My Christian Leader’s Top 40

AFTER writing these points below, I asked myself, “Does the Church really need another article on ‘leadership’?” While my answer was in the negative, I thought these points were still worth honing in on and posting to clarify my own thinking. Perhaps they are also beneficial for your thinking?

First, my ‘qualifications’ as a leader from which this list is drawn. Mainly secular work field experience, professionally. But I got my first ‘diploma’ in team leadership almost twenty years ago. More often than not I have been asked to provide leadership rather than be the assigned leader. And my leadership style has most often been as a facilitator of groups or a mentor of individuals. As a consultant, the power I have had to use has been personal and informational, to achieve results through others due to influence, rather than through actual positional power.

Perhaps you will read the following list and determine for yourself my ‘qualifications’ based on how you feel about what I have written.

So here it goes. Here is my Top 40 list of traits of good Christian leaders.

They:

1. Reward innovation: A competent leader knows they need good minds. He rewards thinking that innovates. There is no such thing as ‘leaving your brain at the door’ for a good Christian leader. Of course, role boundaries help with context.

2. Punish nothing: why suppress love? In leadership, tough love can easily turn into abuse. The punitive motive does not seek the best in whom it is directed. Let a consequence be its own punishment. Punish no more. Permeate the relational dynamics with grace. Sometimes a lesson needs to be learned, but no ‘interest’ should be added.

3. Embrace the heart: passion is essential in the Kingdom of God. As a leader, I want to embrace the passion of the people, believing that it is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

4. Talk about holiness: Similar to Deuteronomy 6:4-9, it is the leader’s responsibility to talk about God’s Word and will, and the revelation of the Lord at work in our lives.

5. Use process: I prefer Ian Macdonald’s systems leadership process for leadership and team membership, which I learned about in 1993. This process values ​​the roles of all players on the team. Competent leaders appreciate the importance of a fair, efficient and effective process, which is above all well communicated.

6. Teach Enjoyment: Passion comes from joy, and leaders understand that connection. Joy is intrinsically motivating, and a leader who epitomizes joy emanates what most want as a trait of his being.

7. Listen carefully: The best leaders are humble enough to listen so that whoever is speaking to them feels like they are the only ones in the space at the time.

8. Cultivate authenticity: It can be hard work to be ourselves. Some need permission. Others just find it difficult. Others, again, get it right; encourage them within the group. Then authenticity will be unlocked because people will not be afraid to be vulnerable because it is valued.

9. Model encouragement: The competent leader is an encouragement. They model what they value everyone should do. These types of leaders do not believe that encouragement is a gift exclusive to some; breath is seen as a fruit of the Spirit in terms of goodness.

10. Value history: a good leader understands that he stands on the shoulders of others before him. They understand that nothing is unfounded, and they give credit where credit is due.

11. Take Responsibility: A good leader understands the value of taking the blame for things that go wrong. They know it’s the leadership system that needs fixing, not the people. This creates a feeling of security and well-being in people.

12. Report regularly: Many things and events are honored and helped by simply taking stock. A good leader acts as a capable counselor when needed. This pastoral concern shows people where their leader’s heart is.

13. Make time: Time is space and space made means that people feel valued, respected and safe. This is a radical concept in our age. But his wisdom is eternal.

14. Communicate clearly – the good leader knows that communication is more than what is said; it is what is not said, as well as what is communicated intrapersonally through reflective work done, often days and weeks after a crucial conversation has taken place. Communication is not just a one-time event. The meaning changes all the time.

15. They are conventionally radical: The competent leader does what adds value, but seems radical, somewhat conventional. Love is radical, but love is not extremism; it is of such value that the radical becomes conventional. We could call it innovation.

16. They are carefully responsible: A good leader does not use responsibility to hit people over the head. They themselves exemplify careful, measured, and proactive accountability, so when they do exercise it, it is genuine, appreciated, and adds value.

17. Embody Advocacy: A good leader respects that what seems like a small thing to others is a big thing to someone else. They advocate gently but firmly for the individual with a lone voice.

18. Keep perspective: Little things that trump power can make projects inefficient and ineffective. The leader leads by asking “How important is this?” with the implicit answer, “Not much.”

19. Handle crises: Tall leaders handle crises as cognitive challenges, not emotional battles. Good leaders are realistic, but in a crisis they become optimistic based on the situation to guide others through the confusion.

20. Clarify roles: A good leader gives everyone a different role; and, to the extent possible, each role is equally critical compared to the roles of the others. People appreciate being of value to the purpose of the whole.

21. Trust the results: A good leader knows that a strong input equals a valuable result, which equals transformative results. They know that good results will come.

22. They are positively appreciative: A good leader uses Appreciative Inquiry (AI). They recognize that he gains more by focusing on strength than weakness.

23. They Are Always Gentle: In an often violent world, a good leader is a model of safety, security, and peace. With a good leader everyone is safe.

24. Endure failure: The competent leader does not place much importance on failure except where the system failed. Good leaders accept and appreciate that the human factors of failure are inevitable.

25. Celebrate with humility: Success is a sign of synergy. A good leader uses success to remind the team of the TEAM (Treat Each Actual Member).

26. Raise the helpless: According to John 3:30, a good leader shows where love abounds: by lifting the helpless off the ground.

27. They are constantly faithful: a good leader is emotionally adult. They are emotionally reliable and stable, and deserve the trust placed in them.

28. Enable diversity: Competent leaders appreciate difference, recognizing equality of mind and the ideal as a limiting sign. Adversity is accepted in a diverse culture, and disagreement is encouraged and fought against. A good leader encourages disagreement so that it can be discussed maturely.

29. Giving Up Control: A good leader is not a bad manager. They understand the corrosive nature of a leader’s positional power. They would rather use personal power to win the love of others and the power of information to empower others.

30. Have Loving Determination: A leader never gives up when that is easily the expectation. At the end of a good leader is second wind dependence on God, who inspires and innovates through them once again by his Spirit.

31. Enjoy the moments: A good leader is spiritually alive and maximizes awareness of the moment.

32. They are the blessed – the blessed of the Beatitudes. The biblical leader understands the power in Kingdom reversal: that the things that seem against us are for us when we continue through faith.

33. Put ambition aside: Progress and achievements are all about the team and the Kingdom and ultimately God. The good leader does not get the cart before the horse. They achieve their personal goals through the noble deeds of working with and for others.

34. They are happy when dying: the good leader is happy dying to himself or in the actual practice of dying. They live within the tensions of the truth of Philippians 1:23-24.

35. Avoid fame: Too much notoriety is not good for anyone. The good leader gets as far away from popularity as he can. And they recognize their own envy for the success of others, and resist that too.

36. Love family: what kind of witnesses are we to the truth of the Kingdom if our families are in ruins? However, the good leader is happy to learn from his mistakes. But the family is an area that they want to do well, as much as possible. Family comes first, always.

37. Rest well. Good leaders worry about resting and thus not being a burden to others, to the extent that it depends on them, due to their tiredness. But an exhausted leader also brings glory to God when he graciously deals with his weakness.

38. Value Compassion: Having awakened your heart, a good leader will not fail in the area of ​​compassion. They feel that they need time to recover when their compassion is fatigued. They see compassion as the indicator of their mercy.

39. They are self-aware: a great momentary reflection ability that good leaders personify. Their self-awareness makes them regret it, and often.

40. Desire God: there is no greater esteem that a leader can give than his esteem for God, who always guides them by his Spirit. The worship of God is his number one love.

© 2016 S.J. Wickham.