The Need for Leadership Development

By Rev. Ebenezer Oke
Executive Director of Life Development Centre – Akura, Nigeria

Tel: +234 806 235 0532 

The grace we have in Christ is more than our emphasis on evangelism, church planting, church health, etc. We need a strong Church that is comprised of pastors, business leaders and others who share the vision to reach every sector of our society with the understanding of biblical leadership. Without developing biblical leaders for every aspect of life, the harvest in Africa, Asia, China and other parts of the world would not be sustained for long. We need effective leaders to secure the future of the Church.

Training for the Harvest

In the passage above, the apostle Paul gave Timothy the method for developing four generations of leaders. This generation extended from Paul to Timothy, and from Timothy to faithful men and women who will be able to teach others.

This principle also applies to all other aspects of life. There are no human activities in which God is uninterested or uninvolved. The Scripture clearly states: “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the
Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. 25 But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality” (Colossians 3.23-25, NKJV).

We need strong Christians in all industries.

I learned more about this concept from the presentation, “Contrasting the Philosophy of Your Two Leadership Choices” (Marketplace Leadership Training Conference, Nigeria, July 2007), by Ron Porter of thechristianleader.org. The presentation showed me that the leader’s worldview at all levels of work must be rooted in the Scripture. This will provide direction and opportunity to become the Church God intended us to be. We need Christian men and women in the worlds of business, commerce, finance, technology, education, medicine, industry, government, law, communication, transportation, the military, agriculture and a hundred other legitimate segments of the society. We need men whose calling or vocation in life is in the marketplace.

Like many other participants of the leadership conference, I feel much better equipped to achieve God’s purpose for my life – as a Christian leader in business, at home, in my community, and all spheres of my influence. We need the Christian community to invest more into training men and women, to practice the biblical principles IN and OUTSIDE the Church. As a result, the gap between the secular and sacred work will be bridged and Christ’s will will be done in the earth (Matthew 6:10). 

"The leader’s worldview at all levels of work must be rooted in the Scripture."

Therefore, the Timothy of today needs to, as a matter of urgent call, train “faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Training the next generation of leadership in God’s kingdom is a great privilege. John Maxwell said, “A leader who reproduces followers limits his success to what his direct, personal influence touches...A leader who produces other leaders multiples his influence, and he and his people have a future...” (Maxwell, 1995, 197-198). True success in life and ministry comes only when every generation continues to develop the next generation. 

“I teach, therefore, I touch the future.”

Christians  faiths must intersect all aspects of their lives.

Not only do I have strong convictions about training the next generation of Christian men and Women in and outside the Church for ministry multiplication through reaching and
teaching others, but also in passing on the baton of truth and leadership to future generations. I wholeheartedly agree with this saying, “I teach, therefore, I touch the future.”

The Challenges of Today’s Church

The challenges of today’s church are enormous. There was a time in our history of existence as a Church that we succeeded in transforming every sector of our society with biblical principles. During this time, a Christian was not only a Christian in the church building but was also a Christian in His work life. We lost this because we failed to develop leaders who are capable, anointed and hungry for the revival and church growth that God has promised in the end-time.

James G. Poitras described the Jesus example of leadership development: “Jesus spent time training others. He left twelve qualified workers to carry on the vital tasks that He had started. Jesus knew that His work would not fail. Why? He had trained the next generation.

From the beginning, Jesus told these men that He would not always be with them. He trained the most successful team of all time. As a result, once their Leader departed, they continued to experience revival and growth as they followed His example by effectively training future workers. Their success after Jesus departed is strong evidence of His ability to teach” (Poitras, 2005).

In His Footsteps

Is it not a great honor to be privileged to work in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ as the apostles Paul, Timothy and the host of other church fathers have done? As a leader, do you want to be like Him? We should stop shifting the blame of our inactivity to anyone as Adam and Eve did in the garden. It is time for us to take responsibility for doing the right thing, according to the principles laid down for us in the Scripture.

The Master in Matthew 28: 19-20 said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen” (NKJV).

We call this passage the Great Commission. Our generation has succeeded in winning more souls for Christ than any other generation. There is no doubt about this, but we have not adequately trained them as Jesus commanded us “to observe all things that have commanded you.” We need to intentionally train all Christians to integrate their faith with where they spend the majority of their time interacting with the majority of unsaved people. Is it in the local Church or fellowship centre? No, it is where we spend 60-70% of our walking hours. The primary responsibility of every Christian leader is to reproduce ourselves in faithful men who will be able to reproduce themselves. If we fail in this responsibility, our work will die when we die.

The early Church obeyed the Master as, “they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen” (Mark 16: 20, NKJV). What is the effect of this? The Gospel message gets to us in Africa, Asia, Europe, and all other parts of the world. However, in our generation, we are very slack in our responsibility of making more leaders for the future of the Church.

A Pledge Before God and Man

The Church leaders are responsible for the reproduction of quality leaders that will
represent Christ at all levels of our society with biblical principles. I have a conviction that the solution to life’s problems are in the hand of the Church and her leadership as we teach and apply biblical values into every aspect of life.

Let us therefore pledge before God and the host of His witnesses that have gone ahead of us that we will not fail Him and our generation. Amen. 


Capitol photo courtesy of Fibonacci Blue