Leadership Development Plan

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Leadership Development Plan Christopher Hamilton LEAD 510: Biblical Foundations of Leadership October 2023

Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................ ii Biblical Leadership Introduction ..................................................................... 1 Theology ......................................................................................................... 2 Philosophy ...................................................................................................... 3 Methods and Models ....................................................................................... 4 Culture ............................................................................................................ 6 Developmental Plan for Biblical Leadership ................................................... 7 Bibliography ................................................................................................... 8 ii

1 Biblical Leadership Introduction As I reflect on how important leadership development is to the local church, I think about how God designed the church to produce leaders. The modern church, as a whole, has shifted away from a model of producing spiritual leaders. The church has become a spectator sport in which leaders are situational to their role in the church. Attendance of members is unaccompanied and ineffective to the development of growth-type ministries related to leadership. Sure, we can see Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, elders, and other leadership type positions, but apart from those roles, we need to see an uplift in volunteer leaders who help the process of discipleship in the church body. In this leadership development plan, we will see some biblical definitions of what a leader is in relation to the church, the principles behind a Christ-centered leader, some varying models/methods these leaders can implement in ministry, the culture required to cultivate these leaders, and how this all ties back into the great commission. I believe after reading through this plan, you may leave with a better understanding of what the modern Bible church should be focused on in developing leaders who make disciples. This in return will support the great commission and greatest commandment. If we truly care about the health of a church, we must first examine the process in place of establishing leaders who develop other leaders. In the article Pitfalls in Biblical Leadership the author states, “Cultural influence on Christian leadership theory is not a significant problem as long as people are aware of this influence. However, it becomes a problem when Christians attempt to construct a pure Biblical leadership theory.” 1 We must be careful to be biblical but also relevant. 1 Kessler, Volker. "Pitfalls in 'Biblical' Leadership." Verbum Et Ecclesia 34, no. 1 (2013): 1-7, https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/ scholarly-journals/pitfalls-biblical-leadership/docview/1635231239/se-2.

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2 Theology Leadership and discipleship are two words in the Christian church that should have a deep connection. As we fulfill the great commission, we also have a focus of becoming the leaders God has called us to be. Having a plan to cultivate other leaders and grow God’s kingdom goes together with making and sending disciples. For this purpose, my focus on leadership is founded on the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20 ESV , “ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” An effective disciple will follow God first, and then closely seek to love others. Usually this example of a mentor/mentee relationship demonstrates a type of biblical love found in many great Christian leaders. A biblical leader will develop other biblical leaders. This process is called multiplication. Just like Dempsey states, “the church of Jesus Christ needs to have specific plans in place to help everyone grow and develop to reach their full potential in Christ.” 2 Romans 12:2 ESV tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” A biblical leader should have character that people see visually and not just accept from a title. The fruits of the spirit should be evident in their spiritual walk and they should be known as a trusted individual in terms accountability and integrity. In the article Feeling Energized, “ Spiritual leadership focuses on creating “vision and value congruence across the strategic, 2 Rod Dempsey, “Knowing the Centrality of the Church,” in Disciple Making Is . . .: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013), 39.

3 empowered team, and individual levels” 3 A leader should be able to create a vision and establish values that relate back to the organizational structure of leadership and disciple making. Philosophy There are a few principles that every Christian leader should aspire in the ministry God has called them to. Matthew 22:37-39 tells us, “ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ” 1 Corinthians 1:10 shows us how important unity is in the church, “ I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, all of you agree, and there be no divisions among you.” James 5:16 emphasizes the importance of accountability, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” We can clearly see the purpose of leadership is to unify the church towards the mission of the church and to keep others accountable to that same mission. A biblical leader will pray for the people he serves and will want to see them grow and cultivate other leaders as they too become the leaders God has called them to be. Spiritual development has a strong foundation in biblical love. Galatians 5:22 , “‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self- control.’ Bonhoeffer confirms, it is this passage sheds the clearest light on the sanctification of 3 Fu, Yang, Jun Liu, Zhen Wang, and Yucheng Zhang. "Feeling Energized: A Multilevel Model of Spiritual Leadership, Leader Integrity, Relational Energy, and Job Performance: JBE." Journal of Business Ethics 158, no. 4 (09, 2019): 983-97

