The real test of the depth of our faith

Here is an interesting question to ponder. What is the real test of the depth of our faith? One could answer the number of years we have walked with Christ. Or, the depth of our theology. Perhaps the ministries we have been involved in. Our work for Jesus.

I don't think it is any of those and I don't think it is dependent on how long we have been Christ followers.

The real test of the depth of our faith is when we face a situation or adversity where all of our own resources have been exhausted and we choose to trust God for the outcome no matter what it is. That is the point at which our true depth is tested and revealed. Not in the good times but in the very tough times.

It is in those times when we must grapple with the question of whether God is sovereign over our lives and if yes, if He is also good, no matter what the outcome. It is in those times when we must choose His hope over our despair and trust over disillusionment or bitterness. I have watched young believers respond with amazing faith and old believers with bitterness toward God. When adversity comes, the true depth of our faith is revealed - without exception.

In an ancient day, when calamity was about to come on the people of Judah, God's man Habakkuk said this:

"Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food, 
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls, 
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights"
Habakkuk 3:17-19

Habakkuk passed the test. Will we and do we? Life is very complicated and inevitably we come to those junctures and seasons where we have exhausted our own resources. Then life becomes amazingly simple: do we trust Him with the simple Child like faith that Jesus spoke of - and in the end - that is the deepest faith.

Heart or head leadership

I encounter three kinds of leaders. Those who lead from their heart, those who lead from their head and those who lead from both. Let me explain.

Heart leaders have very tender hearts and because of it everyone loves them. They are like chaplains to their staff and they don't want anyone to be unhappy. When someone is, they want to solve it. 

There is, however, a significant downside to those who lead only from their heart. First, their "chaplaincy" role can get in the way of their leadership and supervisory role. Second, in their desire to make everyone happy they easily agree to things that are not in the best interests of the organization as a whole and may in fact be unfair to others in the organization (when preference is given). Third, they find it hard to make tough choices that impact people because their strongest bent is not to cause anyone unhappiness. And fourth, they often ignore issues that require confrontation since they are deeply conflict adverse. 

The irony is that over time, a leader who leads primarily from their heart creates a dysfunctional organization rather than the healthy one they think they are creating because of their sensitive heart. 

Then there is the leader who leads only from his/her head. They are all facts, policies, figures, and bottom line. Often they will make decisions that may be right but in ways that hurt people. There is no margin for compassion or flexibility on issues that they could be flexible on. The downside is evident. There is not a spirit of empathy or compassion, individual needs are not addressed even when they could be and process is not a high priority so that even good decisions are carried out in a way that disempower people. This style of leadership can be as dysfunctional as the first style, just for opposite reasons.

There is a third option that is far healthier than these two and that is to lead from both our hearts and our head. Here we are committed to always doing the right thing (not meaning the easy thing) but in a way that honors people and takes their concerns into account. In this leadership style we take people's issues into account but at the same time do not do for one what we would be unwilling to do for another and do not show favoritism! Nor do we ignore personnel or work issues because we don't want to make others feel bad. That is simply leadership default and while it may feel fair it is really unfair to everyone else in the organization.

Heart/Head leadership makes these commitments:

• I will always take into account the legitimate concerns of my staff
• I will be flexible to meet their needs without showing favoritism or extending to one what I would not extend to another all things being equal
• I will make decisions that are best for the organization as a whole but be deeply sensitive to how those decisions impact people and are carried out
• I will foster a caring, collegial workplace where people genuinely matter and where we are committed to accomplishing the mission God has given us
• I will do all I can to honor staff in the accomplishment of our mission, even when changes need to be made

Since all of us are wired toward either heart or head leadership, having people around us who can balance out our bent is helpful and important. Both matter!

Choosing the right leaders in your church: You get what you choose!

This is the time of the year that many congregations choose leaders for their congregation. Whether it is called the Leadership Board, Church Council, Deacons or by some other name the quality of those you choose will in large part determine the health of your church and ministry in the years to come. 

