10 Days to Better Spiritual LeadershipSample

With the words of the verse above Paul presses home a leader’s responsibility to train others to lead. If he is to carry out his trustfully, the leader will devote time to training others to succeed and perhaps even supercede him. Barnabas’s spiritual stature is seen in his entire freedom from jealousy when his protégé Paul surpassed his own leadership skills and became the dominant member of the team. It follows that a leader must provide subordinates with opportunity to exercise and develop their powers.

John R. Mott believed that leaders must multiply themselves by growing younger leaders, giving them full play and adequate outlet for their abilities. Younger people should feel the weight of heavy burdens, opportunity for initiative, and the power of final decisions. The younger leader should receive generous credit for achievements. Foremost they must be trusted. Blunders are the inevitable price of training leaders. 

Training new leaders is a delicate task. The wise trainer will not advertise the end he has in view.    

Perhaps the most strategic and fruitful work of modern missionaries is to help leaders of tomorrow develop their spiritual potential. This task requires careful thought, wise planning, endless patience, and genuine Christian love. It cannot be haphazard, hurried, or ill conceived. Our Lord devoted the greater part of His three years of ministry to molding the characters and spirits of His disciples.

Paul showed the same concern for training young Timothy and Titus. Paul’s method for preparing Timothy for the church in Ephesus is deeply instructive.

Timothy was about twenty years old when Paul became his friend. Timothy tended toward melancholia, and he was too tolerant and partial to people of rank. He could be irritable with opponents. He was apt to rely on old spiritual experiences rather than kindle the flame of daily devotion.

But Paul had high hopes for him. Paul set about to correct Timothy’s timid nature, to replace softness with steel. Paul led Timothy into experiences and hardships that toughened his character. Paul did not hesitate to assign him tasks beyond his present powers. How else can a young person develop competence and confidence if not by stretching to try the impossible?

Traveling with Paul brought Timothy into contact with men of stature whose characters kindled in him a wholesome ambition. From his mentor he learned to meet triumphantly the crises that Paul considered routine. Paul shared with Timothy the work of preaching. Paul gave him the responsibility of establishing a group of Christians at Thessalonica. Paul’s exacting standards, high expectations, and heavy demands brought out the best in Timothy, saving him from a life of mediocrity.   

Leadership training cannot be done on a mass scale. It requires patient, careful instruction and prayerful, personal guidance over a considerable time. “Disciples are not manufactured wholesale. They are produced one by one, because someone has taken the pains to discipline, to instruct and enlighten, to nurture and train one that is younger.” 

When a person is really marked out for leadership, God will see that that person receives the necessary disciplines for effective service.  

Spiritual leadership is not a calling we choose to pursue; it is a calling we choose to answer. We don’t decide to become leaders; we decide to respond and keep responding to God’s call in our lives. Along the way, whether we like it or not, that involves us in leadership.

Note from the Publisher:  We hope that you have been edified and encouraged from this 10-day plan by J. Oswald Sanders. If you enjoyed the content and would like more just head on over and check out his book.  Pick up a copy of "Spiritual Leadership" at moodypublishers.com