Reflection Paper on Theology and practice of Leadership

Introduction

Practice of leadership is defined as the development and maintenance of good, staff

support for the people served, through focusing, in all aspects of their works as manager, on

the quality of life of service users and how well staff supports this.1 Ross and Hendry accept

no such simple definition of leadership; they prefer rather to think of leadership theory:

“leadership as a trait within the individual’s leader; leadership as a function of the situation2.

Until the end of this paper the reader will be able to arrange his leadership in his church, to

1
https://www.bild.org.uk>GatewayLink.aspx?alld=8487

2
Charles E. Hendry and Murray G. Ross. New understanding of Leadership. New York. Association.

1964. 31

2
have a good leadership in him and to know what is being leader among the people. This

present paper will reflect in: What is Leadership? Old Testament and Leadership and Christ

and Leadership in the Gospels.

What is Leadership?

Leadership is an act or behavior required by a group to meet its goal, rather than a

condition. It is an act by either word or deed to influence behavior toward a desired end.3 It is

an act or behavior because in nowadays, the leader is an agent of change, someone capable of

impacting both his own reality and the reality of others through protagonist and execution.

Personally and professionally leadership, means knowing who you are, what you want and

how to do plans, to achieve your goals, which requires self-knowledge as a basis and tolls and

concepts. Engstrom says “leadership is the key to meaningful development of modern society

and the effective future of Christian church in the world. We must take a closer look, because

true leadership is a quality found in far too few individuals4. To be a good leader it need to be

willing to go ahead to open the way, to set an example, to guide and lead the team. Today

what really works is the king of leader who serves the most, who paves the way, who finds

ways to overcome obstacles together with the team. He is the leader who encourages who

arouses motivation and enthusiasm and who is always willing to listen and correct the step if

necessary.

We are not living in a difficult time, but in a different time. Leaders must be aware of this

new reality and adapt to it, clearly understanding that new problems and opportunities require

new ways of thinking and acting. The process of becoming a true leader is arduous, although

3
Ted W. Engstrom. The Making of a Christian Leader. Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids,
Michigan. 1977. 20
4
Ibid, 20

3
highly rewarding. A path of continuous learning, where self-knowledge and self-development

must be the inseparable companions.

The Old Testament and the Leadership

The Leadership which is shared in the New Testament presents a vision of shared

leadership. Throughout it we discovered that the apostles always established plural leadership

within the assemblies they had founded5. The man who was a part of the priesthood was to

live in such a way as to represent God’s holiness and to communicate his law to the people.

The leadership of the Old Testament was different from our days now; holiness was

something required to the leaders so that they can serve Go with a holy heard, representing

themselves also holy and example to the people. Eli was a priest who didn’t do what God

wanted he was failing to rule his own house until God appeared to Samuel that “I will raise

up a faithful priest for myself. He will do whatever is in my heart and mind. I will establish a

lasting dynasty for him and he will walk before my anointed one for all time. Here we see

that God is the only one who has authority truly to establish someone as a leader. Even

though those who were fulfilling the role of priest were failing in their duties and fidelity to

God, this leadership role would not fall because of their inabilities. Because God desires to

have leaders among his people, he would establish a new person to fill the role. No one

should assume leadership unless God appoints them. There are many leaders who were

servants of the Lord and of the people in this setting. Some did well and some did not, but the

goal was always before them to be servants of the people. These leaders find themselves in

many different roles and situations: from military and government leaders to royalty and

prophets.

5
Ted W. Engstrom. The Making of a Christian Leader. Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids,
Michigan. 1977. 25

4
 Christ and Leadership in the Gospel

The church of the Lord Jesus Christ urgently needs nothing less than lames leaders

with a heard after God’s own heart. Leadership makes difference, by the way big difference,

because it offers direction, shapes character and creates opportunities. The effects of

leadership begin at birth, but do not cease to exist with death. Christ spent so much time with

the disciples, it is certain that He wished to impress them with the example of His life. He

came to serve, and so should they. This was His method of Leadership. He unselfishly gave

of His life, which culminated in His death on the cross.6 The motivation to proceed correctly

should not be the praise of the people, but the glory of God. If our motivation depends on

others, we will be dependent on them for our joy or frustration. If, on the other hand, we

depend only on the Lord’s approval, we will not be so affected by the ingratitude of people.

