I know my leadership style. I’m a big-picture, vision-casting leader. The details, frankly, don’t hold much appeal to me. In itself, my leadership style wouldn’t accomplish much. But surrounded by staff and volunteer teams whose gifts complement mine, I’ve watched God achieve many milestones through Saddleback Church. He is, after all, both the giver of vision and the giver of those who can handle the details that breathe life into vision.
Now, there’s nothing inherently right nor inherently wrong about being a vision-casting leader. It’s simply the way God wired me. He may have wired you differently. The key is for each of us to recognize his or her personal style, up front. Then we can recruit a team with gifts that will enhance and supplement our style.
This is important because God set up the church like a body – with many gifts, and many parts. Each part is necessary for the overall health of the body. It’s as if God is
saying, “Get the message! Help each other!” There’s no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. We’re together in this. We’re a team. There’s tremendous power in cooperation. We do our best work when instead of jockeying for position or trying to build a base of power, we work together – building on each other’s strengths and shoring up each other’s weaknesses.
Must a pastor lead?
Paul told the Ephesians that God “gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers.” He was clear about God’s purpose for establishing these leadership roles in the church: “To prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the Body of Christ may be built up.” (Eph. 4:11-12) By definition, then, the pastor is a leader. And as a pastor, I’d be wise not to shirk my responsibility to lead people to prepare for God’s Kingdom service.
I think, too, of Jesus’ charge to Peter after the resurrection: “Peter, do you love me? … Then feed my sheep.” As pastors, we show our love for Christ by our love and care for his people. We feed, we nurture, and we lead. In this way we love Christ.
This makes moot the question, "Must a pastor lead?" When love gets introduced into the picture, we cease to feel coerced into leadership. Rather, in whatever way we are best gifted to do so, we lead willingly. We lead with grace. We lead with honesty and integrity, putting others’ needs ahead of our own.
This brand of leadership is far from a controlling or bossy style. It is more of a guide, one who isn’t afraid to live as the example of what he preaches. It’s a tall order. But also a worthy one.
Can leadership be learned?
Sometimes this seems a taller order than we feel equipped to accomplish. We may know our gifts are clustered in the areas of preaching and teaching, not administration. Yet our role as church leader seems to call us to administrative tasks.
The good news is that while we may never achieve excellence in administration, we can learn to become effective. Management guru Peter Drucker explains in The Effective Executive,
“Effective executives … differ as widely as physicians, high-school teachers, or violinists. … What all these executives have in common is the practices that make effective whatever they have and whatever they are.” He says the word practice indicates these successful habits can be learned if repeated over and over, just as a violinist repeats her scales. Continue >>
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