The first element of transformational thinking is looking at God. The continuous experience of inward union with Christ is the source and center of all other healthy thinking behaviors.

I want to know Christ… (Phil. 3:10)

This was Paul’s cry, his passionate pursuit. To know the Lord Jesus is the greatest prize, far surpassing everything else in this life (Phil. 3:4-9).

Jesus defined “eternal life” the same way: eternal life is to know God.

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

But, what exactly does it mean to “know” Jesus Christ? What does it mean to “know” God?

Knowing God

In the world, there are many ideas about what it means to “know God.” Here are a few:

• To know God is to serve others.
• To know God is to obey moral rules.
• To know God is to perform religious rituals.
• To know God is to have an accurate understanding about Him.
• To know God is to sense the beauty and grandeur of His creation.
• To know God is to feel the passion and depth of the arts.
• To know God is to experience wonderful emotions of peace and joy.
• To know God is to achieve an inward state of freedom from selfish desires.
• To know God is to receive forgiveness of sins and then passively wait for eternity in heaven after death.

According to each of these various approaches, if you do this then you “know God.” To do it means to know God.

According to the New Testament, however, none of these definitions is satisfactory. Biblically, knowing Christ is the gift from God of an inward experience of fellowship with Him, by His Spirit and through His Word, which results in the transformation of every aspect of life.

First, it is His gift. We can know Jesus because, by His death on the cross, He paid the penalty for our sins, reconciling us to God.

… since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand… God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Rom. 5:1-5)

It is the gift of God – and it is always His gift – that we can know Him. We do not earn fellowship with God. He gives Himself to us. Throughout our lives we grow in our union with Christ, but we never earn it – whether by external obedience or inward spiritual exercise.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb. 10:19-22)

Second, while knowing God is an experience, it is not an emotional, intellectual or physical one (although it will impact these aspects of life). In our hearts, we look at God, we receive His love, we love Him, we know Him.

And we all, with unveiled face [in our hearts, v. 15], beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18, ESV)

Third, it is by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals to us the Son of God who reveals the Father.

All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. (John 16:15)

Consequently, through the indwelling Spirit we have the fullness of the Godhead abiding in us!

Fourth, we find inward union with God through His Word. The Word of God reveals Him in truth and power.

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3)

Finally, knowing God results in transformation of all we are and do (Rom. 6:1-4). This will mean peace with God (Rom. 5:1), obedience (John 14:15; 1 John 3:24), holiness (Rom. 8:3-4; 1 John 2:3-6), vision and fruitfulness (John 15:5), endurance with hope in times of suffering (2 Cor. 4:16-18), and love and servanthood toward others (Gal. 5:13-14).

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Cor. 5:17)

In our next Letter, we will begin to look at the practical dynamics of this inward union with Christ – how it “works” – particularly as it relates to Christian leadership.

This Letter introduces a new model of transformational thinking.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30)

To “love God with all your mind” means to fully explore and use the thinking capacities He has given you, in a manner always proceeding from, and subject to, His indwelling Presence.

The Fall and Rise of the Mind of Man

God created man to be a brilliant thinker. After his creation in God’s image, man had the ability to know His Creator – to look at Him, to fellowship with Him, to love Him – and to serve Him with highly complex thinking capacities.

When he sinned, man died spiritually (Gen. 2:17; Eph. 2:1, 5), becoming alienated from God’s life and truth (Col. 1:21). The image of God in man was deeply marred, and his thinking became “futile”: empty and worthless.

…their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. (Rom. 1:21-22; cf. Ps. 94:11)

Consequently, even though fallen man is still capable of complex and sophisticated thinking, by virtue of his creation in God’s image, it is but a faint and distorted shadow of his original thinking capacities. Thus, man can split the atom but builds atomic bombs, he creates the internet but disperses pornography and violence on it, he produces intricate pieces of art that are idolatrous and blasphemous, he shapes brilliant analysis but uses it to deceive others.

