GOING FORWARD

Natural VS Spiritual


Self- Confident -Confident in God


Knows men -Also knows God


Makes own decisions - Seeks to find God's will

Ambitious - Self-effacing


Originates own materials - Finds and follows God's methods
Enjoys commanding others - Delights to obey God

Motivated by personal considerations - Motivated by love for God and man
Independent - God dependent



Are leaders born or made? Both. Each of us from birth possesses skills that either qualify or disqualify us for certain tasks. Those skills often lie dormant until some crisis calls forth their exercise. Leadership skills can be cultivated and developed. Some appear to attain leadership purely by reason of a series of fortuitous (accidental, chance) circumstances. They happened to be available at the crucial moment and no one better qualified was on the horizon. The closer investigation of behind the scenes, there was a hidden training.


This was Dr. A. W. Tozer’s conviction:

“A true and safe leader is likely to be one who has no desire to lead but is forced into a position of leadership by the inward pressure of the Holy Spirit and the press of external situation. Such were Moses and David and the OT prophets . I think there was hardly a great leader form Paul to the present day but was drafted by the Holy Spirit for the task and commissioned by the Lord of the Church to fill a position he had little heart for. I believe it might be accepted as a fairly reliable rule of thumb that the man who is ambitious to lead is disqualified to lead is disqualified as a leader. The true leader will have no desire to lord over God’s heritage but will be humble, gentle, self sacrificing as ready to follow as to lead, when the Spirit makes it clear that a wiser and more gifted man than himself has appeared.”

Leadership is influence, the ability of one person to influence others. One man can lead others only to the extent that he can influence then to follow his lead.

Lord Montgomery
Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose, and the character which inspires confidence.
Fleet Admiral Nimitz
Leadership maybe defined as that quality in a leader that inspires sufficient confidence in his subordinates as to be willing to accept his views and carry out his commands.

What is leadership and how is humanity divided?
Li Hung Chung
There are only three kinds of people in the world -- those that are immovable , those that are movable and those that move them.

John R Mott

A leader is a man who knows the road, who can keep ahead and who pulls others after him.
P. T. Chandapilla
Christian leadership is a vocation that are both human and divine or a harmonized working of God and man, given over to the ministry and blessing of other people.
President Truman
A leader is a person who has the ability to get others to do what what they don't like to do and like it.

Lord Montgomery "the incandescence of which he is capable, the flame which burns within him, the magnetism which will draw the hearts of men towards to Him.

Spiritual Leadership is a blessing of natural and spiritual qualities. Even the natural qualities are not self produced but God given, and they therefore reach their effectiveness when employed in the service of God and for His glory.

The spiritual leader inluences others not by the power of his own personality alone but by that personality irradiated, interpenetrated, and empowered by the HOLY SPIRIT.

Are leaders born or made ?

Leadership is an honorable ambition

If the ff verses are held in constant tension by one who desires to be effective in the service of God and realize the highest potential of his life, there need be little fear for the outcome of that ambition.
1Timothy 3:1

1The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

Jeremiah 45:5
Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the LORD , but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.' "


MORE ABOUT AMBITION

"Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition:
By that sin fell the angels; how can man, then,
The image of his Maker, hope to profit (win) by it?
Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee;
Corruption wins not more than honesty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues. Be just, fear not . . . ."

William Shakespeare, from King Henry VIII

We cannot deny that there is an ambition that warrants those strictures. But there are ambitions that noble and worthy and to be cherished.

ACTS 6:2-4

2So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”


ROMANS 12:8
8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

True spirtual leadership is authoritative, but not authoritarian." Authoritative because it commands the sanction of Scripture and secures the cooperation of the Holy Spirit. but not authoritarian in the sense of exercising an undue influence on the decisions and life-style of other believers. The leader must be careful not to usurp the responsibilities that are rightly theirs, to be exercised under the lordship of Christ. - OSWALD SANDERS

Strategic Planning involves long range decision making while operational planning is concerned with day to day decision -making

What does it mean to strategize? The English word "strategy originates from the Greek word "strategia", meaning "generalship" or to lead an army. Webster's dictionary defines strategy as " the science and art of ...meeting the enemy under conditions advantageous to one's force. The implied idea is that one gains the advantage over the enemy by careful and skillful planning.
To strategize means to develop an over -all plan to battle the enemy. A military general develops a comprehensive strategy by looking at the over all theatre of war operations. Using intelligence information, he forms assumptions about the
strengths. and weakness of the enemy.

The theater commander then matches that information against his own army's strengths and weaknesses. He develops his strategy by making decisions that will maximize the army's strengths over the enemy's weaknesses. By doing this, he gains the advantage and wins the war. For a military general, strategy is a set of decisions that determine the nature and direction of tactics and logistics. For the Christian leader, strategy is a set of of decisions that determine the nature and direction of the ministry. Put another way, a minstry's sum total of decisions affecting its direction is its strategy.
Christian leaders are engaged in a constant battle with the enemies of Christ . To develop a strategy for the ministry amounts to a declaration of war on satan. Consequently, strategic planning is serious spiritual business. The last thing Satan wants to see is a church, mission field or Christian organization develop a well designed strategy for going forward.

IN SEARCH OF.... DIRECTION

In 1982, the bestseller, In Search of Excellence, profiled corporations known for excellent management systems. Two years later, an article in Business Week magazine found these excellent companies and found their floundering performances in the marketplace. Although they were well managed internally, some of the corporations had not adopted well to their outside external environment.
Good organization is not enough. There is a difference between doing things right and doing the right things. To put in another way, a ministry has to be going in the right direction. Otherwise, it may be efficiently going in the wrong direction.
Strategic planning concerns direction. More than just developing long range plans and setting goals, its focus is the over all direction of a ministry.
Thinking strategically prompts Christian leaders to ask themselves probing questions. Why are we doing what we are doing? In what direction is the ministry headed? Does our ministry have any direction?"
The purpose of strategic planning is to logically and systematically answer such probing questions. It provides a step by step approach to developing the ministry. This chapter presents a model for strategic planning in the ministry.

As the second return of our Savior draws near, the spiritual battle will intensify , the world is changing very rapidly . At the beginning of this century 85% of the earth's population lived in rural areas. By the year 2000, 85% of the earth's population will live in urban areas.
The major trends of urbanization, political instability and increased mobility are reshaping the geo-social environment. The advances in science and technology are radically affecting the lives of people. The world, as we now know it will be drastically changed by telecommunication, super computers and super conductors.
Three changes present a rich opportunity for evangelizing the lost.. Missiology has shown that as new patterns of living uproot ancient traditions, people become open to new ways of thinking. Christian leaders must shape opportunities for word evangelism. The urgency of the task requires strategic leadership.