ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS: LEADERSHIP PRINCIPALS FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERS (Part III)

In his discussion of pastoral leadership, Bill Crawford identified three distinct attributes. The second attribute was

Average - I don't need to be excellent, outstanding, or special. I need to saddle up and ride every day. I need to be there on the sunny days, and the dark days, I need to be where the hurt is and where the laughter is. I need to be huggable. Average is a daily thing and I think it is good.

Applying the Marine Corps Leadership Principles and Leadership Traits, a leader within a congregation must SET THE EXAMPLE and KNOW HIS OR HER FLOCK AND LOOK OUT FOR ITS COLLECTIVE AND INDIVIDUAL WELFARE.

That means the leader must develop and demonstrate the traits of DEPENDABILITY, BEARING, COURAGE, DECISIVENESS, ENDURANCE, TACT, and UNSELFISHNESS.

First and foremost, the leader in a volunteer organization, such as a church, PTA, or homeowners association, must be unselfish. In our congregations, we are all working to further God's work here and now. We do not take on the leadership responsibilities for personal gain or glory. Most leaders find that to do the job right, we must give up more of our time and energy than we had first expected. That's OK; just be ready for it.

The leader must show up, dependably, every day. A Sunday School teacher who "forgets" that he is teaching this Sunday, an Elder who asks frequently to be excused from a meeting, a member of the choir who misses rehersals, is not a good leader. A leader who wants the title, but does not live up to the responsibilities of his or her position is not creating a favorable impression in personal conduct.

Leaders must exhibit the trait of courage in its most difficult form--moral courage. He or she must recognize fear of criticism, and nonetheless proceed in the face of it with calmness and firmness. The leader is also required, in some circumstances, to offer constructive criticism. Most Americans hate the idea of doing so. It is our cultural, live and let live attitude. That requires that the leader also be tactful.

Leadership requires endurance, the mental and physical stamina measured by the ability to withstand fatigue, stress and hardship. Occasionally, someone will claim the he or she "could have done it better." Often, when offered the leadership role, that same person will decline to take on the responsibility for the job, but the stress of being second guessed requires mental and emotional stamina.

Leaders must be decisive. In volunteer organizations, most of the people on a ministry team or committee are happy to offer advice and to work to accomplish team goals, but they want someone who will make a decision. And leaders in congregations make decisions every day. One of the easiest ways to destroy one's ability to lead is to become known as someone who simply cannot make a decision. (So long as the decision is a reasonable one, I have learned that it is usually easier to get forgiveness than it is to get permission in a volunteer organization. Even if the decision was not perfect.

It is a fact that in most organizations, ten percent of the members do 90% of the work. In my experience, congregations are a bit better, but with proper leadership, they can be a lot better.

ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS: LEADERSHIP PRINCIPALS FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERS (Part II)

As a "graduate" of an institution that places higher value on leadership than anything else, my "default" position on matters of leadership is always the leadership principles and traits taught to and practiced by Marine Corps leaders.

As Christians, we are in a war with Satan, so leadership principles developed and intended for use on (or in preparation for going onto) the field of battle may have some applicability here. There is a maxim that "we should train as we will fight," so that when the enemy is confronted, our reaction is instinctive. There being no cagier enemy than Satan, we must be ready when he rises up and assaults us.

In his recent discussions about leadership for pastors (and, I suggest, any other leaders in a congregation)Bill Crawford says

. . . people need Good, Average, Leadership.

Good - biblical, humble, risk taking, passionate proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. In other words - orthodoxy no matter what. It can't be man made it has to be God breathed.

His exposition on "good" pastoral leadership is right on. What leadership principles and traits apply to this part of Bill's analysis?

First, the principle that a leader must KNOW YOURSELF AND SEEK SELF IMPROVEMENT. That means a humble recognition that the leader does not have all the answers. In addition, after self-examination identifies weak areas, the leader will demonstrate the traits of INTEGRITY, JUDGMENT, and UNSELFISHNESS. The leader must be of upright character, truthful and honest, to himself and to others. He must strive to make sound, well-informes, and Scripturally-based decisions. This requires the leader to be unselfish with his time and talents.

Second, the principle that a leader must BE TECHNICALLY AND TACTICALLY PROFICIENT. She must continually increase her KNOWLEDGE of Scripture, and must work to understand the people who have elected her to a position of trust. She must have prepared herself to meet the expressions of need and the requests for guidance that will come her way

Third, the leader must SET THE EXAMPLE. "Passionately proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ" requires BEARING, COURAGE, ENDURANCE, and ENTHUSIASM. In particular, in today's America, a Christian leader must expect that he or she will come under attack from both without and within the MAN-MADE boundaries that seek to define "the Church." Those without may heap scorn and derision upon the Christian leader, while some from within will seek to take the easy and safe route by watering down orthodoxy in the name of peace and unity. They will pester an orthodox leader to death wilth criticism and entreaties to "just get along."

Several prominent leaders of the PC(USA) have recently been quoted as saying that they have surrendered their fight for orthodoxy because they are "tired." Endurance means that we keep going when the exhaustion, mental, physical, and spiritual, whispers "Stop."



Finally, in response to my first post on this subject, one blogger asked, "Who are the 'subordinates' in the Christian Church?" While I will discuss that in greater detail later, I promised to respond in this post.