4 the individual.” 4 The love for others is a key part of the success of any biblical leader. We are called to be equally yoked and of the same mind. Dempsey states, “pastors have to have determined where they hold themselves to particular standards and set safeguards in their own lives.” 5 Not only should a leader show love and unity, but their own walk needs to show accountability in the ministry in which they serve. Methods and Models As we examined what a leader is and what the character of a leader should mirror, we also need to understand the different types of leadership styles. Even though varying styles can lead to different roles, the methods and models should consistently revolve around scripture. “ All of these styles, roles and settings can function as the context of biblical leadership because the latter is concerned with character, motive, and agenda rather than a particular application.” 6 For this purpose, we will focus on the character, motive, and agenda of leadership rather than the vocation or ministry of the leader. The spiritual gifts of the leader may help define characteristics of that leader. If we look at Moses, he was humble but acted when God moved him to do so. Numbers 12:3 , “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” We tend 4 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship , ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 267. 5 Rod Dempsey, Dave Earley, and Adam McClendon, The Three-Dimensional Leader: A Biblical, Spiritual & Practical Guide to Christian Leadership (Bellingham, WA: Kirkdale Press, 2023), 30–31. 6 Don N. Howell Jr., Servants of the Servant: A Biblical Theology of Leadership (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2003), 2.

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5 to see Moses doing these amazing acts in the boldness of his faith, but we may miss the fact that he did it humbly in fear and reverence of who God is. Another leadership characteristic is servant-leadership. Moses also displayed aspects of this, but a better example is Jesus. In Lead Like Jesus: Revisited we can see this type of leadership displayed consistently, “The Bible is filled with vivid images of Jesus’ hands at work. With His hands, Jesus healed the sick, cleansed lepers, fed the hungry, overturned the tables of the money changers, washed the feet of His closest disciples, and hung from a cross to save sinful human beings.” 7 We must create models that support servant leadership that points upwardly to Jesus. Not only should we support models of servant leadership, but they should boldly display a message of genuine faith towards full surrender to God and His will. When our leaderships reflects this message, we allow the Spirit to produce fruits throughout ministry that edify the church and reach the lost. If we miss the mark of loving and developing others, we become ineffective in our leadership. Malphurs emphasizes, “Servant leaders must be attentive to the needs and concerns of their followers. They’re responsible to take care of and nurture them.” 8 A leader sill have methods and plans in place to fulfill a discipleship mentality. Serving others first shows where the love is placed and will grow and develop other leaders to do the same. 7 Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges, Lead like Jesus Revisited: Lessons from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 165–166. 8 Aubrey Malphurs, Being Leaders: The Nature of Authentic Christian Leadership (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2003), 21.

6 Culture Creating a culture starts with a mission and vision for the entire church. Putnam states, “ Do not try to shift your church as an individual. It’s highly important that you shift as a team. You will need each other for encouragement, because it will not be easy to change an existing church.” 9 A healthy church culture is formed in unity. This is why a vision and mission is so important. A good place to start is going back to defining disciples and taking a look at the great commission. Ian Jones writes, “Timeless’ truth is never fully ‘timeless’, since doctrine and ritual evolve even where held to be of the essence of faith. Moreover, for Christians, describing God as ‘timeless’ does not mean God is unresponsive to historical events; rather that God is not bound by time and is equally present to historical past, present and future.” 10 Even though God is timeless it does not mean that He himself does not foresee cultural formation and change. Dempsey states, “ The body cannot, and will not, grow strong and healthy unless all the parts are functioning according to God’s intention.” 11 As we look to mimic the biblical church, we also must realize we cannot live in tradition as a substitute for truth. Leadership should have guardrails, but it should also stay relevant to the generation it reaches. When we outdate truth, we may push away relativity in the culture we try to reach. The more we focus on truth and apply it to the modern church, the more potential we must draw in future leaders, this should not take away from a biblical approach, but strengthen it with accountability and unity to scripture. 9 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 217. 10 Ian Jones (2023) Five time perspectives on Christian discipleship, Practical Theology, 16:1, 55-68, DOI: 10.1080/1756073X.2022.2108817 11 Rod Dempsey, “Discovering Effective Systems,” in Disciple Making Is . . .: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013), 278.

