Leading Starts with Modeling
Spiritual Leadership Team Series
The first principle of leadership is example. A leadership team is a model of the church to the church. Jesus taught through modeling—a living example of faith, hope and love. He didn’t spend a lot of time teaching in the synagogue. Instead, he went into the wilderness, built a team, and showed the world what a redemption community looks like. Paul understood the power of modeling. He called out the Thessalonian church for its sacrifice and love, “And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.” (1 Thess. 1:7)
The truth is every leadership team is modeling something to the church and to the community. The only question is—what kind of model do they see? Is it a model of faith, hope and love? Is it a model of humility, deep connection and spiritual partnership? Or is it a model of conflict and division?
Scripture
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from ME, or seen in ME—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:9
Follow MY example, as I follow the example of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1
Leadership Team Application:
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from US, or seen in US—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:9
Follow OUR example, as WE follow the example of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1
The New Testament writers give us powerful and practical images of the church as connected and unified. Ephesians 2 offer three metaphors—(1) a nation, (2) a family, and (3) a household.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22
What an amazing vision for the church! But is it what we see when we look at the leadership team? Jesus knew that, for the gospel to spread and for churches to grow, the leaders would need to be unified. This was so important to Jesus that he spent his last night washing their feet and praying for their relationships.
Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. John 13:1
Leaders and leadership teams too must “wash one another’s feet” to create the connection and unity needed to serve the church. We cannot lead together in Christ if we do not live together in Christ. The church will imitate not only the faith but also the sense of family of its leaders. May we build leadership teams that are “joined together” in a way that inspires the church with a vison of “being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”