This is not an area to take lightly or to compromise. Churches get what they deserve when it comes to choosing leaders - for better or for worse. In fact it takes only one bad choice to poison a whole board - or to keep the board tied up in trying to deal with the individual rather than on missional issues.

I believe that he New Testament spells out six core responsibilities of leaders for the church and these responsibilities have a significant bearing on who we choose to lead. If they are not qualified to do these things you need to think again. 

The six responsibilities of church leaders are:

1. To keep the spiritual temperature high
2. To ensure the congregation is well taught
3. To ensure that the congregation is protected from heresy, division and ongoing serious and unrepentant sin
4. To ensure the congregation is cared for
5. To ensure that people are developed, empowered and released in meaningful ministry (inside and outside of the church)
6. To ensure that the congregation is led well in missional ministry

If those are the six key responsibilities of church leaders what are the personal profile of a good church leader. If we look at the New Testament for its explicit and implicit statements on the matter we see 13 non-negotiable characteristics of a good church leader.

1. They exhibit a Godly Character and lifestyle
2. They have a deep passion for Jesus
3. They exhibit personal humility
4. They love people
5. They are life long learners
6. They agree with God's leadership assignment for church leaders
7. They are able or willing to grapple with the future
8. They are team focused
9. They are a willing leader
10. They have positive influence on others
11. They are purveyors of hope
12. They have a action bias
13. They have good Emotional Intelligence

In case you wonder where #13 comes from in the New Testament - it is implied as you cannot fulfill many of the other characteristics without good Emotional Intelligence.

Remember, it takes only one bad apple on a board to destroy a board's effectiveness. Every board should have a job description including qualifications and a board covenant that spells out how the board operates. The health of the board will be directly reflected in the health of the church. Be clear about what you want in board members and focus a great deal of attention on building a healthy board team.

See these articles as well:

Operate without a board covenant at your risk

Signs of a dysfunctional church board

Rethinking leadership selection for the church

Cutting through the fog of what good leadership looks like!

For those of us who lead, there are constant voices telling us how to do it, what good leaders look like, the secrets to leadership success and the din can be loud. Even disheartening! We know that we will never be as good a leader as (fill in the blank) or achieve what (fill in the blank) has done or have the influence as (fill in the blank).

So let me be perfectly frank: Much of what we hear and think about leadership is - well - crock! Ezra was not Nehemiah, who was not Esther, who was not Deborah, who was not Paul who was not David who was not Barnabas who was not you who is not me.

Here is what we do know about leaders. We are all made differently and all lead from the wiring and gifting that God uniquely gave to us. We should not expect others to lead like we do  and we should not expect to lead like others. Period!

In addition, because I lead a larger or smaller team than someone else is not a measure of my leadership skill. It is where God has placed me and my job is to lead as well as possible.

Finally, there are some universal characteristics of good leaders. They clarify the future and where the group needs to go. They develop, empower and release people into meaningful ministry and responsibility. They model the character and practices that they expect of others. They develop those they lead. They keep the team focused on the main thing and measure results. They give away credit for success and take responsibility for failure. They build teams of competent people.

How they do these things will be a matter of how they are gifted and wired. That they do these things indicates that they can lead well. Oh, one other thing, when they look behind them they see people who are willingly following.

If you lead, don't get caught in the comparison trap or try to lead like others. If God wanted you to be them He would have made you them. Instead He made you you for a specific reason. Learn from others but lead from the way in which God made you.

The dignity and gift of productive work

It is not unusual to hear people complain about their work. Just listen to the conversation around you on a plane or even the overheard phone conversations from the individual sitting next to you in the airline club. Bosses we don't like, crazy staff situations, suppliers who didn't come through policies that irritate.