…out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. (Matt. 15:19)

Thank God, He did not abandon us to our own corrupt and futile ways! Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can be reconciled to God, and restored to union with Him. From His indwelling life, through the power of His truth, our minds are then progressively “renewed” (Rom. 12:2) and our thinking capacities restored to the true image of God (Col. 3:10).

As we daily choose to walk in “new life” (Rom. 6:4), counting ourselves “dead to sin but alive to God” (Rom. 6:11), we can have the “mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16)! Thus, our thinking is transformed and God can use us as His agents of transformation for others.

How Leaders Think

Essentially, leaders do two things: they think and act. To be successful, they must do both well.

Many writers on leadership (ourselves included) have appropriately focused on the leader’s many and varied actions, such as communication, leading change, team-building, conflict management, collaboration, delegation, building leaders, and so forth. This model of transformational thinking focuses instead on the inward life of the leader – how he thinks – the fountainhead of his actions.

While it is vital to give attention to the content of thinking (what we think), we must also attend to the processes of thinking (how we think).

This model identifies ten critical thinking capacities of a healthy Christian leader. These behaviors are distinct from each other, but there is much overlap and interaction between them. Usually, integrated clusters of them will work together in various situations.

In our next Letters, we will examine these ten habits of transformational thinking:

1. Looking at God. The continuous experience of inward union with Christ is the source and center of all other healthy thinking behaviors.

2. Passion for the Highest. The leader must always strive to grow, to solve, to build, to overcome – always pressing on to fulfill God’s purposes.

3. Love of Learning. Transformational thinking explores, questions and continuously learns.

4. Learning from Mistakes. The leader must be resilient, flexible and adaptable, able to learn from his own mistakes.

5. Thinking about Thinking. Reflection and evaluation help the leader maintain accurate self-awareness and avoid self-deception and unnecessary limitations.

6. Embracing Ambiguity. Leadership is rarely straightforward and clear, so the leader must be willing and able not only to tolerate ambiguity but actually to embrace paradox and uncertainty as the indispensable authors of new insights, solutions and opportunities.

7. Thinking Interdependently. Together we are complete. The leader must value, and be sensitive and accountable to, those around him. To think well, he needs to think in cooperation with others.

8. Engaging Deeply. Healthy leaders fully participate in the world around them. To understand joy, sorrow, beauty, pain, victory and divine life, the leader must experience them.

9. Integrating Science and Art. Healthy thinkers develop and use both discipline and creativity – both logic and innovation – to solve problems and explore opportunities.

10. Thinking Holistically. A key leadership capacity is to see the big picture, integrating spiritual and practical, identifying and analyzing both internal and external patterns, and recognizing how each part relates to the whole.

This is transformational thinking! Such internal habits can transform our lives and the lives of those around us.

Our hope is that this model will present these thinking behaviors in a clear, unified, Christ-centered framework that enables us to more systematically and comprehensively nurture and use these habits as we live (thinking and acting well) out of Jesus’ indwelling life for His glory.

The next Letter will consider the first habit of transformational thinking: looking at God.

God’s ultimate purpose in all things revolves around His Son:

having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him. (Eph. 1:9-10, NKJV)

The Son of God, Himself, is the final and complete revelation of God (Heb. 1:1-2). He fully reveals the Father (John 1:18; 16:15; 17:10, 26; Col. 1:19). In Him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). Everything is “under His feet” (1 Cor. 15:27). All things were created through Him and for Him, and all things are held together by Him (Col. 1:16-17). In everything, He has the preeminence (Col. 1:18).

Accordingly, the biblical model of leader development revolves specifically around the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Healthy leader development must be entirely Christ-centered, Christ-focused, Christ-absorbed. The Son of God is all in all!

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. (Col. 2:9-10, NKJV)

In previous Letters, we have examined both the goal and the process of Christian leader development. In everything, leader development must revolve around the Son of God.

