1. INTRODUCTION – LEADERSHIP IS INFLUENCE

A defining note in my ministry came when I transitioned from seeing the people in my church as followers, and instead saw them as emerging leaders. I was influenced by the words of Jesus who saw people who followed Him as people of influence. The best definition I know of Leadership is that it is INFLUENCE.
Jesus illustrated this in His teachings:

• “You are the SALT of the earth.” (Matthew 5:13)
  Salt adds flavour, prevents decay and preserves all that is good, it heals and makes people thirsty.
• “You are the LIGHT of the world.” (Matthew 5:14)
  Light dispels darkness, promotes health and healing, illuminates the way and is a light for the lost.
• “The kingdom of heaven is like YEAST”; (Matthew 13:33)
  A small amount can penetrate and transform a large amount.
• “The kingdom of heaven is like a MUSTARD SEED” (Matthew 13:31)
  which although it is the smallest of seeds, grows into a huge tree.

2. CASE STUDIES

1. JESUS
   “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to Him those He wanted, and they came to Him. He appointed twelve that they might be with Him and that He might send them out.” (Mark 3:13-14)
2. PAUL
   “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable (faithful) people who will also be qualifies to teach others.” (2 Timothy 2:2)
3. MOSES
   “The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, ‘What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?’
   
   Moses answered him, ‘Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instruction.’ Moses’ father-in-law replied, ‘What you are doing in not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to Him. Teach them His decrees and instructions and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave.
   But select capable men from all the people – men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain – and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for all the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.’
   Moses listened to his father-in law and did everything he said. He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of all the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.
   Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.”
   (Exodus 18:13-27)

   a. PROBLEM (v 13-18)
   “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?” v 14
   “What you are doing is not good.”  v 17

• Moses was wearing out
• The people were bored
• Moses had more important priorities to attend to
• b. ROLE (v 19-20)
  “Listen to me and I will give you some advice”

• PRAYER “You must be the people’s representative before God” v19
• TEACHING “Teach them His decrees and instructions and show them the way to live.” v20
• LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT “But select capable men from all the people – men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain – and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.” V21

  c. RESULTS – Raise them up for…

• YOURSELF to prevent you from burning out
• THEMSELVES to develop people into leaders
• OTHERS so that leaders might care for them
• FUTURE GENERATIONS to ensure the next generation will prosper

4. THE TWELVE DISCIPLES
   “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.’
   This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the Apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
   So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” Acts 6:1-7

   a. PROBLEM (v 1)
   “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.”

• The problem of growth.
• The problem of being diverted from the main things.
• The problem of disunity

  b. ROLE
  ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.’

• PRAYER : “We will give our attention to prayer” (v4)
• TEACHING : “We will give our attention to the ministry of the word.” (v4)
• LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT : “Choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.” (v4)

  c. RESULTS

• GROWTH “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” (v7)

3. REASONS FOR NOT DEVELOPING LEADERS
   
   • I can do a better job by myself
   • It takes too much time (I’m busy)
   • I need to stay in control
   • I don’t know how to do it
   • I have stopped growing
   • My vision is limited
   • I lack perspective – I see people as followers and not potential leaders
     4.  CHARACTERISTICS OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPERS
     • They make self-leadership a high priority. They know they can’t take people where they haven’t gone themselves. (Travel agent v tourist guide).
     • They are committed to developing leaders, not followers. They see their churches full of emerging leaders with great potential.
     • They define leadership as influence and not qualifications, years of experience or titles.
     • They are people of vision and see things before others see things and see further than others see. They have the ability to see people as Jesus saw people.
     • They know the qualities they are looking for in emerging leaders – FLATS people
       Faithful, Loyal, Available, Teachable, Servant heart.
     • They live a life where they are continually reaching and adding value to other people. They live a life of equipping and resourcing people according to their vision and celebrate the growth they see in people.
     • They are forward looking and never camp around the good old days.
     • They live the life of a servant and are not ego driven. They live for the glory of Jesus Christ and His kingdom.
     • They associate with other successful leaders who can add value to them and avoid people who are threatened by them and who want to discourage their passion to grow and make an impact with their life.
     • They are resourceful, generous and secure people who are willing to pay a price to gift others with resources that will assist their personal growth.
     • Thay have a strategy for developing leaders.
     • They are prayerful people and bathe every facet of their ministry in prayer, as Jesus did. “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them….” Luke 6:12-13
     • They are led by the Spirit to fulfill the work that the Father has entrusted to them. Just as Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, He can only do what He sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does.” John 6:19-20
     • They follow a strategy for developing leaders.
       * I do it – Modelling
       * I do it and you watch/help – Mentoring
       * You do it and I watch – Monitoring
       * You do it – Maturity
       * You do it and someone is with you – Multiplying
     • They call people to join them. They call them to a :
       * Relationship
       * Vision
       * Ministry
       * Team
     • They give the development of leaders a primary place in the life of their church.
       This can include:
       * Leadership training nights
       * Guest speakers
       * Leadership retreats
       * Leadership resource library
       * Releasing leaders to attend training courses.
       On one occasion I started a leadership training course on Saturday mornings at 7.00am for any interested persons. I mentioned that anyone could attend but made the starting time early in the morning in order that only the motivated people would attend. I was pleased when 25 people attended. One lady gave birth to a baby after starting the course and yet never missed a Saturday morning, so keen was she to attend (with her newborn baby).
     • They place importance on collaboration.
       I invested much of my time in my senior leadership team of which each member was responsible for developing their own departmental leadership team.
       * I would meet with my senior leadership team each week as a team and individually.
       * We met regularly with our families for a meal and for fellowship.
       * On occasions I would invite a guest speaker to come to our team meetings.
       * I encouraged team members to seek out other team members to discuss difficulties and encourage one another.
       
       5.  THE “E” GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING LEADERS

     • Example : The leader models a life of leadership for others to follow.
     • Environment : The leader is continually creating an environment that encourages the emergence and growth of leaders.
     • Exposure : The leader is exposing the leadership community to other gifted leaders who come to share their journey.
     • Encouragement : The leader is always looking for opportunities to encourage and affirm people in their leadership roles.
     • Expectation : The leader creates an environment that motivates continual growth.
     • Explanation : The leader is always ready to provide words of explanation to assist leaders who may need help in difficult situations.
     • Experiences : The leader takes advantage of unusual experiences to use them as opportunities for people in the leadership community to learn and grow.

       6. THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS

       There is no example like the example of Jesus who took ordinary people who made themselves available to Him to do extraordinary things. In his classic book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman writes of Jesus who wanted all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth and it started with the calling of a few men to follow Him.
       “His concern was not with the programs to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow…..Jesus saw in these simple men the potential of leadership for the kingdom. He had to devote himself primarily to a few men, rather than the masses, in order that the masses could at last be saved. This was the genius of His strategy……
       Most of the evangelistic efforts of the church begin with the multitudes under the assumption that the church is qualified to conserve what good is done….Surely if the pattern of Jesus at this point means anything at all it teaches that the first duty of a pastor as well as the first concern of an evangelist is to see to it that a foundation is laid in the beginning upon which can be built an effective and continuing evangelistic ministry to the multitudes.
       It will mean raising up TRAINED LEADERSHIP for the work of ministering with the pastor….Jesus demonstrated so clearly in His day that the multitudes can be won easily if they are just given LEADERS to follow.”

       Consider His amazing job description He gave to His disciples as He returned to heaven;
       “Go and make disciples of all nations……” Matthew 28:19
       He took ordinary people who made themselves available to Him in order that they might go and do extraordinary things.
       The development of leaders was a high priority for Jesus. Why not follow His example and do likewise?