But how often do we see work as a gift from God? A gift that gives us the dignity of making a living, providing for our families and using our creative skills in a meaningful way. The very fact that God "worked" six days in creation and rested on the seventh day was an example to us that He created us for work. For all the difficulties of the workplace, just talk to someone who has lost their job and is desperate to find one and we begin to realize the dignity and gift of work.

Work also puts us into contact with a group of individuals that Jesus wants us to influence and touch with His love. If your workplace is dysfunctional - you have the opportunity to bring the gift of sanity and care. Everyone we work with struggles with the same common life issues allowing us to be Jesus to them in hard times. Unfortunately work is the one thing we don't hear about in messages today and yet it is integral to most of our lives. In ignoring it we have ignored a gift from God.

I heard the story of a grizzled vendor in a poor country who sat every day in the same place, selling his beads, talking to those who came by and interacting with his fellow vendors. One day a tourist came and asked if he could buy all his beads. The vendor said no. The puzzled tourist asked why he wouldn't want to sell his whole stock. The old man looked at him and said, "Look around here. See all my friends? If I sold you all my stock I would have nothing to do here. This is my life. I need some to sell later, and tomorrow and next week." He understood that work gave his life meaning and value and dignity was was not willing to give it up. For him, work was not a commodity but something that gave meaning to life.

We were created for work. At creation God told Adam and Eve to rule over creation and work the Garden he created for them. Work was never a curse but a blessing. It can be hard, challenging and people can be irritating. It also gives our lives rhythm and meaning, allowing us to use our God given gifts and skills. 

If you have work, consider thanking God for the gift today. For those of your friends who do not have the gift, pray that they will find meaninful work.

The EQ factor in the leadership equation

Good leaders have good EQ! They understand its implications, know themselves and tendencies for good and bad, manage their shadow side, are open to input, are non defensive, empathetic and always growing their Emotional Intelligence. 

I am convinced that poor EQ is responsible for more poor leadership behaviors more than any other single factor. One can understand leadership principles, have vision and be able to deliver on it but if one has poor EQ, that one factor will significantly get in the way of their leadership because it negatively impacts those around them.

One must have a desire to grow their EQ but it is not without cost. It means that we are willing to confront, accept and deal with our shadow side. I spoke with leader recently who said, for years people would say he was intimidating and he always figured it was their problem until one day he accepted the fact that it was indeed how he was often perceived and started to manage the behaviors that caused the negative reaction to his communication style.

Here is the reason that many don't grow their EQ. It means that we have to listen to others and hear things about ourselves that we don't want to hear. It means that we must be willing to own the truth of those parts of our behaviors that hurt others and finally it means that we need to manage our behaviors so that they don't negatively impact others. Of course, we become better people, better leaders and are a lot easier to work with when we do.

At its root, good EQ is all about humility. The humility to hear, to learn to modify our behaviors and to not need to be right or to guard our pride and reputation. At its root, bad EQ is often about pride - the defenses we put up so that we don't have to confront the real us. That is why the best leaders are always humble leaders. Humility is the necessary ingredient to face truth in our lives and to commit ourselves to personal growth.

The irony in not owning up to our dark side is that it is not a secret to others. We are the only ones who don't get it. Those around us get it well as they must live with its consequences on their lives. Thus we lose nothing by acknowledging our deficits and working to manage them. In fact, our openness to our weaknesses brings the respect of others. Transparency is a valued asset in leadership.

Five questions every good manager periodically asks their staff

The reality of leadership is that generally staff will often not tell us key things unless we ask. When we ask, however, we are likely to get a straight answer. Wise leaders ask these five questions periodically of their staff.

1. Is there anything that I do which causes problems for you or disempowers you? 

2. Is there anything that you wish I would do differently?

3. Do you need anything from me?

4. Are you fulfilled in your role and do you believe your gifts are being used to their fullest?

5. What is your happiness factor (1-10)? What would make it higher?

Five simple questions that can create healthy dialogue and significantly enhance your working relationship with staff.