Monday, May 2, 2011

When Is a Broken Person Ready to Lead

It is difficult to determine when a broken person is ready to lead is the conclusion that Daniel Brown and Bob Moeller wrote in an article written for Christianity Today. However, “as his brokenness heals his potential for leadership rises.” The flip side of the coin is developing criteria that can be used to determine when anyone is ready for leadership. Brown and Moeller have developed five tests to use to measure whether someone is ready to assume a leadership role in the church. 1. Are they honest with themselves? It is telling whether or not the person realizes that he or she is broken. If the person realizes that he or she is broken, that is the first step to being healed, and leads to developing a closer relationship with God. 2. Are they in Community? Community is essential to biblical leadership. If a person cannot build deep friendships, that person cannot lead in the church. 3. Will they labor in obscurity? A person is not ready to lead until he or she is ready to disappear, to accept an obscure position and find fulfillment in that unseen role. 4. Are they flexible? If the person is not able to perform in the leadership role assigned, is the person amenable to assuming a less demanding position? 5. Are they faithful in little? The criteria used here is an example from the teachings of Jesus. “Jesus said, ‘If you’ve been faithful in little, then you will be made master of much.’”

2 comments:

  1. As the birds in Finding Nemo say, MineMineMine! :)

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  2. Can a broken person serve? Of course. Can a broken person lead? Of course. The secret, of course, is that we are ALL broken people. We are all damaged by our own sin and the effects of the sins of others. After offering that caveat, I really appreciate the five lessons that you shared from this article. As Terry has been teaching us, honesty and awareness of our brokenness is vital to our ministry and sustainability. Community has an element of healing in it that not many realize.
    I was surprised to read the exhortation to “labor in obscurity,” as a check-point in this blog. How many of us, broken or not (then again, we are all broken, but some of us pretend not to notice) are ready and willing to work for little or no recognition? Can a leader lead without recognition? It seems to me that this is yet another reference to servant leadership. How often I do find myself frustrated, perceiving that no one recognizes that I have done this or that? It is clearly a mark of a person seeking wholeness if he or she can lead without the need for recognition.

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