[This article is part of the “spiritual leadership today” study/discussion going on this year. For all articles in the series, click the Spiritual Leadership tab at the top of the page. To have them delivered, subscribe to The Brook Letter]
Whenever you put the adjective “spiritual” in front of anything else, that may signal one of two things, or both. “Spiritual” can mean “pertaining to matters of the human spirit,” or it can mean “pertaining to God, who is Spirit.” There is a horizontal dimension of spiritual leadership, and a vertical. On the horizontal plane, whenever leaders respect the remarkable dignity of man as created in the image of God–and do so with discernment and wisdom–we witness something far better than leaders being mere influencers. And on the vertical plane, when leaders believe that the almighty God of heaven and earth is the only enduring influence in people’s lives, and the only one who can define what should happen in people’s lives–then something truly distinctive happens.
Because spiritual leadership recognizes God’s noble intent in creating human beings as higher than any other part of creation (i.e. “spiritual”), and recognizes God’s stated intent to be the real influencer of human affairs, it is a form of leadership that ends up addressing all of life.
Spiritual Leadership is about People
Leadership is complicated because people are complicated. You have to decide when to tell people what to do, versus when to teach them principles so that they can figure out what to do. You have to figure out the goal or destiny of what you are aiming at. In an organization, it may be a short term measurable goal. In discipleship the goal is helping people become more like Christ–far more difficult to measure with a rule, but more important than anything else.
Spiritual Leadership is About Life
Spiritual leadership is challenging because it is about life itself. All of life. People need help with their relationships, families, sins, addictions, jobs, money. They need to have discipline when things are going well in life, and they need survival techniques when they are in the middle of storms. People want to know whom they can believe, what they can expect in the future, and whether anyone cares for them–the big three questions of faith, hope, and love. Spiritual leadership, in other words, is an opportunity to help people flourish, to live that good life that God has defined as good. Grateful people will look back across the years and say to those who were their spiritual leaders: thank you, you made a huge difference in my life, what you said was a turning point for me.
And it is no different for organizations, because they are simply collections of people. Offices that work well are like families that work well. Not that an office is the same thing as a family, but the core human dynamics of trust, communication, understanding, expectations are all the same.
Spiritual leadership is about life, because if you are going to tell people how to live, you have to live that way yourself. Leaders motivate people to work hard and well if that is modeled in the leader. People watch how a leader handles criticism, works through crises, handles personal shortcomings, rises to an opportunity, descends to help someone hidden.
Spiritual Leadership is about Priorities
In a world of infinite possibilities, we need spiritual leadership to sort out the good from the bad, or between good, better, and best. Spending habits, media consumption, associations, commitments, entertainment, lifestyle decisions are all spiritual matters. God has something to say about it all. The question is whether leaders will understand how they can best guide people into the best spiritual decisions they can make.
Spiritual Leadership is about Values
All of us spend our time and energies on the things we value the most. Spiritual leadership is about helping people shape their basic values according to what God values. We need to value the important people in our lives, and to make time for them. We should value life-transformation in the people we lead. God’s creation should be a value because Scripture makes it clear that God fashioned the universe as a way of displaying his glory and power. Spiritual vitality is to see all of God’s work, the visible and the invisible, as a display of his rambunctious nature. If our leadership is not based on values and does not impart values, the effects will be short-lived.
Spiritual Leadership is about Time
People need help managing their time. For many of us our standard response when someone asks how we are doing is to say, “I’ve been so busy…” This is a useless statement. It says nothing about how we really are doing, it signals that we may be having problems disciplining our lives, and it may even be a small badge of honor we are flashing. Busyness and stress are two problem areas that we turn into merit. We must stop complaining about being too busy and fix what needs fixing. Otherwise how are we going to help people who are looking for leaders who can show them how to manage life?
Bottom line: spiritual leadership means many people serving all people in issues regarding all of life. Spiritual leadership is all-encompassing. No wonder it is so rewarding, and so challenging at the same time. How much better the world would be if all of us–church leaders, business leaders, educators, community leaders, medical and legal professionals, parents–used all the tools available to us as we help people, made in the image of God, come under the enduring influence of God. And why would we want to do anything else?
