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How To Develop A Leader
The 5C Goal of Leader Development
Christ, Community, Character, Calling, Competencies
According to Robert Clinton, over 70 percent of leaders who successfully climb the ladder of leadership influence do not finish well. Some dramatically fail, precipitating public scandal, while the majority of leaders who lose their influence just fade quietly into obscurity.
They fall short because in their outwardly successful lives there is a disconnection between the development of leadership skills and the development of leadership integrity. The lack of integrity is a frequent cause for leaders failing to fulfill their true potential; and this lack of integrity can be traced to a lack of Christ and strong relationships in the lives of the leaders.
A strong Christian leader knows God (Christ), was formed and lives in supportive and accountable relationships, has integrity, 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.
When a person goes to Bible school to become a leader, what is addressed? Only skills such as biblical knowledge, how to preach, how to counsel, etc. Skills are essential but not sufficient in developing strong leaders. Consequently, we have many “disconnections” in our leaders today.
A 14-nation research project found that the prime reasons for early and painful return from missionary service were not related to inadequate formal training in missions. The project found that the prime causes were clustered around issues related to spirituality, integrity and relationships in the life of the missionary. In other words, it is usually not a lack of skills that undermines missionaries; it is inadequacies in the other areas.
The 4D Process of Healthy Leader Development
Instructional, Relational, Experiential, Spiritual
The task of developing leaders is complex and very little understood. Consequently, often it is essentially left up to chance. When asked what his leader development strategy was, one leader said, “You just have to let the cream rise to the top.” In other words, “We have no international strategy for leader development; we’re just hoping for the best!”
Many times, efforts at leadership building focus on courses and curriculum—the content. Not much time is spent on developing an appropriate process of development, which includes context as well as content.
Jesus’ method of building leaders is summarized in Mark 3:
He appointed twelve—designated them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons (Mark 3:14-15).
In this simple but profound statement, we have a distillation of how Jesus developed leaders. In short, Jesus created a transformational context around His emerging leaders:
A spiritual environment, involving relationship with God (with Himself, as well as with the Father through prayer).
A relational web, involving relationship with a mature leader (Himself), and relationships with others (the relationships of the disciples).
An active context, involving challenging assignments and a diversity of learning opportunities.
Traditionally, we are more likely to seat our emerging leaders in neat rows behind desks and lecture them interminably in our attempts to build them. We are often very strong in our teaching but weak in the environment we create for leader development. However, we must give significant attention to the spiritual, relational, active, and teaching aspects of developing leaders.
This is how lives are changed! When all of these factors are strongly present, spiritual life is nurtured, relational capacities are strengthened, integrity is developed, purpose is clarified and deep leadership capacities are built.
This was also 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).
We see all of these environmental factors in this verse!
A Transformational Context
Hundreds of Christian leaders around the world from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds were asked these questions: How were you developed? What were the influences that formed and molded you as a leader? What made you the leader you are today?
Almost invariably, the answers include such things as parents, role models, examples, mentors, sufferings, responsibilities, rejections, failures, challenging assignments, etc. It is rare that someone will mention a course and when they do, it is often the teacher who personally impacted their lives and not so much the teaching that they remember.
An honest study of the Gospels will reveal that Jesus did exactly this with His disciples. His strategy was not merely to teach; He also created a transformational environment of leader development.
This is not to devalue teaching. We must have strong teaching. However, by itself, it is not sufficient. To build lives we must design transformational environments that are strong spiritually, relationally and actively.
Suppose we want to build evangelists. We could begin with an active component by simply sending them out to share the Gospel with unbelievers. “Just do and do it!” Will that work? Will they learn anything about evangelism? Certainly they will!
Now let’s include a relational dimension by sending them out with experienced evangelists who they can watch and who will watch them and encourage and correct them. Clearly this will work even better.
Now let’s add a strong spiritual element by having our emerging evangelists join with intercessors before going out. They will pray and cry for the lost, entering into God’s burden for those without Christ. Then, when they go out to evangelize they are also to look to God for help, asking Him who to go to, and waiting upon Him inwardly for the right words to speak. This will work better still!
Finally, let’s give them teaching —a good course on the meaning and nature of evangelism, studying God’s plan of salvation, a simple way to share the Gospel and one’s own testimony, some common objections to the Gospel and how to respond, etc. Now we’re building strong evangelists!
This simple example demonstrates the power of creating learning experiences that give strong attention to the whole leader. This is how lives are changed; this is how leaders are developed!