First, the goal of leader development must be Jesus Christ. All five of the necessary elements of healthy leadership are connected directly to Him:

• Christ (John 15:5; Gal. 2:20; Col. 2:6). Apart from union with Christ, we will accomplish nothing of any eternal value. “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

• Community (Eph. 1:23; 2:21-22; 3:16-19; 4:11-16; 5:31-32). Spiritual maturity is a corporate experience. First, Christ builds community; the leader’s union with Christ will be expressed in the leader living together with others in the Community in self-giving love, in true servanthood. Second, community builds Christ; it is in nurturing and accountable relationships with others that the leader will fully experience the indwelling life of Christ.

• Character (Phil. 1:11; Is. 64:6). Human righteousness, apart from His indwelling life, is “filthy rags” in God’s eyes. True righteousness “comes through Jesus Christ.”

• Calling (1 Cor. 3:11-13; Gal. 1:1). Neither man nor ministry should be first; in all things, Christ must have the preeminence. Today, so much is done in the church to serve either man’s need or his ambition; but God is only glorified through His own vision, He is only pleased with what He initiated.

• Competencies (2 Cor. 3:5-6; Phil. 3:4-11; 4:13; Col. 1:10-12; 1 Pet. 4:11; Zech. 4:6). All of man’s greatest accomplishments are “rubbish” compared to that which comes from Jesus’ indwelling life.

We could build our emerging leaders to shine brilliantly in every human capacity, but if we have neglected to bring them into deep union with Christ, from Whom the whole person is properly built, they will ultimately experience failure in both life and ministry.

Second, the process of leader development must be Jesus Christ. He is the Source of power in all four of the Dynamics of Transformation:

• Spiritual (2 Cor. 3:18). There was a veil in our hearts of separation between us and God. In Christ, God has removed this veil. Now, inwardly, we can see Him, we can hear Him, we can touch Him. As we look inwardly at Him we are transformed into His likeness, by His Spirit, from one realm of glory to another.

• Relational (Eph. 4:16). Corporately, we are united with the eternal self-giving fellowship of the triune Godhead. The Father loves the Son who loves the Spirit who loves the Father and the Son – through us! It is “from Him [that] the whole body… grows and builds itself up in love.”

• Experiential (2 Cor. 1:8-9; 12:7-10). Challenges and sufferings take us beyond our own strength and we are forced (often for the first time) to look away from ourselves and to truly rely, with deep surrender, on Him; that is how we are changed.

• Instructional (2 Tim. 3:16-17). “All Scripture is God-breathed” – this is not only a proof text for the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture; it is a revelation of specifically how the Word changes us. Our interaction with the Word of God must go beyond human intellectualism. It is through the breath of His Spirit upon His Word that we are transformed.

Our training programs might harness the latest and greatest of human wisdom and methods, but if we do not bring our emerging leaders into face-to-face encounters with the Son of God (1 John 1:1-3) – through spiritual, relational, experiential and instructional dynamics – their lives will not be transformed.

Thus, leader development must revolve around Him in everything.

It is an extraordinary and utterly disastrous error to ignore, neglect or assume the intentional centrality of the Son of God in practical Christian leader development in both its goal and process. Jesus, Himself, is the Goal and He is the Process.

Today, in many nations, Christian leaders are returning to their first love – to Him. Burned out and frustrated, they are recognizing that they have been absorbed in His work more than in His Person, and that they are much better equipped in knowledge about Him than in living union with Him.

Of all of the many necessary paradigm shifts that Christian leader development is currently undergoing, this is the deepest, the most profound, the most vital.

Let us return to the centrality and the preeminence of the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, in Christian leader development. He, Himself, is our Process and our Goal; He, Himself, is our Journey and our Destination.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen. (Rom. 11:36)

In our last Letter, we looked at the goal of leader development – we must build healthy leaders. There are five key attributes of a healthy leader:

• Christ.
• Community.
• Character.
• Calling.
• Competencies.

Thus, a healthy Christian leader is a man or woman who knows God, was formed and lives in supportive and accountable community, has strong character, knows the purpose of God and presents it with credibility, clarity and passion, and has the necessary gifts, skills and knowledge to lead the people in the accomplishment of this purpose – and is continually growing in all five areas.

Whether or not one embraces our particular “5C Model,” everyone agrees that we must build the whole person. Certainly, no one seems to be arguing that we should build Christian leaders who don’t know God, or who don’t have character, and so forth!

