Servant
Leadership School
March 9, 2003
Small Groups
Accountability – I asked you last week to do two things besides the reading
and homework. Break into small groups and share.
Quiet Times – What are you reading
in your Quiet Times? How many times this week did you have a Quiet Time?
Serving – Share one thing that you
are doing to serve in the church
Doug
Teach for 5-10 minutes
Chapter 4 – Natural and Spiritual Leadership
page 28 – story and quote by D.E. Hoste – “It occurs to me that perhaps the
best test of whether one is qualified to lead, is to find out whether anyone is
following.”
Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
There is a difference between natural and spiritual leadership – some of
the differences are listed on page 29.
Can a person who is a natural leader become a spiritual leader?
Question #3 from the Study
Guide: How is natural leadership
transformed into spiritual leadership?
Can a person who is not a natural leader become a spiritual leader?
(1 Cor 1:27 KJV)
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty;
(1 Cor 2:3-5 KJV) And I was
with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. {4} And my speech and
my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power: {5} That your faith should not stand in the wisdom
of men, but in the power of God.
Chapter 5 – Can you become a leader?
Look at the handout with the questions about leadership potential. Rate yourself on each of the questions. Break into small groups. What is one area you struggle with? What is one area you excel in?
Leadership Potential
Rating scale: (5)
great (4) pretty good (3) ok
(2) a struggle (1) really bad
1.
Have you ever broken a bad habit? To lead others, you
must master your appetites.
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
2.
Do you keep self-control when things go wrong? The
leader who loses control under adversity forfeits respect and influence. A
leader must be calm in crisis and resilient in disappointment.
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
3.
Do you think independently? A leader must use the best
ideas of others to make decisions. A leader cannot wait for others to make up
his or her mind.
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
4.
Can you handle criticism? Can you profit from it? The
humble person can learn from petty criticism, even malicious criticism.
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
5.
Can you turn disappointment into creative new
opportunity?
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
6.
Do you readily gain the cooperation of others and win
their respect and confidence?
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
7.
Can you exert discipline without making a power play?
True leadership is an internal quality of the spirit and needs no show of
external force.
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
8.
Are you a peacemaker? A leader must be able to
reconcile with opponents and make peace where arguments have created hostility.
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
9.
Do people trust you with difficult and delicate
situations?
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
10.
Can you induce people to do happily some legitimate
thing that they would not normally wish to do?
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
11.
Can you accept opposition to your viewpoint or decision
without taking offense? Leaders always face opposition.
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
12.
Can you make and keep friends? Your circle of loyal
friends is an index of your leadership potential.
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
13.
Do you depend on the praise of others to keep you
going? Can you hold steady in the face of disapproval and even temporary loss
of confidence?
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
14.
Are you at ease in the presence of strangers? Do you
get nervous in the presence of your superior?
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
15.
Are the people who report to you generally at ease? A
leader should be sympathetic and friendly.
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
16.
Are you interested in people? All types? All races? No
prejudice?
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
17.
Are you tactful? Can you anticipate how your words will
affect a person?
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
18.
Is your will strong and steady? Leaders cannot
vacillate or cannot drift with the wind.
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
19.
Can you forgive? Or do you nurse resentments and harbor
ill, feelings toward those who have injured you?
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
20.
Are you reasonably optimistic? Pessimism and leadership
do not mix.
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
21.
Do you feel a master passion such as that of Paul, who
said, "This one thing I do!" Such a singleness of motive will focus
your energies and powers on the desired objective. Leaders need a strong focus.
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
22.
Do you welcome responsibility?
Rate:
5 4 3
2 1
Chapter 6 – Insights on Leadership from Paul
Study Question #5 – How does
your church decide when someone is fit for spiritual leadership? How is the process working?
How did you answer that?
Personally, I’m not sure we have much of a process other than looking for
those who are serving.
Paul’s qualifications for spiritual leadership are drawn from 1Timothy
3:2-7
Sanders breaks down the list into the following categories:
Social
Being above reproach – what do people outside of the church think of you?
Moral
Sexual purity; not addicted to alcohol
Mental
Having sound judgment – self-discipline in the sense of not being moved by
sudden impulses.
The ability to teach – requires time, preparation, study, prayer
Personality
Peaceable – a person who seeks to solve a problem rather than pick a fight.
This isn’t always possible though – there will be times
when you will be challenged on your principles and tempted to compromise and go
with other people’s opinions just to keep things quiet. You can’t seek peace at any cost.
Hospitality
Not being greedy for money
Domestic
Home needs to be in order – “a spouse must fully share the leader’s
spiritual aspirations and be wiling to join in the necessary sacrifices”
Maturity
J.A. Bengle: “notices usually have
an abundance of vegetation and are not yet pruned by the cross”
Vegetation is not “fruit”.
Fruit comes from pruning. Pruning
involves difficult times. A person needs to have gone through hardship as a
believer to mature. Do you agree?
Stability in Jesus.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (make sure you read the footnotes at
the end of the chapters, they give great insights into the people that Sanders
quotes):
“It is the mark of a
grown-up man, as compared with a callow youth, that he finds his center of
gravity wherever he happens to be at the moment, and however much he longs for
the object of his desire, it cannot prevent him from staying at his post and
doing his duty.”
In other words – a mature Christian is one who stays at
their post, whether there are tough times or whether there are temptations.
Chapter 7 – Insights on Leadership from Peter
Peter’s ideas on leadership are drawn from 1Peter 5:1-7
Motivation – doing things willingly
“We cannot refuse from a sense of
inadequacy” (pg. 48) – but what if you think you are not “qualified”?
Not greedy for money or prestige
Not dictatorial – yet you still need to lead.
Being a worthy example for others to imitate
Prayer
Humility
Question 8 from the Study Guide: Is it important for someone to fail as
badly as Peter did, in order to have a humble heart? How have people you know learned humility?
I think that failure is a great way to learn humility. Sometimes I wonder if God doesn’t let us
experience failure simply for that reason, to produce humility.
Another way to grow in humility is by being a servant.
In John 13, Jesus set an example of humility by taking the towel and
washing the feet of His disciples.