Dare Great Things For Christ

It goes without saying that our culture today is facing a crisis of truth.  Ideas and customs we once held dear are being questioned and our young people seem to be bereft of sure guides for what life is all about.  But was it that much different at the time of Christ?  And how did Jesus respond to the difficulty of the people of his day to embrace truth?  When Jesus formed his twelve apostles he formed them as apostles of truth and sent them to teach the nations in his name.  What impact does that have for us as leaders today? 

Following the way of the Lord obviously is the right thing to do.  It’s a good thing and should make us happy.  Why then is it so often marked by difficulty?  Why wouldn’t God make our path an easy one?  If we go to the New Testament we see that actually it never was easy and when our Lord was forming his disciples to be bold proclaimers of his Word he formed them through challenge and difficulty.  Learning how he did it with them then can make us better leaders now. 

When it comes to making leaders nobody does it better than God himself.  Studying what scripture tells us about how Jesus himself trained leaders is the ultimate pattern for how we can advance in leadership today.  In this ten part series I want to study the elements that are essential to this leadership formation.  Prominent amongst those many features is the fact that Jesus formed his apostles to live in a community.  A veritable band of brothers.  This was no accident but has great fruits for them and for us today. 

When it comes to learning how to lead no one can teach us better than Christ.  And for Christians who are trying to lead their world Christ is the ultimate and best reference point.  So how did he do it?  When he had his disciples to form in order to make them the leaders that he wanted them to be – how did he approach it?  In this first of a ten part series we try to answer those questions.  And let Jesus speak and form us as leaders today.  Christian leadership is the way of every disciple – then and now.

A leader could have the best strategy in the world but if he’s unable to make a choice on how to implement it his strategy will be meaningless.  And yet is precisely here that many of us struggle.  Making a choice seems irrevocable and sometimes choosing one way in preference to another seems like closing the door on perfectly good opportunities.  But then again not choosing is also a choice and it’s a choice that won’t bring us to where we need to go.  How does our faith in God help us with this dilemma?   How does it help us to be leaders who decide?

In the Gospel our Lord tells us to be as cunning as serpents and as simple as doves.  What does it mean to be cunning as a serpent and how could our Lord possibly want us to be cunning?  Anyone involved in leadership knows that leaders need to be strategic.  They need to think ahead of the curve and find a plan for achieving the great things that they set out to do.  Could this be what Christ meant?  How do Christians live and thinks strategically at the service of their love?

The ability to cast an effective vision is much more than coming up with great ideas.  Ideas require planning in order to be effective and planning requires choice and focus.  But as we all know our choice and focus can sometimes be wrong.  That’s because strategy itself depends upon our awareness.  Being alert, being aware, and being attentive is the secret for making great plans.  Let’s take a look at how this dovetails with our faith to help us lead everywhere in our lives. 

One of the most important aspects to any leadership is your ability to have ideas.  Casting a vision and showing where we want to go is essential to have anyone follow us.  But what is the difference between having ideas and having good ideas?  What makes a potential idea or a future vision something that is captivating and true?  Our Christian faith helps us here – God will help us to be temperate, to not be afraid to prioritize, and to be open to the great things he wants to do through us.

The easiest way to get lost in doing anything is to not know what you are trying to do to begin with.  Anytime we’re called to lead a project of any kind, our leadership begins with vision.  But what if we can’t find a vision?  Is there something deeper at the root of being able to cast a vision going forward?  There is – we call it the power to dream.  Dream is the power within a leader to reach forward to something which you do not yet possess and its roots lay in healing our ability to desire things. 

All great leaders dare to dream but what do you do when the dreams have gone dry?  Where does our power to come up with great ideas or great initiatives come from?  In the Christian view of leadership, it comes from deep within our hearts made in the image and likeness of God.  Which is why the redeeming power of Christ to heal us and our sense of ourselves is the key to unlocking our desire to dare great things for Christ.  Journey with us as we explore self-acceptance and its power to change our lives.