But how can we build the whole person? It’s very easy to say that we need to do this. How can we actually build union with Christ, relational capacity, integrity, vision and practical ministry capacities in an emerging or existing leader?

There is no guaranteed formula for doing this. However, biblically, there are consistent dynamics that are effective in changing people’s lives. In addition, our own experience affirms the power of these dynamics. After 30 years of walking with God, studying the Scriptures, leading churches and building leaders, we have experienced and observed, over and over again, four particular dynamics that bring transformation to people’s lives. These are the “Four Dynamics of Transformation.”

This idea of Four Dynamics – the 4Ds – is so simple and yet so powerful. We already know this intuitively; it’s commonsense. There are four dynamics that bring transformation of life:

• Spiritual – the transforming power of the Holy Spirit (connecting with God).
• Relational – the transforming power of relationships with others (connecting with people).
• Experiential – the transforming power of life’s experiences (connecting with life).
• Instructional – the transforming power of the Word of God (connecting with Truth).

This was the practice of the early church:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)

They were “devoted” to all four dynamics:

• the apostles’ teaching – instructional.
• fellowship – relational.
• the breaking of bread – experiential.
• prayer – spiritual.

This is how lives were changed in the New Testament church!

This was how Jesus built His emerging leaders (see a previous Letter). This was how Paul ministered the Gospel:

…our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. (1 Thess. 1:5-7)

Once more, all 4Ds were present:

• our gospel came to you not simply with words – instructional.
• but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction – spiritual.
• You know how we lived among you for your sake – relational.
• You became imitators of us and of the Lord – experiential.
• in spite of severe suffering – experiential.

As a result, the lives of the Thessalonians were transformed and they became “a model to all the believers.”

How the 4Ds Work

Through the spiritual dynamic, we come face-to-face with the inward Presence of the Holy Spirit, who transforms us:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18, ESV)

Through the relational dynamic, we connect with people who reveal Christ to us and transform us:

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Eph. 4:16; cf. Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:7; 1 Pet. 4:10)

The experiential dynamic includes the impact on us of many kinds of life’s experiences. For example, in the sufferings, challenges and pressures of life, we go beyond our own capacities to succeed and, in a deeper way, look to God for His help, and we are changed:

… We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (2 Cor. 1:8-9)

In the instructional dynamic, we are changed by the Word of God, by the power of Truth:

… and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:15-17)

When all 4Ds are strongly present in a leader development design, spiritual life is nurtured, relational capacities are strengthened, character is developed, calling is clarified and deep leadership capacities are built. This is how healthy leaders are built.

The 4Ds in Leader Development Design

If we are to build the whole person, our leader development design must strongly be:

• Spiritual. We must bring our emerging leaders face-to-face with God through prayer, fasting, meditation in the Word of God, forgiveness, reflection and encounters with the Holy Spirit.
• Relational. Healthy leaders are built in a context of genuine relationships with other people who are their mentors, coaches, role models, leaders, teachers, friends, and spiritual mothers and fathers.
• Experiential. Leader development is a hands-on experience. People learn by doing, especially when they are challenged. Pressure is also essential in the formation of a leader.
• Instructional. The teaching of the Word of God must be practical, relevant and engaging.

To build healthy leaders, all Four Dynamics of Transformation must be strongly present; none can be neglected, all have the highest priority. This is the true challenge of Christian leader development – to design and cultivate transformational cultures of leader development.

An effective leader possesses a blend of three special elements:

1. Vision. In Christian circles, we could also call this “Calling.”
2. Character.
3. Competence.

All three elements are found in the description of King David in Psalm 78:

He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. (Ps. 78:70-72)

Verses 70-71 reveal David’s calling:

He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people

Verse 72a shows his character:

David shepherded them with integrity of heart

Verse 72b describes David’s competencies:

with skillful hands he led them.

Just as a stool has three legs, there are three foundations of effective leadership. All three must be present and in balance for the leader to succeed. The three foundations are calling, character and competencies.

What would happen if one element were missing in the life of a leader?

