This article captured my attention because of the struggles that I have encountered and witnessed with leadership and humility. This article reminds us that as leaders we have to remain humble before God knowing that He has given us all we need to walk in the leadership He has called us to. Being mindful that in this leadership we have to continually ask ourselves, do I have the ability to do this without the Holy Spirit? Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 2:2 “For I have determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” As we matriculate through ATS, do we allow the knowledge we have attained to induce pride and haughtiness in our spirits or do we stay mindful that this call is a gift of grace from God and that as we lead we are an example to others. Do we remember that we are vessels being used by God or do we believe that we have arrived and have the ability to walk in the call to leadership on our own? To walk in leadership with humility we have to remember that God is God and we cannot do anything unless God is with us. Leadership is a gift and it requires that we go lower as God can raise us up higher. Being reminded that the higher we go, the lower we become will help us be more effective leaders as we avail ourselves to the leading of the Spirit to bring glory to the Father.
dibbs!
ReplyDeleteMildred,
ReplyDeleteThe tug of war that goes on between humility and pride is an issue that we all face as leaders. I also believe that Christ calls us to be humble as leaders, to serve others with humility just as Christ did when he washed his disciples feet. It is a struggle at times, however, to keep a humble spirit and not let our selfish pride to rise to the surface. This is especially true, as you pointed out, as we go through seminary. I have caught myself in church at times thinking, “Well, they just don’t know what they are talking about. In seminary, I learned that…” It is a pride issue. To be an effective leader, I need to learn to be humble. I need to learn to realize that most people in my congregation are not even going to care what I learned from Dr. so and so in seminary. They will care if I take what I learned and apply it to my ministry and my leadership style, but do so in a humble way that does not intimidate or turn people off. Humility is all-important to leadership, and it is something that I need to be reminded of everyday.