Principles for Healthy Leadership
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I have heard it said that when a successful company takes over a failing business, the first thing they do is fire the current leaders. They thought is, if the current leaders were doing a good job, the company would not be in the mess it is.
Churches have to have good leaders too. And followers who understand the mission of the church, and who buy in to the leadership.
As Moses prepares Israel to enter the Promised Land, he reminds them of the leadership structure that he put in place that will serve them for the next many years.
We catch a glimpse of the organizational structure for the New Nation of Israel. It was to be based on something Moses put into place soon after leaving Egypt.
“I said to you at that time: I can’t bear the responsibility for you on my own.
The Lord your God has so multiplied you that today you are as numerous as the stars of the sky.
May Yahweh, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times more, and bless you as He promised you.
But how can I bear your troubles, burdens, and disputes by myself?
Appoint for yourselves wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will make them your leaders.
“You replied to me, ‘What you propose to do is good.’
“So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and set them over you as leaders: officials for thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and officers for your tribes.
I commanded your judges at that time: Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge rightly between a man and his brother or a foreign resident.
Do not show partiality when deciding a case; listen to small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.
At that time I commanded you about all the things you were to do.
In these verses we see the need for a system (9-12), the system put in place (13-15), and the process for carrying out the system (16-18).
This process insured that as instruments of God, these judges were to interpret His law. They were not to be intimidated by anyone, which leveled the playing field for everyone. Moses was not simply recounting something that he put in place 40 years ago, but was pointing them forward to the day they would inhabit the Promised Land. As they carried out God’s law, it would set them apart from all the neighboring nations.
4 Principles about Leadership
One man can’t do it all
One man can’t do it all
In a smaller church, for instance, the pastor has to wear many hats. He can sometimes be accused of both micromanagement and neglect at the same time. As a church grows, that leadership style MUST change, or the church maxes out, or the pastor burns out or both. An interesting part of this story that is comes from Exodus when it originally happened: It was Moses’ Father In Law who saw that Moses was being worn to a frazzle, and offered Moses a solution.
Growth requires change
Growth requires change
God promised growth, and the people of Israel had grown and would continue to grow. This growth would require a change in the way they did things.
We see this play out in Acts 6 when the church needed more care than the pastors could provide. Thus deacons came into play, not to supervise the church or the pastor, but to aid the pastor by doing the service of ministry to the people.
Leaders have a GOD GIVEN responsibility
Leaders have a GOD GIVEN responsibility
The leaders that Moses appointed were to judge the affairs of God’s people. (It should be pointed out this was to manage A NATION). The leaders in a church are not the same as judges in the land of Israel, who were carrying out both a civic and a religious duty. But the point is the same. Pastors have God given responsibilities. Deacons do too. We are to follow them as they follow God. One of the things we will discover in Deuteronomy is that there were people who didn’t like the way Moses did things. Grumblers. Don’t be a grumbler. If you ask to do something or if you are asked to do something, and you agree to it, do it without grumbling or complaining.
Do everything without grumbling and arguing,
Leaders Move God’s Agenda Forward
Leaders Move God’s Agenda Forward
Good leaders move God’s people and God’s agenda forward in a God honoring way. For their good and God’s glory.
Remember that all of this is so that God’s people, Israel will have the best opportunity to thrive in the Promised Land and to reach the potential God has planned for them. God puts a church in a community to reach people for Jesus and to train people to live for Jesus. He puts a pastor in the church to equip the church for this process.
And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,