Jesus left us an example of service-based on leadership. He made it clear that influence, and

leadership are built on service. In the process of satisfying needs, sacrifices will often have to

be made for those we serve. When we look at the leadership practices or fashion of the

scribes, Pharisees or the teachers and doctors of the Law, on the contrary, Jesus sought to

please the heart of God. Gangel in his book of Building Leaders for Church Education says:

“the leadership of our Lord focused on the purpose. Christ had clear-cut goals for his earthly

ministry, and a limited time in which to achieve them. If you knew you knew you have to

leave your present ministry within three-and-one-half years and turn it over completely to

subordinates you would be allowed to develop during that period of time, how would you go

about doing it? You could do no better than follow the example of Jesus, and the result would

probably be a great deal like the leadership that characterized the New Testament church”7.
6
Ted W. Engstrom. The Making of a Christian Leader. Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids,
Michigan. 1977. 20
7
Kenneth O. Gangel. Building Leaders for Church Education. Moody Press. Chicago. 1981. 77

5
Following the example of Christ Leadership we can develop the way of leading it can change

and have good results.

Personal Reflection

A leader is someone who has a call from God to do a work that God shares within him

to do. He is someone who loves Jesus and wants to obey him with all his heart at all cost. “He

is someone who surrenders to Jesus and makes himself entirely available to him; who does

what He commands; who avoid what He forbids and who supports the cross that is imposed

on him even if for this, he has to deny his own life and, he has to deny his own life and, if

necessary, give himself up to death”8. The choice of leaders was for the work to be shared.

That is why we believe, that cell vision works. We have to understand, once and for all, that a

man alone cannot do the work of God. We need to delegate authority and form leaders of

excellence who will lead the Lord’s disciples with fidelity and nobility. It is likely that many

have experienced failure in leadership; however, we believe that one of the biggest problems

is the fact that we have theorized the issue of leadership a lot and have been living and

walking under evangelical myths that over the years we have been victims. Therefore, it is

necessary to break within the old in order that God searches us again for our day. The leader

needs to be someone of a treated and irreproachable character, because the leader’s life must

speak more than his words and we must therefore remember the words of the Lord Jesus: The

disciple is not superior to his teacher, but everything that is well educated will be. Leadership,

I believe, may indeed be something that is born with some, but it is also a skill that can be

developed if there is will power, dedication, honestly and common sense. To learn how to be

a leader it is necessary to manage one’s emotions in a mature way, it is necessary to restrain

8
Homer G. Rhea. Learning the Practice of Ministry. Church of God School of Ministry. Cleveland,
Tennessee.1987. 15-16

6
ourselves when the occasion demands and speak when the word is opportune and produce

good fruits. It is necessary to be honest with yourself and take on our weaknesses and

limitations and work to improve more and more. It is necessary to know those led by what

they are and not by what they say they are. Another thing is that Humility is an essential

characteristic of a leader. Without it, the team closes or still does not commit. If we are leader

in work, in home, being to exercise humility by putting ourselves in the other’s shoes. There

is a big difference between being firm and being rude, between having authority and being

authoritarian. Some think they are leaders; however they were placed in the leadership

position without any preparation and even the hardships of the position made them reflect on

this very important role.

Conclusion

7
 In conclusion leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act in search of

common goal. It is an act or behavior because in nowadays, the leader is an agent of change,

someone capable of impacting both his own reality and the reality of others through

protagonist and execution. Personally and professionally leadership, means knowing who you

are, what you want and how to do plans, to achieve your goals, which requires self-

knowledge as a basis and tolls and concepts. We need to have a good leadership following

the good leaders who have been leading the sheep of God in a good way without something

bad in their life. The leadership of Christ is also a good example to follow as we need to lead

the church in growth, being humble and being a slave but not a master, leading by example.

Bibliography

8
 Ben, Aiton. www.google.com. Abril 07, 2000.

https://www.bild.org.uk>GatewayLink.aspx?alld=8487 (accessed February 25, 2020).

G, Hendry. Charles E & Ross. Murray. New Understandings of Laadership. New York:

Association, 1957.

G, Rhea. Homer. Learning the Practice of Ministry. Cleveland, Tennessee: Church of God

School of Ministry, 1987.

O, Gangel. Kenneth. Building Leaders for Church Education. Chicago: Moody Press,

1981.

W, Engstrom. Ted. The Making of a Christian Leader. Grand Rapids, Michigan:

Zondervan Publiship House, 1976.