The Importance of Leadership

Taken from: https://twitter.com/syde/status/645930634062508032

Last night, I was thinking about the importance of having a leader in the lives of people– specifically to people who are under a discipleship program.

Like Jesus’ life, He taught and mentored the 12 disciples. They were under his care. They grew under His wings. They experienced first hand the ministry that Jesus did (from the first miracle of turning water to wine up to casting out demons). They garnered enough knowledge, wisdom, and courage to plant churches through the encouragement of Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit. And most importantly, they all died faithfully in serving Jesus in different parts of the world.

Thinking about everything that happened, the disciples matured because they had someone pave their paths for them. They had someone show them what to do and how things should be done. They had someone balance them out when there were petty quarrels among them. They had someone teach them about the Kingdom of God. They were able to grasp the thoughts of God the Father because they were with Jesus for more than 3 years. They had flaws in them but Jesus never mistreated them nor shove them away. He called them by their names and not by their sins.

Through the foundation that was laid down by the Apostles and the Prophets, we have the Word of God. Studying God’s Word can be a corporate act or a personal act. But putting His Word to practice cannot be accomplished without having people around us.

Like the 12 disciples, they had a leader. For us, we need to have leaders and/or mentors in the faith who can teach, counsel, heal, train, encourage, correct, rebuke, restore, inspire, give hope, and lead us into our God-given paths and callings. Leaders have a way of shaping and molding us. They’re anointed to do that and they’re anointed for that.

My leaders say that discipleship is a life to life experience. I agree with this. No disciple can grow deeper if he/she does not have someone who can lead them. We need to have leaders even if we are leaders already. We need leaders who can look out for us, correct us, rebuke us, restore us, sharpen us, mentor us and take care of us; leaders who are there to back us up; leaders who can teach us life lessons; leaders who can inspire us to stand up after a fall; leaders who can show us that casting a vision is possible; leaders who can create a safe place for us to fail and not be judged; leaders who can teach us how to solve problems; leaders who can challenge us to become better people in who we are and what we do; leaders who can acknowledge our gifts and skills and tell us to improve and grow in them more; leaders who can teach us that living and leading are the same, and most importantly, we need leaders who can train us by showing what it means to have a Christlike character.

No leader is perfect. But we can tell if a leader is faithful in their walk with God. That is more precious than gold. Let us honor and respect our leaders in the faith. They are God-given blessings to our lives!