by Warwick Alcock, Director of Strategic Operations
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)
The Creation ideal. In Genesis, Adam was expected to take leadership responsibility as God’s steward of all God had given him. However, Adam’s leadership and stewardship responsibilities failed in the Fall, and as a result, leadership crises have ensued throughout history.
Things fall apart, the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity. — W.B.Yeats.
Internationally, nationally and locally, there is a leadership crisis in our world. Today the question remains, ‘Who will lead?”
The redemptive role of the church. The church, as a redemptive community, is expected to restore the kind of leadership responsibilities we see in pre-Fall Creation. God personally came to dwell among us and show us how to lead — Jesus Christ gave all of us very concrete examples of how to be a disciple-maker, a servant leader and a Good Shepherd. Under Paul’s leadership we see many different people flourishing, including Priscilla and Aquila, the church’s first missionary couple, and many other men and women who labored side by side with Paul for the cause of the gospel.
The call to leadership. From both Jesus’s and Paul’s examples we see the exceptionally high standard of responsibility and accountability under God to which leaders are called. When leaders actually live out their high servant leadership calling before God, it creates an inspiring and enabling environment within which all people can exercise their God-given gifts, and truly flourish. Leadership excellence modeled on Christ is urgently needed in our disorientated and broken world. Secular leaders can’t address the spiritual heart of the problem and don’t have answers.
We need godly leaders. We need principled, authentic servant leaders modeled on Jesus Christ — leaders who will rightly handle the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). The Biblical Foundations for Leadership class, taught by Dr. Harvey Martin, starts on Wednesday, August 3 at 6.45 pm at the Village Center in Minnetonka.
For more information, click here.
Alternatively, contact Trish at 952-540-9460, or email trish@villageschoolsofthebible.org.
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