Leaders Under Construction

Leaders Under Construction

Thesis: We are leaders under construction by the Lord, for the purpose of leading people from here to eternity. We will always be learning through life experiences, and through mistakes.

Statistics reveal that we need Servant Leaders in the Church:

80 % of the United States claims to be Christian

Wood notes this "If the measure of success for church is winning souls and then discipling them into mature Christians then the present day church is in trouble:

Barna Notes from his book Today’s Pastors:

1. Many regular attendees are not truly Christian in the biblical sense. A majority of the people who attend Christian churches are not Christian, even those who have been attending the same church for nearly a decade.

2. Regular attendees are ignorant of the basic tenets of faith. Lay members, despite fairly regular attendance by about half of the population, remain largely ignorant of the basic tenets of faith and are at best moderately committed to building a community of believers who are devoted to serving Christ with passion, urgency, and abandon. From their perspective, churches are only moderately helpful in dealing with life, and they perceive the influence of the Christian church on the decline.

3. Add to these Barna’s insight about the spiritual condition of many churches from a recent survey by the Church of God:

i. 60 percent of all Americans attend church at least once per month.

ii. 12 percent of Americans read their Bible

iii. 25 percent of church members admit they never pray

iv. 23 percent never read their Bible

v. 60 percent never give to missions

vi. 70 percent never assume responsibilities in the church

vii. 85 percent never invite anyone to church

viii. 95 percent never win anyone to Christ

(Wood, 10)

These statistics are very revealing. From observing them we can say that the church is not doing it’s job very well. I believe the number one reason is that Christians are not being the leaders that they are called to be. It’s a lack of leadership!

Introduction:

The success of the church to fulfill the Great Commission lies in servant leadership. It’s the way of God. Bill Hybels notes:

When God wanted His people delivered from an oppressive pharaoh, He used a leader named Moses. When he needed Jerusalem’s wall rebuilt, He used a leader named Nehemiah. When He wanted His people to experience a golden era, He used a leader named David. When He wanted to build a temple, He used a leader Solomon. When he needed a statesman-prophet, He used a leader named Isaiah. And when He needed a fearless church planter, He used a leader named Paul.

Throughout history, whenever God has needed someone to initiate, organize, and carry out an important project, He has called upon leaders. And since His priority from Pentecost to today has been to build a redemptive communities that would flourish in the midst of resistant cultures, it makes sense that He would turn to leaders again.

After all, who’s going to cast the vision of or creatively imagine the future for a biblical functioning community? Who’s going to uphold the value of prayer, make sure the sacraments are honored, and insist that spiritual gifts are in use throughout the church? Who’s going to coordinate ministries, establish small-group structure, lift high the importance of worship, and inspire the church to reach out spiritually to lost people"(Hybels, 149)?

Leaders are God’s servants equipped by Him to fulfill a specific purpose. In Romans 12:8 gives us instruction that we need to lead with diligence.

"…If it is leadership, let him govern diligently." Is you gift leadership?

Let me make an observation "Everyone of us at one time or another are thrust into a position of leadership." The question is, "What will you do it when it happens?" Are you building a life of leadership. Leadership lives by these principles:

The foundation of leadership is character

The nature of leadership is servanthood

The motive for leadership is love

The measure of leadership is sacrifice

The authority of leadership is submission

The purpose of leadership is to lead people from here to eternity

The glory of leadership goes to God

The tools of leadership are the Word of God and prayer

The privilege of leadership is growth

The power of leadership is the Holy Spirit

The model of leadership is Jesus Christ

Leadership must be built in the church and we all need to understand that all of us are leaders under construction. We must allow God to build us into leaders. This means being willing.

Leaders are made not born - they are made through God’s teachings and through our mistakes if we learn from them and through life experiences.

I. Leaders are built by learning about God and His ways. In other words leaders are developed by doing their homework.