1. If a leader possessed a strong calling and strong character but had weak competencies, he would produce a big mess! There would be lots of great ideas, good intentions, passion, zeal, sincerity and godliness, but nothing much actually accomplished by the organization.
2. If the leader had strong character and strong competencies, but was weak in the area of calling and vision, the organization would run like a well-oiled machine, but it would not accomplish anything of significant value.
3. To think of a leader with a strong calling and strong competencies, but who was weak in character is the very worst scenario! This combination would spell inevitable disaster for the leader and for everyone in the organization. In the words of Howard Hendricks, “The greatest crisis today is a crisis of leadership. And the greatest peril of leadership is a crisis of character. Think about it, to give a person management techniques and leadership skills without integrity is simply to enable him to become a better rip-off artist.”

We need all three. Thus, the three necessary capacities of effective leadership are character, calling and competencies.

But is this sufficient? Is this model sufficient to describe a mature, balanced and effective Christian leader? Is there anything missing?

There are two elements missing in our model: Christ and Community. These are the two great commandments Jesus gave us:

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt. 22:35-40)

The leader must be in right relationship with God and with his brothers.

So, there are actually five elements that must be present in the life of a healthy Christian leader: Calling, Character, Competencies, Christ and Community.

Now, let’s put these five in order. Which should come first? Of these five, which produces which?

Here is the order. Our model of the holistic Christian leader starts with his personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The leader must know God.

Christ must come first.

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 3:11)

And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (Col. 1:18)

True leadership is not possible without Christ first! Without Christ first, the other four elements will not work – like a body without a head!

Without Christ first in the life of the leader, he will never get along in community with others:

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. (Tit. 3:3)

Without Christ first, the leader’s character will be sinful:

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. (Eph. 4:17-19)

Biblically, Christian leadership is not character-based; it is Christ-based. While character is vitally important in Christian leadership, it is not first. Christ is first!

In Christian leadership, everything does not proceed from character and values; everything proceeds from union with Christ. This is not mere semantics but it goes to the very heart of how we understand the Christian life and Christian leadership.

To make this distinction is not to undermine the importance of character and values. On the contrary, this actually establishes true character and values, proceeding not from human effort but from the indwelling life of Christ!

…If a man abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit… (John 15:5)

so that you may be… filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God. (Phil. 1:10-11)

Without Christ first, the leader will have no calling other than hopelessness and futility:

remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. (Eph. 2:12)

Sadly, many Christian leaders put their callings first and then try to use Christ to fulfill their own ambitious, self-centered visions. But He will not accept second place in anyone’s life. We should not pray for power without first praying to know Christ. We should not use the Word of God for teaching, without first using His Word to know Him. Ministry must not be first; in all things, Christ must have the preeminence.

Finally, man’s competencies are useless apart from Christ. Without Christ first, the leader is capable of nothing of any value in God’s eyes:

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags… (Is. 64:6)

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

True competencies come from Him:

Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant… (2 Cor. 3:5-6)

Christ must be first! The leader must know God. He must walk with God, and out of his relationship with Jesus will proceed every other aspect of his leadership.

This is not just the “best” way; it is the only way to true Christian leadership. Everything else is mere fleshly works.

Second, the leader’s personal relationship with Jesus must be expressed and worked out in the daily life of his various communities: his family, his church community, the teams he is a part of, and the broader community of the world.

In this context of Christ and community, character will be formed in the life of the leader. The indwelling life of Christ expressed and worked out in community will develop godly character.

Since God now has someone with character, He can trust him with a calling. Once the leader has a calling he will need the competencies to fulfill that calling.

This is the logical progression of the elements in our model of healthy Christian leadership: Christ, Community, Character, Calling and Competencies.

Leaders with wrong priorities will never be satisfied and all they will ever produce will be like filthy rags in God’s eyes (Is. 64:6), useless works of wood, hay and stubble:

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. (1 Cor. 3:11-13)

The foundation must be right, and then the building on that foundation must be right. The four elements all come from Christ.

