Leading after the Manner of Jesus
-
Go to where the people are: spiritually, emotionally, physically
... remember that God, in The Incarnation as Jesus, came into the world to
be as we are. God initiated the bridge between the divine and the human
-
Become immersed in the lives of people and listen to them. Learn 90%
of the time by living with and like the people; learn the other 10%
of the time by talking and doing. For the some 30 years of his life,
Jesus spent 27 years mostly listening while living as a carpenter among the
people. He talked and did ministry for only about 3 years.
-
Model the values, beliefs, purposes, and goals that you have. Don't
just talk. There is no room in Christian leadership for "do as I say, not
as I do." Don't ask others to do or to give proportionally any more than
you have already done or given. When Jesus asked others to leave their
families for the work of the Kingdom, he already had done so. When
he asked others to sell what they had and give to the poor, he had already
done it!
-
Have clear assumptions about the nature things and the way things are.
Jesus lived his assumptions that:
1) God is compassionate and near;
2) self-transcending love is the glue that holds together everything that
exists;
3) there is enough of everything to go around ...
whether we are talking food and clothing
or love and healing and forgiveness;
4) there are consequences to everything we do;
5) we can always start over because God loves and forgives us
-
Turn everything around and upside down ... repentance means, "to turn around";
Jesus said the first shall be last and the greatest shall be the least; Jesus
took every role, status and relationship and looked to see what would happen
if it was turned around or upside down.
-
Be in touch with reality, even the unpleasant reality of failures. That
means not giving in to the temptation to denial. It means confession
and repentance and penance.
-
Be ready to start over. Sometimes even the best efforts die and perfect
people get crucified. Remember the lessons of the Resurrection.
After the confusion of failure, betrayal and death, there can be amazing
and unbelieveable new life
-
Recognize the need for and the importance of intensive, intentional
spiritual community. Jesus did not try to do it all by himself. He
was alone at the end, not because that is what he wanted, but because the
people he trusted abandoned him. Those who had been part of that intensive,
intentional, spiritual community that grew around Jesus, ultimately became
the new leaders of the new creation begun with the Resurrection.
-
Remember that the role of the leader is to do what it takes to help people
work together to get done what needs to be done. That means teaching
other people to be leaders, too. Jesus left leaders to do the work
of the Kingdom. If we are not producing leaders as a result of our
leadership work, we are not leading.
|
