Christian leadership

Here are the principles that I personally believe make for good leadership. I do not take any particular credit for them; I am sure that they are stolen ideas from other people that have influenced me at one time or another. But here we go:

1. Servant leadership. “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42-45). If you want to be a leader, you need to be the one willing to do the hard work that nobody else wants to do!
   
2. Motives. “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1). Of course, you will be doing a lot of your actions in public. But public relations involves a lot of behind the scenes work that nobody else will ever see. Every once in a while I have to do a motive check and think about why I am really doing something – is it for recognition? Or for God? I have found that while I did get some recognition, it came at a high cost.
   

3. Do not override other leaders, if you can avoid it. There are times when you may have to, where they clearly made the wrong call and messed something up. But if your reason for overriding someone is “That is not how I do things”, how does that make the other person feel?
   
4. Do not micromanage. You do not need to be involved in every decision that Upper Room makes. I had to learn that while I had an opinion on a lot of things Upper Room, speaking my mind every single time something came up was counterproductive. If this affects PR, by all means speak up, and if you have something to contribute that nobody else has said, go for it; however, there is a balance.
   
5. Do not overcommit. Know what you can handle, and what you cannot. If you think you are overcommitted, see if you can let one of your responsibilities go gently, rather than dropping the ball in a loud and noisy way.
   
6. Follow your own rules. If you ask leadership to do something, then you had better be doing it too, unless there is another reason why.
   
7. Upper Room is not a MMORPG. We are a community, not a corporation; while some structure is necessary, we do not have structure for the sake of structure.
   
8. Recognize people’s contributions to Upper Room. It is not all you, so do not take the credit for everything!
   
9. Admit your mistakes and take full responsibility. This makes you seem more vulnerable and human, and it shows maturity that you are not making excuses or blaming other people. A few small mistakes here and there are fine!
   
10. I cannot take credit for this phrase, but it is a good one: “Motivate, not legislate.” People will respond better when they do not feel forced to do something and when they understand the rationale behind the decision. Now, there are times to legislate, and where you will have to be firm and unwavering (we have to clear out of the room at 9 PM!) But keep those to a minimum.