If men put community first, a shallow, humanistic social club will result. If character is put first, legalism and self-righteousness will result. If leaders put calling first, competition and gift-identification will result. If competencies are put first, self-reliance and mere human achievement will be the results; the leaders may outwardly succeed, but such success will be empty and transient.

Leaders with the wrong first priority will never be satisfied. Moreover, they will always be insecure in their leadership because only Christ brings true security. Insecure leaders, sadly, often become abusive leaders, using others to build their own value and meaning. (Please see Abusive Leadership: SpiritBuilt Leadership #6 by Malcolm Webber for more on this.)

That is the logical progression of these elements of healthy Christian leadership. But we should not think that we must address each of these sequentially – as if a leader must first be mature in Christ before he begins to address his need for community, etc. The leader should grow in all five areas concurrently. Consequently, the following is a better way to visualize the relationships of these five elements:

Christ and community are the contexts of the healthy leader: he needs to live in Christ and in community. Character, calling and competence are his capacities: they need to be in him.

Christ is the Source of character, calling and competencies. Christ is also the broader context of true community. Truly, He is the Center and Circumference of all things (Eph. 4:4-6)! In community, character is formed, vision is clarified and competencies are developed.

In our last Letter, we saw that self-giving love is at the core of healthy Christian leadership. For the healthy leader, the “fundamental focus shifts from what we need and from what others should be doing for us to what we can do to serve them… [This] is the very essence of what Jesus did in His life and ministry and it is at the heart of what He calls us to do (Matt. 20:26-28).”

So, does the Christian leader need help from others or is his focus to give help to others? Of course, the answer is yes!

Jesus was perfect and, yet, He needed the ministry of others to Him. Jesus had friends and He needed them; as a Man, He needed their fellowship and support. For example, Jesus was grieved when they fell asleep in the garden (Matt. 26:36-45). He needed them:

…My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. (Matt. 26:38)

Paul also had friends, and they nurtured and strengthened him:

You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it. I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. For they refreshed my spirit and yours also… (1 Cor. 16:15-18)

Significantly, Stephanas was Paul’s own convert! Paul was not too proud to receive nurture and support from his own spiritual son. Onesiphorus, also, was a friend to Paul and strengthened him in “many ways,” doubtless including emotionally and spiritually:

May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus. (2 Tim. 1:16-18; cf. 2 Cor. 7:6-7)

Romans 16:1-16 mentions several of Paul’s “dear” friends and even a spiritual “mother” in verse 13!

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too. (Rom. 16:13)

According to Ken Williams in A Model for Mutual Care, Paul’s “letters mention at least 75 specific friends and colleagues. These were significant people in his life, many of whom ministered to him.” Paul, clearly, had a strong personal commitment to community!

If Jesus, the Son of God, and Paul, the mighty apostle, needed friends, who are we that we don’t? It is not a sign of strength to be by oneself in leadership. It is a mark of weakness. Leaders need friends. Their community around them is like the soil in which the leader grows and thrives, and a plant is never independent of the soil.

…in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Rom. 12:5)

No leader ever grows to the point where he is so strong in God that he no longer needs vital relationships with others around him. Effective Christian leaders lead in a context of community – not as tough “ministry islands” off by themselves. In the body of Christ, no members are independent:

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. (1 Cor. 12:12)

At the same time, the healthy leader recognizes that his primary role is to serve – to be a giver. Consequently, his focus is on the people he serves.

…children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well… (2 Cor. 12:14-15)

The healthy leader honestly recognizes his own needs for help and, embracing those needs, puts himself in the place where he can receive nurture, encouragement and accountability, but he does not demand that his needs become the center of attention. In fact, Paul describes this demanding as one characteristic of the false teachers who were serving themselves at the expense of the people:

For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. (2 Cor. 4:5)

In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. (2 Cor. 11:20)

Even when Paul exhorted the people that they should give, it was for their benefit, not his:

I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me… I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances… I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles… Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. (Phil. 4:10-17)

Thus, the healthy leader recognizes his own needs and puts himself in the place where those needs can be met, but he does not make his needs the center of attention, selfishly and immaturely demanding that others put him first. The healthy leader is a giver – a servant.

