ethics of the Gospel when he gave in to pressure to conform to the prejudices of the new attendees.  Peter was not a person of peace because he allowed the anxiety of others to dictate his actions.  Nevertheless, like all leaders, he still had a powerful impact for the kingdom of God during his lifetime even though checkered by mistakes and weaknesses.

Probably the best definition for leadership is “the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations.”[1]

Related posts:

1. Reflections On Leadership
2. Leadership from the Center
3. Styles of Leadership
4. Leadership Lessons to Live By
5. Review of “A Short History of Leadership Theory”

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This entry was posted by Matthew on Thursday, June 21st, 2012 at 10:49 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.