Friday, April 8, 2011
Principles of Christian Leadership: Kingdom Center
I viewed this slideshow presentation on line labeled, Principles of Christian Leadership Sponsored by Academy Leadership July 23, 2002. The main focus was on helping Christian leaders be better time managers, communicators, listeners, example setters, and more consistent. Under these principles, one philosophy of ministry that was advocated for was Oriented Leadership. This model is Trinitarian focused, united in love, Kingdom centered, vision oriented, and full of servant and stewardship leaders. Of these different topics, I want to focus on the concept of Kingdom centered. One of the definitions of leadership given was, “Christian Leadership in action is perceiving and articulating the vision of the Kingdom of God and effectively defining and communicating its incarnation, following Christ’s example of service.”(Michael T. McKibben and Benjamin D. Williams) In Oriented leadership that is Kingdom focused, the author says, “we must walk on earth and live in the Kingdom.” I believe that this kingdom ushering principle is absolutely vital to life of Christian leadership. In “doing” church, we must first realize that everything we “do” must be given by God. As the definition above provides, “perceiving and articulating the vision of the Kingdom,” is the way of Christ’s example. When we pray thy Kingdom come and thy will be done, we are asking for God’s kingdom power to flow through us and our ministries. Without the Kingdom centeredness, we would simply be busy and not effective as soldiers for the cross of Christ. As leaders of God, we must always be Kingdom first, for God’s will to be done.
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ReplyDeleteThe power in this definition of Christian Leadership rests in the idea of “’perceiving…the vision of the Kingdom of God.” Perception is an internal process. Leaders, therefore, must be internally prepared in a very specific way. They must have the ability to perceive how the Kingdom is to be lived out in their context. So often, in the church, we focus on getting to heaven rather bringing heavenly realities to earth. In order for leaders to accomplish this, we must diligently seek to connect with the heart of God and be transformed into the image and character of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. If we fail in any of those areas, we will fall short of truly perceiving. Our understanding has to come from, through and by God rather than ourselves or even others in the church. What may be authentic Kingdom vision in one ministry context may not translate into another. The reality then is that before we “walk on earth,” we must “live in heaven.” That is what Jesus did. As a result, he brought His Kingdom mindset to all that he did. We too must immerse ourselves in the Kingdom, then articulate, in word and deed, the vision of the Kingdom.
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