7 Developmental Plan for Biblical Leadership In the recent vocational change to youth ministry these steps towards developing leaders are very important to me. As a Youth Director, my vision for developing leaders would be to meet with the current leaders in this ministry. We need a structure and understanding of what unity looks like. This structure should be equivalent to the mission and vision of the church. This vision being – to be a dynamic fellowship that loves Jesus Christ and which unites cultures and generations through the presence of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Gospel to love and transform individuals, families, and communities. This is a very biblical approach as we can see the cohesive message in Matthew 22:37-38 (ESV), “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ” Not only should we strive to fulfill the vision, but also take part in the mission – to make disciple-makers who are committed to gathering for the teaching of the Word, prayer, worship, and fellowship, and then scattering for ministry, service, and proclaiming the Gospel from Western Florence to the ends of the earth. This is also a very biblical mission as it supports the great commission in Matthew 28:16-20 (ESV) , “ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The second approach to my plan would be to establish a lesson plan that supports this vision and mission. In Lead Like Jesus , “An essential duty of servant leaders is their ongoing

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8 investment in the lives of their followers. 12 I believe the investment is the consistency of the message. When we truly love the people we serve, we will invest truth back into their lives. The culture we live in today relates love as acceptance. Acceptance is not a truthful definition of love, as love does not accept any opposition to God. In order to develop godly leaders, we must point them back to biblical truth and deliver that with love for the individual souls in front of us. The third approach would be to call up Christian leaders. To help examine who I put into leadership roles, I must first examine the character of the leader. There should be some type of discipleship relationship in which I have been able to test their faith according to the fruits of the Spirit. 2 Timothy 2:15, (ESV) “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.” The accountability starts with me, but I also expect that same accountability out of the leaders entrusted to handle truth to the ministry in which God has called me to. The fourth approach is not fourth in the sense of importance. This approach would be to educate and mirror Christ-like leadership through small group setting for the leadership team established in the youth group. This small group is leader-led with the invitation to discussion. However, as a leader we must be careful in who we trust to take lead if God has a specific purpose. For instance, in Lead Like Jesus , “When Moses went to the top of the mountain to get the Ten Commandments, he didn’t take a committee with him. Otherwise, he would have come down with three commandments and seven suggestions. Similarly, Jesus didn’t involve His disciples much in formulating the goals He came to accomplish. He had received those from the 12 Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges, Lead like Jesus Revisited: Lessons from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 167.

9 top of the organizational hierarchy—from His Father. 13 This is truth in the fact that the message God gives us to share is the topic, but input comes into implementation into our own lives. I think this will be the most difficult part of leadership, because corporately, ideas and opinions form the vision. In a biblical setting, truth forms the vision, but culture may influence the approach. The fifth approach is intentional to serving others with our spiritual gifts. A good way to find out the exact approach would be to have the leadership team take a spiritual gift test. This may be a good way of seeing some gifts that go unrealized to the holder of the gift. This also means not letting a pitch challenged singer lead worship, (that is unless there is no leader in that position with that God-given gift). When we all serve each other with the spiritual gifts God has given us, we edify the church and encourage the members. The sixth approach is to unify the youth group by scheduling events and outings. There needs to be dedicated time where we all gather. This is not always in the sense of activity, but instead intentionality. In youth group, a lot of times, gathering lead to “mixed motives.” 14 The intention of gathering should primarily be focused on fellowship and encouragement. Sure, we can have a good time in the mix, but it should not be the main objective. In this setting of ‘fun’ we can lose the effectiveness of discipleship and fail to live out the great commission. The seventh approach is to lead with the intention of developing more leaders. I also want this to be true of the leaders established in this setting. They too, should be focused on 13 Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges, Lead like Jesus Revisited: Lessons from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 168–169. 14 Aubrey Malphurs, Being Leaders: The Nature of Authentic Christian Leadership (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2003), 32.