…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28)

In our last Letters, we looked at the relationship between Christ and Community in the leader’s life: Christ builds Community, and Community builds Christ.

First, “Christ builds Community” means the leader’s union with Christ will be expressed in the leader living together with others in the Community in self-giving love, in true servanthood. If you know God, you will love and serve your brother (1 John 4:7).

Second, “Community builds Christ” means that it is only as a part of the Community that the leader will fully experience the indwelling life of Christ.

For the leader to live in true love and servanthood, and thus experience the fullness of Christ in His people, clearly requires that the leader embrace the cross. His love must be truly self-giving.

Sadly, the fact is that most people everywhere are absorbed in their own needs and focused on having those needs met rather than on what they can do to help others. This is a core part of the fallen nature of man. Many Christians are certainly saved but they are still babies, and babies are, of course, entirely self-absorbed. All they know, all they can see, are their own needs. As they mature, they gradually begin to recognize that others have needs, and that they have responsibilities to others and not only to themselves.

This is a key “step” in Christian maturity and especially in the path toward true Christian ministry and leadership – to make the intentional, heart choice to embrace the cross (death to one’s own agendas, needs and hurts) and to reach out and serve others, to look out for their needs, to prefer them before ourselves.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus… (Phil. 2:3-5)

As we choose to inwardly turn from self to others, our fundamental focus shifts from what we need and from what others should be doing for us to what we can do to serve them. This is a profound and painful death but it is also a life-giving choice. For the first time, we find true life and true joy; there is no joy in serving ourselves – self is a hard and endlessly-demanding task master. As we choose to embrace this cross, we ourselves have the wonderful privilege of becoming a genuine part of the solution for man’s sinful condition; we become God’s true instruments in the redemption of fallen humanity. This is a part of what Jesus referred to as losing our own lives in order to find true life (Matt. 10:38-39).

It is so central to the Christian life, that this self-giving love for our brothers and sisters is seen, often in the New Testament, as one key mark of being a genuine follower of Jesus:

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. (1 John 3:14)

It is certainly a fundamental characteristic of the mature Christian leader:

I have no one else like him [Timothy], who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. (Phil. 2:20-21)

Needless to say, this “step” of maturity is much more than a single step. It a daily, and lifelong, decision to choose serving rather than being served:

…If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

It is the very essence of what Jesus did in His life and ministry and it is at the heart of what He calls us to do:

…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matt. 20:26-28)

Moreover, this choice of the cross must not be conditional. We cannot begin to serve others only on the condition that they will then serve us and meet our needs. We do not meet others “halfway.” We must embrace the cross with all our hearts, expecting nothing in return, or we have not truly embraced it at all.

This is the core nature of servant leadership – self-giving love. It is not a love expressed necessarily in swelling words of love; it is expressed in daily choosing the cross, in the usually mundane, often tedious, and sometimes harsh realities of our lives together. This is where we find Jesus, because this is the life that He chose and, through us, continues to choose.

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:12)

No one has ever seen God (1 Tim. 6:16), but when we embrace the cross and love each other we do see Him – in one another!

In our last Letter, we looked at the relationship between Christ and Community and the implications of this relationship for leader development.

In the New Testament, there is a very close relationship between the church and the leader’s maturing union with Christ. This relationship can be expressed in two fundamental ways: Christ builds Community, and Community builds Christ. Continue Reading »

In the western church, Christianity is largely understood as an individual thing – a personal transaction between the individual and God. Consequently, leader development is also understood, largely, in individual terms – the individual learns and grows in an essentially individualized learning environment and then, once qualified, he performs his ministry and fulfills his personal calling.

In the New Testament, however, there is a very close relationship between the church and the leader’s maturing union with Christ. Continue Reading »

In our last Letter, we saw that a healthy church, like a healthy body, is one in which every member is functioning properly; this means that every member grows, serves and builds others. If we can create a church culture in which every believer takes responsibility to grow, serve and build, our churches will transform their worlds! Continue Reading »