Thursday, January 15th, 2009
1. Kinds of Leadership
Leaders in the Bible
Saul & David were both leaders, but two different kinds of leaders. Saul was sought after by the people of Israel when they desired to be like the surrounding nations that had kings. Beforehand, their only leader was their creator, God—but now the people were demanding to be like everyone else, to have a strong, leading king. Thus, God provided them Saul. Saul surely looked like a king with his strapping features and sense of authority. Yet, he did not listen to God’s commands. Saul began to drink deeply from the cup of power and delighted in doing his will and not the will of God. That is where David comes into play. David was the least likely candidate to be selected for the next king—small shepherd boy, youngest in his family, embracing not a hint of regal nature. But David loved the Lord, which made all the difference in his leadership. David was a true servant leader.
Servant leadership is an understanding and practice of leadership that places the good of those led over the self-interest of the leader. Saul appeared to be an excellent leader and had a good start. But looks are rather deceiving. The Israelites quickly learned that. What David did that Saul failed to do was be an authentic man that valued his people and loved God with all his heart.
Kinds of Leadership
There are two different kinds of leaders: transformational and transactional. Transactional are the ones that lead in order to get something in return—like a profit. Transformational leaders are leaders that help transform a group of people in order to help them become more effective in accomplishing a unified goal—servant leadership falls under such a category. Servant leadership defined from a secular stand-point is a leader who puts the people and their development before themselves.
There are three types of leadership—servant, selfish and sacrificial. As stated previously, servant leadership involves one transforming a group of people to reach a unified goal by placing the people and the development before their own desires. Now selfish leadership uses the people so that the leader can get somewhere. Sacrificial leadership is the leader and the followers all sacrificing themselves to almost burnout in order to reach their goal—like selfish leadership except its at all cost for God and the church rather than for personal gain.
An effective form of leadership within the context of the church is to accomplish the goals of the church using moral methods. Letting people know that you are passionate about the goals and about leading them is fundamental. If you really want to serve the people then they will really want to serve you back.
Such a concept follows the Eastern idea of leadership in which the shepherd leads its flock from the front rather than from behind. The Eastern idea of a shepherd leader is to lead the flock to greener pastures. The flocks’ motivation comes from trusting the leader opposed to fearing the leader. Being a leader and a pastor, I need to gain the trust of those whom are entrusted into my care.
-Kelly Jones
1. Kinds of Leadership
Leaders in the Bible
Saul & David were both leaders, but two different kinds of leaders. Saul was sought after by the people of Israel when they desired to be like the surrounding nations that had kings. Beforehand, their only leader was their creator, God—but now the people were demanding to be like everyone else, to have a strong, leading king. Thus, God provided them Saul. Saul surely looked like a king with his strapping features and sense of authority. Yet, he did not listen to God’s commands. Saul began to drink deeply from the cup of power and delighted in doing his will and not the will of God. That is where David comes into play. David was the least likely candidate to be selected for the next king—small shepherd boy, youngest in his family, embracing not a hint of regal nature. But David loved the Lord, which made all the difference in his leadership. David was a true servant leader.
Servant leadership is an understanding and practice of leadership that places the good of those led over the self-interest of the leader. Saul appeared to be an excellent leader and had a good start. But looks are rather deceiving. The Israelites quickly learned that. What David did that Saul failed to do was be an authentic man that valued his people and loved God with all his heart.
Kinds of Leadership
There are two different kinds of leaders: transformational and transactional. Transactional are the ones that lead in order to get something in return—like a profit. Transformational leaders are leaders that help transform a group of people in order to help them become more effective in accomplishing a unified goal—servant leadership falls under such a category. Servant leadership defined from a secular stand-point is a leader who puts the people and their development before themselves.
There are three types of leadership—servant, selfish and sacrificial. As stated previously, servant leadership involves one transforming a group of people to reach a unified goal by placing the people and the development before their own desires. Now selfish leadership uses the people so that the leader can get somewhere. Sacrificial leadership is the leader and the followers all sacrificing themselves to almost burnout in order to reach their goal—like selfish leadership except its at all cost for God and the church rather than for personal gain.
An effective form of leadership within the context of the church is to accomplish the goals of the church using moral methods. Letting people know that you are passionate about the goals and about leading them is fundamental. If you really want to serve the people then they will really want to serve you back.
Such a concept follows the Eastern idea of leadership in which the shepherd leads its flock from the front rather than from behind. The Eastern idea of a shepherd leader is to lead the flock to greener pastures. The flocks’ motivation comes from trusting the leader opposed to fearing the leader. Being a leader and a pastor, I need to gain the trust of those whom are entrusted into my care.
-Kelly Jones
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