10 mentoring and cultivating more leaders. Luke 6:40, (ESV) “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” The vision and mission do not stop with me, it carries out into the rest of the leadership team. As I grow in my faith, the leadership team should also grow in their faith. As I mature and create more disciples, my team should also mature and create new disciples. The master teacher is Jesus, and we mirror His perfect demonstration of what leadership looks like. We can do this by following the truth in Philippians 2:5-11, (ESV) - “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” When we mimic the greatest model of leadership ever known, we give glory back to God and fulfill God’s intended purpose for leadership and discipleship. The eighth and final step would be to examine the growth of the ministry I am serving in. I believe we do this while keeping the mindset of multiplication. Multiplication does not apply to the number of people attending on a nightly basis. In fact, I think it applies more to the number of leaders being developed to take initiative. As we grow and develop others, they too in return should be doing the same. I must be intentional on my approach to leadership

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11 development. If I end up losing people, I must go back to the why behind it. Beliefs are foundational to the behaviors we demonstrate. Results usually tell us where those beliefs lie. In Conclusion In conclusion, this can feel like a daunting task, but it must be approached with intention. I believe that we develop leaders by building impactful relationships. The Great Commandment should motivate our beliefs behind leadership. It should unify us in a greater cause. To reemphasize Matthew 22:37-39, “ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” When we found our belief in scripture, we create leaders who also love God and love others. This in return will help us produce more disciples and reach a community that may be lost. The purpose of leadership is not to position myself in a role, but in fact to serve those God has entrusted me with. I want to be able to pour into the lives of those I serve. This concept is contradictory to what the world may see as leadership. My aim is to focus not on my own growth as much as it is to focus on the growth of others. There is maturity and an essence of spiritual growth that we cannot fully fathom until we actually use our effort to help others grow. My ministry goal is to ultimately reach lost people and help bring them to Jesus. Matthew 28:19-20 , “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” If I hold this truth in

12 the ministry God has given me, I can rest assured God will lead the rest of it according to His will. I must love God first, love others, and have a burden for the lost. Bibliography Kessler, Volker. "Pitfalls in 'Biblical' Leadership." Verbum Et Ecclesia 34, no. 1 (2013): https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly- journals/pitfalls-biblical-leadership/docview/1635231239/se-2. Rod Dempsey, “Knowing the Centrality of the Church,” in Disciple Making Is . . .: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013) Fu, Yang, Jun Liu, Zhen Wang, and Yucheng Zhang. "Feeling Energized: A Multilevel Model of Spiritual Leadership, Leader Integrity, Relational Energy, and Job Performance: JBE." Journal of Business Ethics 158, no. 4 (09, 2019): https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?

13 url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/feeling-energized-multilevel-model- spiritual/docview/2280326080/se-2 . Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship , ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003) Rod Dempsey, “Discovering Effective Systems,” in Disciple Making Is . . .: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013) Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013) Rod Dempsey, Dave Earley, and Adam McClendon, The Three-Dimensional Leader: A Biblical, Spiritual & Practical Guide to Christian Leadership (Bellingham, WA: Kirkdale Press, 2023), 30–31. Don N. Howell Jr., Servants of the Servant: A Biblical Theology of Leadership (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2003), Ian Jones (2023) Five time perspectives on Christian discipleship, Practical Theology, 16:1, 55- 68, DOI: 10.1080/1756073X.2022.2108817 Aubrey Malphurs, Being Leaders: The Nature of Authentic Christian Leadership (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2003) Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges, Lead like Jesus Revisited: Lessons from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2016)

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