What do you think?
Little did I know when I signed up to receive your information that the door would open for me to step out in leadership during a women’s bible study in our community. God knows the reasons for signing up before I could even imagine what will be available to me. I look forward to continued learning so that I may pass it on to other women. Thanks in His Name.
Am I correct in understanding that Middle Eastern cultures don’t really think of all these qualities as categories? That they don’t think of divisions of physical, emotional, and spiritual like we westerners so often do? Would that mean that all leadership is spiritual and is either driven by the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Evil?
These messages on spiritual leadership are so very important. I especially appreciated today’s emphasis on showing respect for, and really caring for the well-being of each individual who we are supposed to be leading. Sometimes I have observed that this is not a value that is upheld in today’s world, even in a Christian church, where one would surely EXPECT to find it. Thank you for this column and this work.
Dear Mel, thank you so much for this work. Yes, spiritual leadership is about Life and People. You said “People need help with their relationships, families, sins, addictions, jobs, money”. I think sometimes about cooperation, koinonia, relationship, etc. We need each other. Our problem, many times, is to think that we don’t need anyone, and we miss out on sharing with others.
Spiritual leadership is difficult to build when someone seems to be self-sufficient. The problem comes when we don’t appreciate the relationship we have with others and be to persevere. There is no one who is better, no one inferior. We have to work on better communication, on face-to-face relationships. Oscar Mouriu from Nairobi Chapel said: This relationship kills email. Our problem is that many times we don’t appreciate personal contact, and we say to ourselves, “Why am I going to go see him/her?” “Why waste the time?” Spiritual Leadership means our presence, our commitment, our flexibility, our cooperation because is about life and people.
I think you are right, Jim, that in our culture we sometimes divide human experience into different categories. Scripture certainly sees the human being as a whole. And so, consequently, there is no part of life for which there is not a “spiritual” dimension. We are “spiritual” because of who we are, created in the image of God. And life is “spiritual” because God’s Spirit has something to say about every aspect of our lives.
Thanks for the amplification of the point that relationships matter, Carlos.
I enjoyed this. I was reading about the parable of the four soils this morning, and stopped at Luke 8:15, “But the seed on good soil stand for those with a noble and good heart…”
Are spiritual leaders helping create a noble and good heart, or is that God’s role?
oh, and as a young leaders, it’s hard to balance treating people with the dignity that God instilled upon them, while discerning whether to tell them what to do versus give them the principles to make their own choice.
I don’t find it ironic that I’ve traveled from Milw to Nashville and just finished a session on being a mentor in regards to Women of Faith group leader and then taking time this afternoon to sit down and just relax a little and take in my surroundings while reading about spiritual leadership. There were many things that were repeated, reinforced, or went along with the session I just finished on mentoring and I know that when God repeats Himself He is driving home a point. I’M LISTENING!
It is a great article and reminder that it more what you do then what you say that counts.
It is always hard to choose from good, better and best. It is important to model to people that those decisions of ours as leaders are based on where and how God is leading us so we don’t get caught up in the busyness of life. I always find it facinating to see how God cancels one appointment for another to redirect me to where He wants to use me. It means being flexible and open.
Thanks for the this discussion on leadership.
I continue to enjoy the discussion Mel, thanks for putting the effort into this project.
Getting to “The Answer” about leadership and it’s definition is certainly more than 9, 15 or 200 things. I’m naturally repelled by books that promise “x” number of easy steps to success. Leadership is hard, that’s a fact. Navigating through the challenges of leadership, for most of us, is like all other great challenges in life. The difficulties become the God’s classroom for us. I love Paul’s words, “Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession”
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELPER; MAY GOD BLESS YOU. I NEED MOR HELPER FROM YOU AND OTHERS; IN ORDER TO MOR KNOWLEDGEABLE.
thank you for your insights into this… God bless.