When I was 24 years old, our church family asked me and my wife to lead a 2-week mission trip to Germany with 14 college students. I had shadowed a missionary in Germany the previous year. I knew the context well. I was excited about the opportunity.
My wife and hosted multiple meetings to prepare for the trip. We hosted team meetings over culture, we delegated roles for the team, we put together timelines of what and when, we challenged each person to raise $2K for each, and overall the trip was great, but there were a few hiccups that stand out from that trip.
About half way through the trip I could discern that the morale of the team was waning, so one evening we hosted a devotional to encourage everyone and remind everyone on why we had taken these steps of faith. As we closed our devotional in prayer I thought it was a great opportunity to pray for everyone by name and encourage them specifically. I thought it was going to be a great encouragement for everyone but I made minor misstep. I forgot to pray for one the college students on the trip by accident and nobody told me!
The college student, that was overlooked in prayer, thought I intentionally didn’t pray for them and they didn’t tell me until after the trip. As you can imagine, I was incredibly discouraged. I thought I was going on this trip to help people and I ended up hurting someone. As a young leader, I was filled with insecurity and questions, so that the following questions help me evaluate and keep my leadership on track.
7 Questions Every Leader Should Ask
1. Do I have sense of God’s calling?
When we know God has called us to lead, it provides an underlying security that girds us through the difficulties. Always go back to your calling! It is the Lord’s calling in any area of life (marriage, parenting, work, faith, leadership) that will carry us through difficulty.
2. Am I leading to bring attention to myself?
When we use leadership roles to bolster our sagging self-esteem, we create a dysfunctional dynamic, focused on sidestepping the leader’s insecurities rather than meeting the group members’ needs. Though leaders care about people, effective leaders base their significance on God’s acceptance of them, not on the wavering opinions of humans.
3. Am I using leadership roles in place of my relationship to God?
Sometimes serving other people can make it feel close to God but our closeness to God is 100% determined by our faith in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.
4. Am I actually leading?
During World War II, critics praised Winston Churchill as a magnificent war leader, but felt he failed to provide England with the spiritual guidance it needed. Upon hearing this criticism, Churchill retorted, “Since I became prime minister, I have appointed no fewer than six new bishops. What more do they want?” Churchill’s reply exposes a mistake that leaders can make. We think if we provide the sufficient tools, methods, and personnel for a group task, we have done our job. But this is management, not leadership. What’s the difference? Managers hover over details, ensuring that operations run smoothly; leaders provide the direction and motivation to pursue an overall mission. We need both managers and leaders to propel a group or project, but it’s the leadership role that often gets neglected. Our culture admires people who “get things done,” and managing produces immediate concrete results. Leading operates more in the futuristic world of ideas, strategies, and inspiration.
5. Who is really in control?
Even when we are called and gifted to lead, we can forget who ultimately controls a progress and direction. It is not the leader or the team members; it is God’s Spirit working within hearts. When we embrace this fact, leadership grows much easier and stays on track.
6. What is the vision?
The leadership role—and consequently the group—runs awry when there is no original vision or when, due to busyness or laziness, people lose sight of the once-articulated vision. It is essential for a leader to take time, with Bible and journal in hand, to review the vision and dream about how to keep it alive, appealing, relevant, and in synch with God’s design for the group.
7. What is the goal?
“Empowerment” is a current buzzword that makes Christians uneasy because some people teach it as a means of self-gratification. But when placed in the context of leadership, it describes the end goal of a leader. To empower people is to equip them to be effective. Christ prepared the disciples for life without Him; Paul instructed Timothy how to live as a Christian and a spiritual leader.
North Village Church
This article was written by Pastor Michael Dennis, Lead Pastor at North Village Church; a non-denominational church in Austin, TX, established in 2009 and built around Jesus and Bible teaching.
Are you looking for a church in Austin? At North Village Church we put Jesus at the center of our church family. We worship together every Sunday at 10:30am, encourage Christ centered fellowship through groups, and host special events such as Bible studies and Theological Training, to ensure that we are rooted in in God’s Word. We also serve our local community in association with several Austin based organizations.
North Village Church is made up of professionals, married couples, singles, and families who are wanting to experience the life-transforming power of Jesus. If you are a family with children or teens, we can support you with either or both our Kids Ministry and Youth Ministry.
Check out our North Village Church calendar highlights such as our Christmas Eve Service in Austin and Easter Sunday Service.
You are welcome to contact us if you would like more information, please call (512)-623-9272 or email [email protected]
NVC Online
Unable to attend this Christian Church in Austin? Don’t worry, because, through God’s provision, we have created NVC online, an Online Church streaming a worship service every Sunday from 10:30am Central Time. You can also watch our short, powerful sermons on demand and follow us on Instagram for daily Christ centered content.
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
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