Christian Leadership pt.5- Spiritual Ethics

Spiritual ethics are very important in the church. Learn to give honour to the one who invited you or who handed over to you.
Do not talk behind the back of people. As a visiting speaker, don’t start taking phone numbers of church members and then call them as if you can pastor them better than their own pastor. As a church member, there is the temptation to think that a visiting Pastor is far better than your Pastor because he just ministers occasionally in your church. The bible says “a prophet has no honour in his house”.

Finance:
Matthew23:23 “Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgement, mercy and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone”.
Jesus Christ sanctions the fact that we should pay tithe. It was practiced in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Malachi 3:8-10 God required the people of Israel to give to his store house.

What was the store house used for?
The reason why God wants you to tithe is for there to be meat in the storehouse for the priest and the poor. Numbers 18:21-24-The Levites had no inheritance.

Deut 14:27-29 For the Priest, the stranger, the fatherless, the widow which are within thy gates shall come and eat and be satisfied that the Lord thy God may bless the work of thy hand which thou doest.



1Cor 4:2,7b. “Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

Our motivation is as it’s stated in 2Cor.9:7-8 Everyone has to be a cheerful giver not out of compulsion, it shouldn’t be as if it’s a tax, but it should be from the heart.
Don’t be greedy giver where you have a lot but give very little but give freely and willingly


So let’s see how the New Testament Church did give:
Acts 4:32-35, 1 Cor. 9:7-10,14

1. None among them lacked, and as many as were possessors sold what they had and brought it to be redistributed among them.
2. This means they took care of the Priests and the needy among them. Every one was ministered to according as he had need.
3. No one gave out of compulsion. They all gave willingly, freely and cheerfully. No one withheld what he or she had. No one was a greedy giver. Every one helped minister to the need of the whole congregation.

You will realise that the New Testament church was not restricted to just 10% but they gave their all and their best. Jesus gave us an example of giving. He gave himself for us. He gave his all. He left his throne and came down to sacrifice his life for us.
2 Cor. 8:8-9, 13-15
Even though he was rich, he became poor for us and so does he expect us to do the same to others.



The rewards of giving:
Matt19:29-30, Mark 10:29-30 “And every one that has forsaken houses or brethren or Sisters, or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake, shall receive an hundred fold now in this life and the life after”.

Luke 6:38 “Give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down shaken together, running over shall men give unto you. For with the same measure that ye mete withal shall, it shall be measured to you again”.

Prov3:9-10”…So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine”.

Ps 126:5-6 “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him”.

Philp 4: 15-19 “…But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus”.

Christian Leadership pt.4

Leadership styles:- Leading by example.

Christian leadership is not a dictatorship. It is leadership by example. It is a leadership that shows mutual respect. You do not lord over your workers, but rather you implore them. Lead by love, lead by encouraging and motivating them and not looking down on them every time. Learn to be strong and show leadership.
1 Cor 11:1 “Be ye followers of me even as I follow Christ”.
A leader cannot lead and set bad examples. You cannot ask members to come to Church on time and yet you come to church late. You cannot expect people to obey the rules when you keep breaking them everyday. It doesn’t work like that.
Whatever you expect them to do, show them how to do it or have a way of directing them so that they can have confidence to do it.

Organisational skills: Leaders should be well organised. Organisational skills are very important for leadership. This involves good time management skills as well as management skills. A leader must be well organised by setting out meeting dates. At the beginning of the year, you must have your programs for at least half of the year well documented with dates and times etc.
Consistency: If the team agrees that rehearsal is once a month, you have to be consistent with it even if no one shows up. The person who never comes will show up the day you give up and then start blaming you that you are not serious. Keep being consistent and talk with them to find the solution for their lack of enthusiasm. Then deal with it.
Be consistent with the rules in that if the rules says you can’t lead praise and worship if you don’t attend rehearsal, then that should be it. If no one comes to rehearsal, then you the leader should lead the praise and worship. However, there must be room for unforeseen serious circumstances.
Systems: There should be systems in place and every member must know which part he or she plays in a particular program. A good leader has a rota which the members follow and there is always room for back up in case of unforeseen circumstances. Members also must be made aware of what is expected of them. They must be able to know what they are to do in case of this or that situation. That is how a well organised leader works. The system should be able to operate with or without your interference or presence.
If there are not enough people called in the church for that department, then the team has to win souls into the department.
Communication: There must be top to down as well as down to top communication. Both ways are very important in a ministry, so that every one is aware of what is going on. If you have to lead a part of a program or may be praise and worship and then something happens that you can’t come, don’t assume that the leaders will be O.K. without you because they may be waiting for you. Communicate it.

Mature Christian behaviour: 1 Tim 3:7-13. This is what God expects of every leader. That you must have a good report among the general congregation, that you are not double tongued, that you hold the truth or word of God with a pure conscience and that you are blameless.

For your responsibility towards your group, God says 1 Tim5:1-2. You exhort people who are older than you or have spiritual authority over you. But younger ones you rebuke in love. Which means depending on the person and the situation, you deal with the person wisely. Some people respond well to rebuke, others respond well if they are entreated, so you have to trust your judgment and take a decision.

Leadership training-pt3: Time Management

Effective use of time. Time management is self management Eccl 3. A good time manager plans. Lack of planning is the key to people not having enough time and being behind schedule. If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.



1. Plan your work, divide it into small tasks.

2. Set priorities and let priorities remain priorities. Set time targets for each of the tasks.

3. Plan a schedule for the tasks. Set up an operational management schedule.

4. Learn to say no to side issues that will distract you. Find ways of saving time by doing some schedules that can be done independent of the others and in your free time.

5. Start early enough to give yourself enough time for unforeseen circumstances.

6. Be thorough in the way you get on with the work so that you don’t have to repeat the process because of unnecessary mistakes. Learn to work fast without making mistakes.

7. Delegate and train your members to take up independent tasks so that they can work with efficiency at the same time. They should also be giving you feed back so that you do not have to rush at the last minute.



8. You also have to learn how to work efficiently with others as a team. Remember that procrastination is the thief of time.

Christian Leadership Pt.2: Team building

1Cor 12:15-26
The hands, legs, and head are different parts of the body but work together for the good of the body. They can’t afford to work against each other neither can they work separately. We have to learn how to bring every one on board. Strengthen and coordinate the people you work with. Encourage every one and let them know that every ones work is important. You have to bring on board those who are unconcerned.

A good leader must practice good and fair judgement. It is this judgement that every one comes to rely on. It is this that will cause your team to work together, knowing that they are all being treated the same.

A good leader must be consistent with his decisions. You don’t keep on changing your mind about one issue.

A good leader communicates what he expects of his team clearly to them and every one is aware of the vision. This makes every one aware of what is expected of him. This will help them work as a team.

A good leader must consciously develop and invest in his team. You train and teach them. You feed them with all the information they need to know to develop in your area. Failure to do this causes erosion of trust and confidence in you.

You have to encourage them to seek the truth. Acts21:20-22. You will realise that this is a critical situation because the leaders in the church had believed the lie of the devil. No where in scripture do we hear that Paul had led the people to reject Moses but the leaders had believed this and it was creating confusion. The fact that you are anointed does not mean you will not find your self in such a state.
Paul had to accept the proposal of the so that there will be peace and unity. It was important to Paul that he would be flexible enough to pull the whole team together. He was concerned with the welfare and the unity of the church.
This is a lesson for all leaders. We need to always be able to build a strong team and maintain the unity of the team.

Judges 7:1-6 Most of the time you don’t need a crowd. All you need is a few people whom God has called in the department