My Philosophy of Pastoral Leadership

Introduction

Great leaders have shaped the foundation of this country. They have forged their legacy in history books and will forever be remembered. Leaders do not become leaders right away. The experiences that a person has in life dictate whether or not the individual will become an effective leader. Do leaders have to be like George Washington who shaped the lives of Americans for years to come by just simply determining in his heart that he would not quit no matter what it might cost him? Do leaders have to be like Billy Graham, who has probably been the most effective soul winner of the twentieth century? Is there a set way to define what leadership is? Within this essay, several components will be looked at that describe leadership. First, the question of what leadership is will be looked at. Second, the Bible will be looked at for a definition of leadership. Third, the character of Joseph will be looked at in detail because his character is of significant importance in determining how to be an effective leader. Fourth, my personal leadership style will be discussed. Fifth, how I plan to implement leadership in my ministry will be discussed. Finally, I will discuss on how my leadership style will advance the ministry and in the long run affect others.

What Leadership is?

John Maxwell says in his book Developing the Leader Within You that “after more than five decades of observing leadership with his family and many years of developing his own leadership, that he has come to this conclusion: Leadership is influence.” While this statement by Maxwell is true, there are still other elements that describe what leadership is. Bruce P. Powers, in his book the Church Administration Handbook, says that “transformational leadership appears to be the necessary ingredient to help congregations renew their visions and commitments to be the people of God and the body of Christ in a new world.” Powers goes on to say that
“our biblical principles do not change, for they are eternal. But the methods we use to share the gospel and cast a kingdom vision for a technologically oriented society do change. So ministers and other church leaders have to make a choice: do we resist the future and try to maintain the status quo, or do we seek to be life-changing leaders, assisting congregations and individual believers to be all they can be, in the likeness of the Lord?”

Powers has a point when he says that biblical principles do not change, but the methods we use to share the gospel do change in a world driven by technology. Powers makes the point that leaders should be life-changing, and should assist congregations and believers to be all they can be. Simply put, spiritual leadership is “moving people on to God’s agenda.” In other words, leadership is about getting people see that success in life is not built primarily by what self does, but success is built upon what God does.

