Leadership & Reconciliation Encore Post

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

As leaders, we must be the initiators of reconciliation.

People who have been leaders for any length of time will eventually find that there are times where they fall out of fellowship with one or more of their followers. Although this can happen for a variety of reasons, a short list of some of the most common would include:

1. A simple misunderstanding 
2. Poor performance by the follower 
3. Poor management by the leader

The Importance of Being the Initiator 

Invariably, small issues fester within teams, only to be compounded when new conflict occurs. Trying to build a team with a variety of broken relationships will ultimately develop an aroma of disunity. And initiating reconciliation is one of the hardest parts of being a leader. Why? Because it is very hard to do.

A regenerate leader has to put off the "old self,” who wants others to take the first step. Forget for the moment when you just need to eat some humble pie and apologize for your actions. That is hard, but not as hard as initiating reconciliation when one of your followers has performed poorly, and through correction or discipline, falls out of fellowship with you. While some form of relational stress is expected, effective leaders watch diligently for the remnants of bitterness or anger. When these signs don't subside in a reasonable length of time, the leader needs to take action. In other words, the leader needs to become the “initiator.”

Four Responsibilities from Scripture

What are we called to do in today's scripture reference? Take a moment to read it again and see if you can spot at least the four responsibilities that I see.

1. Recognize God's call for us to do what we normally would not want to do. We are "new creations," putting off what we wanted to do in the past. Sometimes the old self wants to initiate pain, not reconciliation.
2. Acknowledge that God is not calling us to do something He has not modeled for us first. He gave us a ministry that is precious. We need to treat and treasure it like a gift. 
3. Learn also that the wrongs of your followers should not "count against" them so much that you as a leader fade from your role as the "initiator,” the one who initiates reconciliation.
4. Preach and teach reconciliation within your organization or ministry. If we model it, we can not only teach others to do it, but we can also require it within our own organizations and churches. Ban the soil in which Satan likes to farm! 

God was the first initiator. He took the initiative to reconcile himself with us through sending his Son. We were completely in the wrong and should have gone to him first, begging to be reconciled to Him. But man did not do that, nor could man accomplish on his own what Christ accomplished for us.

Because God took the initiative with us, we must take the initiative with those we lead. Would you agree with me that everyone reading this has some form of relationship that could be shored up? If you would try today to become an "Initiator,” trust me when I say that a blessing is waiting for you.

Do Leaders Need to Be Holy?

This is an encore TCL article by one of our TCL board members. Its message so important and timeless, I must post it again, though a year later.

By Pastor Chris Carr     (Executive Pastor of Ministries -  Bethel Church - Crown Point, Indiana

I have to admit from the get-go that writing this article was a little daunting. What do I have to add to the discussion on leadership? A simple search at Amazon.com shows almost 350,000 available resources on leadership. It would seem that perhaps everything there is to say about leadership has been said at some point.

"And yet I do find something missing from most discussions on leadership today – the necessity of personal holiness."

We must pray for God to help us achieve personal holiness.

And yet I do find something missing from most discussions on leadership today – the necessity of personal holiness. There are plenty of books and articles about rules or laws of leadership, keys to leading an effective team, how to be not simply good but great, and how to use your gifts to their maximum potential. But there appears to be few people discussing the vital issue of personal holiness in the life of a leader.

How important is personal holiness in the life of a leader? Before I answer that with my thoughts on the matter, answer it for yourself – how important do you view your own holiness to your success as a leader?

The Importance of Personal Holiness

My answer to this question is that personal holiness is the most important issue to leadership success. I realize that this is a fairly bold statement, so let me take a moment to back it up. My belief in the importance of personal holiness comes from the foundational truth that, as believers, our ultimate goal in life is to bring glory to Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 10:31, Col. 1:18). Flowing from that, our goal as leaders should be to lead in such a way that our followers are influenced to pursue Christ’s glory as well. Our ability to glorify Christ is in direct proportion to how holy we are becoming (2 Cor. 3:18).

"Our ability to glorify Christ is in direct proportion to how holy we are becoming."

Robert Murray M’Cheyne, a Scottish pastor in the mid-19th century once stated, “what my people need most is my personal holiness.” I couldn’t agree more. Without personal holiness, a Christian leader has no foundation from which to lead.

"If your integrity or morality is in question (which they likely will be if you aren’t pursuing holiness), you cannot be an effective leader."

You might not consider personal holiness to be a vital issue if you aren’t a pastor or a ministry leader. I would challenge you to reconsider. If you are a business owner and your employees (or customers) know you are a believer, you will be unable to lead them effectively if you aren’t living out what you claim to believe. If your integrity or morality is in question (which they likely will be if you aren’t pursuing holiness), you cannot be an effective leader.

How to Pursue Holiness

So, how do we pursue holiness? First and foremost, we begin by focusing on Christ. Second Corinthians 3:18 tells us that as we look at Christ, the Holy Spirit transforms us into His image, with ever-increasing glory. Something about simply focusing on Christ makes us more like him (1 John 3:2).

Second, we must be faithful in our study of the Word. In John 17:17, Jesus prays, “Sanctify them by truth, thy word is truth.” We become holy as we get into the Word and the Word in turn gets into us.

Finally, we become more holy through prayer. As we pray and seek the Father’s face, He pours out the Spirit and draws us closer to him (Acts 4:31, Jude 20).

As God is holy, let’s continue to strive to be holy in all we do (1 Peter 1:15), setting an example for our people to follow.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.