In Christ's Church, there are no superiors or subordinates among believers, except that we are all subordinate to Him. Likewise, in our respective congregations, there are neither superiors nor subordinates in the sense of a military organization. However, every leader has one or more people who are looking to him or her for guidance, direction, instruction, advice, or comfort. In that sense, our "subordinates" are those whom God has placed in our charge for some specific purpose of His. If the leader is the shepherd, then when applying the principles and traits, the sheep are the "subordinates" in the leadership equation.

ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS: LEADERSHIP PRINCIPALS FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERS

Over at Bayou Christian, Bill Crawford has begun an examination of Christian leadership. While he writes in terms of pastors, what he has to say is applicable to all leaders in the Church. He says

. . . people need Good, Average, Leadership.

Good - biblical, humble, risk taking, passionate proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. In other words - orthodoxy no matter what. It can't be man made it has to be God breathed.

Average - I don't need to be excellent, outstanding, or special. I need to saddle up and ride every day. I need to be there on the sunny days, and the dark days, I need to be where the hurt is and where the laughter is. I need to be huggable. Average is a daily thing and I think it is good.

Leadership - Passionate refusal to allow people to settle for whatever life throws at them. A constant desire to point to Jesus, and head in that direction. Nothing flamboyant, just is. Someone who speaks up even at the risk of being wrong. Sure you will take some shots. But you know what? I believe the folks in the pews, they deserve our risk taking. They deserve our best - because those folks are the Kingdom here on earth, they are children of the God most high. I have learned to love them and if you don't - you're not a leader. If they mistreat you - that's why there are pastors in the first place.

His excellent comments took me back 42 years to a hot Butler building (a corrugated steel "temporary" building of WWII vintage) classroom at Camp Upshur aboard Marine Corps Base, Quantico. As brand new officer candidates, 600 of us were introduced to the leadership principles and traits that nearly 200 years of Marine Corps combat experience had distilled into useable form.

Reading Bill's comments, I found that much of what he wrote was right on, rekindling my understanding that leadership is both instinctive and a teachable skill.

The Leadership Principles are:

KNOW YOURSELF AND SEEK SELF IMPROVEMENT

BE TECHNICALLY AND TACTICALLY PROFICIENT

DEVELOP A STRONG SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY AMONG YOUR SUBORDINATES

MAKE SOUND AND TIMELY DECISIONS

SET THE EXAMPLEs

KNOW YOUR MARINES AND LOOK OUT FOR THEIR WELFARE

KEEP YOUR MARINES INFORMED

SEEK RESPONSIBILITY AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS

ENSURE ASSIGNED TASKS ARE UNDERSTOOD, SUPERVISED, AND ACCOMPLISHED

TRAIN YOUR MARINES AS A TEAM

EMPLOY YOUR COMMAND IN ACCORDANCE WITH ITS CAPABILITIES

The Leadership Traits, posted as large sacrlet and gold signs in nearly every barracks and command post I have entered, are:

DEPENDABILITY -- the certainty of proper performance of duty.

BEARING -- creating a favorable impression in carriage, appearance and personalconduct at all times.

COURAGE -- the mental quality that recognizes fear of danger or criticism, but enables a man to proceed in the face of it with calmness and firmness.

DECISIVENESS -- ability to make decisions promptly and to announce them in clear, forceful manner.

ENDURANCE -- the mental and physical stamina measured by the ability to withstand pain, fatigue, stress and hardship.

ENTHUSIASM -- the display of sincere interest and exuberance in the performance of duty.

INITIATIVE -- taking action in the absence of orders.

INTEGRITY -- uprightness of character and soundness of moral principles; includes the qualities of truthfulness and honesty.

JUDGMENT -- the ability to weigh facts and possible solutions on which to base sound decisions.

JUSTICE -- giving reward and punishment according to merits of the case in question. the ability to administer a system of rewards and punishments impartially and consistently.

KNOWLEDGE -- understanding of a science or an art; the range of one's information, including professional knowledge and an understanding of your Marines.

TACT -- the ability to deal with others without creating offense.

UNSELFISHNESS -- avoidance of providing for one's own comfort and personal advancement at the expense of others.

LOYALTY -- the quality of faithfulness to Country, the Corps, the unit, to one's seniors, subordinates and peers.


I'll start with a minor semantic disagreement over Bill's use of the word "average.". He says, "I don't need to be excellent, outstanding, or special. I need to saddle up and ride every day. I need to be there on the sunny days, and the dark days, I need to be where the hurt is and where the laughter is. I need to be huggable. Average is a daily thing and I think it is good."

Hold on, there, Bayou! A leader cannot, by definition, be "average."

I think what Bill is saying is that a leader need not -- cannot -- be "elitist." Leadership is not limited to only those few fortunates who are "naturals" at it. With proper desire and some training, almost anyone can become an effective leader. Generations of officers of Marines have been trained to be leaders. Sergeants and Corporals, the backbone of the Corps, are trained and become leaders.

Look at Bill's working definition, and we see that he is describing a person who is far from average in the popular sense of the word. Using his definition, a leader is one who works to be ready for whatever task comes down the pike, who shows up, day in and day out, rain or shine, who is dependable and caring. The leader is not afraid of hurt and is able to give both hugs and kicks in the rear when needed. It is, indeed, ". . .a daily thing."

One of the traits of leaders that I have observed is that they groom and train the next generation of leaders. So potential leaders need not be afraid to assume their tasks simply because they are "only average."


Tomorrow, we will see how both match up with what Bill has written.