Biblical Rationale for Definition of Leadership

How does the Bible fit into leadership? What principles can be learned from the Word of God in order to give a proper rationale for the definition of leadership? Moving people on to God’s agenda involves two principles that if taken seriously can make a believer successful and if not followed can be a leaders, or in this case a pastor’s downfall.
First, the spiritual leader must never usurp the authority of God over the soul. Whether a preacher boldly proclaims the Word of God or not is not a question of authority. Who has the right to lead the church? The leader or God? Whenever anything is substituted for the preaching of God’s Word, God’s Word and His authority has been usurped. When a leader does this then pride becomes a issue. Solomon writes in the book of Proverbs on the sin of pride. Proverbs 16:5 says “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.” Proverbs 16:18-19 says “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.” Solomon says that God hates pride. It is an abomination to God and God says that it will go before destruction. In other words, the leader who lets pride get the best of him will eventually fall.
Secondly, the spiritual leader or the pastor must effectively communicate when it comes to the Word of God. Communication is one of the aspects that people look for in a leader. Whether a pastor is preaching a message or counseling an individual, communication is and always will be important. Kouzes and Posner in the book Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it says that “leaders understand that unless they communicate and share information with their constituents, few will take much interest in what is going on.” Moses had a problem with thinking that he could not communicate the message that God wanted him to take to Pharaoh. He was scared that people would not receive his message.
Biblical Character for Leadership Style to Emulate
While there are many leaders in the Bible that stand out, there is one particular leader in the Bible that stands out above the rest and that individual is Joseph. Joseph was a man who had every reason to give up on life and quit, but he trusted in the Lord and the Lord was with Joseph, and Joseph became a successful leader in life. According to the Good Book on Leadership, Joseph is described “as one who developed his leadership credibility in the worst of conditions by making good decisions. The skills he developed in less-than favorable conditions qualified him for the significant leadership responsibilities entrusted to him later.” Joseph was a man of integrity and forgiveness.
Joseph his entire life went through a hard time. According to Charles Swindoll, “the home in which Joseph was raised was comprised of a family filled with angry, jealous and deceitful people. Then within that hostile environment, for seventeen years, the other sons of Jacob had watched as their father played favorites with Joseph. Their jealousy had turned into resentment and hatred.” He was hated by his brothers because he was favored by his father Jacob. In fact, his brothers despised him so much that at first they wanted to kill him. Instead they decided to sell him into slavery and Joseph finds himself in an unfamiliar land, Egypt. Joseph is sold to a man by the name of Potiphar, who was an leading officer in Pharaoh’s army. Joseph gained favor under Potiphar and earned his respect.
Joseph was also a very good looking man who sparked the interest of Potiphar’s wife. She tried to seduce Joseph, but Joseph was a man of integrity and purity and turned her down. Joseph turned her down more than one time, and Potiphar’s wife got mad. She lied on Joseph and told Potiphar that Joseph tried to rape her. He was thrown in prison.
Joseph was a man of integrity because Joseph could have turned his back on God and gave up on life. After, all every conceivable thing that could have gone bad did go bad. But Joseph did not turn his back on God. He determined within his heart that he was not going to quit. He trusted that God had a plan for his life, and that God would make the best out of his life despite of the bleak circumstances that Joseph was currently facing. God honored Joseph’s integrity by eventually making him second in command over all of Egypt. Leaders are defined in most cases by the character that they possess. According to Peter Northhouse, “Integrity undergirds all aspects of leadership. It is at the core of being a leader. Integrity is a central aspect of a leader’s ability to influence. If people do not trust a leader, the leader’s influence potential is weakened. In essence, integrity is the bedrock of who a leader is. When a leader’s integrity comes into question, his or her potential to lead is lost.”
Joseph, also, was a man of forgiveness. Joseph probably had every reason not to forgive those who had caused him harm, but he forgave them anyway, not because they deserved forgiveness, but because it was his duty. Leaders have to learn to forgive. People are going to say horrible things, and as a leader, we too have to learn forgive people like Joseph forgave his brothers.

My Personal Leadership Style

Before I began to study leadership, I really did not have a grasp of what style of leadership I had. I knew I had leadership ability, but I did not have a grasp on what type of temperament style I had. The more and more I have studied, the more apparent to me that I do not just have one particular style of leadership. I have many styles for many different situations. According to Peter Northhouse, in his book Introduction to Leadership, says that “styles are not distinct entities. They overlap each other. That is, a leader can demonstrate more than one style in any given situation. For example, a leader may be authoritarian about some issues and democratic about others. As leaders, we may display aspects of all of these styles.”
If I had to put one above the others it would probably be the democratic style of leadership. The reason why this is the case is because people deserve to have the opportunity to get the job done on their own. They do not need someone yelling at them because the way that they do things might be a little different than the way the boss does them. I do not want to be some autocratic dictator where it is my way or the highway. That type of philosophy does more harm than it does good. I want to involve people in my decision making. I want to be known as a good decision maker with the help of godly people around me.
When it is all said and done, I want to be known as a visionary leader. George Barna in his book The Power of Vision: Discover and Apply God’s Plan for Your Life and Ministry says that “vision for ministry is a clear mental image of a preferable future imparted by God to His chosen servants and is based on understanding of God, self and circumstances.”

How I Plan to Implement Leadership in the Ministry

In ministry, it is important for the minister to practice what he preaches. In other words, pastors need to be individuals above reproach. Does that mean that a pastor will never sin? No, but it means that a pastor is highly respected in the community and needs to be on guard from the landmines that will try to annihilate the pastor’s walk with God and his career. I do not want to be known as someone who is just a pastor who dictates orders and expects everything little thing to be done my way. Instead, I want to look at the people as part of a partnership. Paul was the type of leader in the Bible that commended people for service. I want to encourage my staff to be the best they can be.
Independent thinking is one of the things that should be encouraged as a pastor. The pastor is not always right about everything. Someone might know how to do things better, and that person’s ideas might be what is needed for the best possible solution for whatever the problem might be. Problems are going to emerge in ministry. How a leader solves those problems has a big say in how effective that leader will be in the long run. I want my staff to be able to come to me with a problem, and then as a team solve the problem together. Bob Biehl said in his book Masterplanning Your Business, Church or Organization that “ problem solvers frequently feel like second-class citizens in the shadow of goal setters and the goal-setting orientation that has become standard in corporate culture and even in many national cultures.”

