Christian Leadership

We met on May 14, 2013 with the pre-set expectation that we were to talk about Christian leadership in general but specifically leadership within the church.

Initial question to start the evening was around "what are the leadership qualities you think most important?"  We all agreed that the first thing was whether that person, serving in the Church, was a Christian or not.  We aren't talking about simply a professing Christian, but a true follower of Jesus.  We can't always know if a person is a true follower 100% but their fruits will bear witness and we must watch for these things.  A person that claims to be a Christian but acts otherwise and is in a leadership position in the church must not be tolerated and church discipline should be administered. 

The discussion focused on the ethical and moral aspects of that person, ie. character.  This was discussed in depth but we didn't probe any deeply hidden truths here, just open dialogue about the topic.

The most interesting twist, in my opinion, came when we started discussing the issue of how many men of the church have willingly relinquished the calling to be the leaders in the church.  Now, many reasons around this were discussed, such as the feminist movement of the 60's and 70's which changed this country dramatically, in the secular business world as well as in the church.  We are thankful for the women that have stepped up when they felt a gap and that they absolutely needed to, while simultaneously condemning the men that allowed this to happen by complacency, laziness and lack of following God's Word and clear direction. 

The politically correct environment, not to mention the post-modern culture we now find ourselves in seems to further neutralize the effect of true leadership by men as defined in Scripture.  You can see this in business meetings at the church as well as the committees in our churchs.  What I mean by that is this, business meetings should be a readout of what is going on, what has happened lately and discussion about any concerns.  In recent times these meetings often turn into everyone wanting their own way, complaining about how something is done and not relying on the leadership of those who have made the tough decisions.  This also coincides with anyone that is appointed to a committee or staff to make decisions and has accepted that mantle of leadership should be granted the ability to make those decisions without putting their decision up to a vote to approve of something they have already spent countless hours research and developing.  These people were put into position to be leaders......let them lead.

Being a leader boils down to a handful of things that are all interconnected for the Christian leader.  First of all is to truly be a Christian.  If that is true of a leader the rest of these should fall into place.
Be of the highest integrity and honest, mistakes will be made but how those are handled show the true character of a leader.
Understanding that a leader is to be a servant FIRST. 
Lead others in a way that make them want to follow you and fall under your leadership for guidance and direction, trusting your judgement for the greater good.
Per Claude---men want to follow other men.  That being said a tough guy that is cold and insensitive is not what is needed (or implied by Claude).  But a man that understands what he is to do, per God's standards, handles his family and their affairs correctly.  Is respected in the community and can handle criticism.  These are the characteristics of a Godly man.

The world's view of a man is to feminize him, humiliate him and ridicule him for trying to be someone that holds people accountable and responsible for their actions, that would be politically incorrect and judgemental by most secular standards.

Accountability and responsibility are critical elements of a leader in any walk of live, religious belief system, or military institution. 
A ship without a rudder goes in circles and so will anything else without the proper leadership and guidance.

Also a point of emphasis was the way that the church is acting (or not) as a leader in the community today.  If we call anything a sin, publicly, we are called intolerant, arrogant, judgemental and a score of other names.  So, a lot of congregations and professing Christians are going the opposite direction and actually acting like the world to try to encourage non-church goers to come to their church.  In essence turning it into a country club or "Six Flags Over Jesus" approach to "get them in no matter what" and then hoping they will accept Jesus once they see how cool we are or how we aren't much different than them.

Jesus NEVER told us to do this! He said that we are in this world but not of this world.  That we are to be separate to the world but reaching out to them in love.  A true leader realizes this and any church in the world with His name attached to it should understand that what lost people need is a Shepherd, someone to lead them out of the wickedness of this world.  You do not reach lost people with the true Gospel by allowing them to do the same things in the church that they do outside of the church. 

This is where TRUE leadership comes into play inside of the church.

Introduction to Iron Sharpeners

This will be the first post in the blog for a men's group that has been meeting for approximately a year.  Our goal is to discuss current issues within the church, the history of the church, seeking out and digging deep into the rich theological issues and doctrines of His church.  Over the course of the last year, meeting once a month, we have discussed in detail what a Christian man should look like, act like and how he should conduct himself.  We have also discussed a couple of the key doctrines of Scripture.  Defining those as the ones that we can disagree on and still worship together but more importantly those that we might disagree on and do not feel as if we can worship or call each others brothers in Christ.  We spent 4 months discussing the doctrine of election.

Going forward, and in the initial concept, these meetings aren't so much a Bible study as they are a study of ourselves, our God and Savior, and what we can do to make an impact for our families and for Him.