Leading Like Jesus

I’ve read (listened to) a lot of the teaching books out there. I have done the same with the leadership books. But nothing compares to looking at the example of how Jesus led. Our ultimate goal as Christians is to so imitate Jesus in every way, shape and form that people don’t recognize us as much as they recognize Jesus. Here are a few things that I noticed about how Jesus chose to lead.

Used the Common and Ordinary-When Jesus set down with his followers across from the temple, he called their attention to the seemingly mundane to share the good news and expectations of God. Throughout Scripture you find him calling attention to the average ordinary things of life to make his point. What I take away from that is that we need to pay attention to the world around us and use common everyday experiences that people have to communicate the truth of Jesus. If that means citing a commercial, using a common catchphrase or bringing biblical stories into the 21^st century, then do it!

The 500, 72, 12, 3, and 1 Approach-No matter how small your group size, it’s difficult to connect and deeply disciple more than a handful. Jesus had different relationships with different people. His inner circle was comprised of 3: Peter, James and John. Then, he had John.

In student ministry, a huge win is to have your leaders understand Jesus' relational model and live it out. Some of “my” 12 would be another leaders 3. Some of their 72 might be in “my” 12. It makes connections with individuals easier and creates community and inclusion for all of your students.

Community, community, community-Just like in real estate it’s all about location, location, location; in ministry it’s all about community. It’s going to take time, plain and simple to form that community. It’s going to require us to spend time with our teams to determine our individual and collective giftedness. Our teams need to take on significant and specific roles on group nights and with students.

The Team-Trusting the team requires equipping, observation, and time. One of the most difficult things that I ever learned with a student ministry team was, “you don’t have to teach the way I do, but you do have to teach.” Each person on the team has a different skill level at teaching; it is each of ours responsibility to give everyone the tools they need (equipping), to provide coaching and feedback (observing) and to allow them space (time) to develop their particular skill.