How my leadership style will advance the ministry

John Piper wrote the book Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry. Within this book he tells pastors that they are not professionals. In other words, he is saying do not be like a corporate executive officer who runs a huge corporation. According to Piper, “a ministry under the banner of Christ’s supremacy will be offensive to the impulses of professional clergy who like to be quoted respectably by the local newspaper.” Piper goes on to say that the “book is meant to sound an alarm against the pride of station and against the expectation of parity in pay and against the borrowing of professional paradigms from the professional world. Oh for radically Bible saturated, God-centered, Christ-exalting, self-sacrificing, mission-mobilizing, soul-saving, culture-confronting pastors.”
The description that Piper makes is exactly how I want to be as a pastor and a leader. I want to be Bible saturated. I want people to know that when I preach, I am not doing it just to massage their ego. I am preaching not to make people feel good, but I am preaching on behalf of God and His Almighty Word. God’s Word must take precedent. The service must be saturated in God’s holy Word, or else it will become stagnant.
As a minister I should also strive to be God-centered. The whole purpose of living out the Christian life is being conformed to the image of His Son Jesus Christ. That means that every day, the spiritual leader must totally surrender everything to God, and let God lead his life. I want people to know that I love Jesus and my life is completely centered on Him. I want Jesus to be my shepherd and guide me to green pastures where I can find security in his arms. I want to be Christ-exalting. In every message I want to glorify His holy name. In every situation, I want to do what Jesus would have done. He is the author and finisher of my faith, and his name should be exalted above all else.
I want to be self-sacrificing. I want to place others before me. I want to be the person “who never places themselves above others except in carrying out responsibilities.” I want to serve other people. I want to be a man of humility. The one who taught people all about servant leadership was Jesus Christ. He is known throughout the Book of Isaiah as the Suffering Servant. So, I want to be more like Christ as a leader, and in order to do that I must humble myself and serve others.
I also want the ministry to be known for missions. Missions should be the focus of the church. It should be one of the primary purposes of the Church. God wants all people to be saved. He wants His Church to go to the uttermost parts of the earth proclaiming the gospel. So I must proclaim that to His people and tell them that witnessing to people should be the primary objective of all Christians.
I want to be known as a soul-saver. I want to lead people to Jesus Christ. As a leader, the gospel to some is offensive. However, it is necessary in order for a person to get saved and avoid the torments of hell. Hell is a reality and every day people are pummeling into the pits of hell at an alarming rate. There are people all over the world that do not know Jesus, and it is my job as a pastor to proclaim that Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven, and any other way will not suffice.
Finally, I want to be a culture-confronter. I do not want to the status-quo type of leader or minister. When the world is rapidly declining morally, there needs to be someone that will stand against the ills of society and say something about it. It’s time to take action. I want to be a precipitator of change in this country. I want to see this country find God again. In order to do that, the people in my congregation need to know where I stand on issues such as homosexuality, abortion, and other immoral activities.
If I do all of these things then God will bless me and my ministry will flourish. If not, then I will not be of any use to God or His Kingdom. Living for God and being a leader in life can be hard at times, but the challenges are well worth it when transformational change occurs.

Conclusion

Leadership is an enormous responsibility. There are countless numbers of examples of people who have become great leaders. The Bible is the place to go when leadership needs to be dissected. Stories like Joseph captivate the heart and encourage leaders when life seems gloomy. Leadership is about change as was mentioned before. Without change, and without the ability to influence people and without any vision in life, then the leader will be ineffective. True spiritual leaders are sold out for Jesus and do not worry about what society might think of them, because in the end, when it comes to leadership, the only thing that really matters is what God thinks.