vineyard values for leadership - part 2

4. leaders must be full of the Spirit, good character, wisdom and faith.
Leaders must be men or women of good reputation who demonstrate fullness of the Holy Spirit, wisdom and faith. Leaders must be trusted enough to be put ion charge of designated tasks. 'But select from among you, brethren, seven good men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task... and they chose Stephen, a man full faith and of the Holy Spirit' (Acts 6:3,5)
Leaders must be capable and respected, mature in the faith, tested in character with proven ministry ability.
'Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.'
(1Ti 3:2-7)
Mature leaders are trustworthy. They resist being bribed or bought. Their spiritual immune system is healthy enough to fight off the infection of greed that pervades our culture. ' Select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, who hate dishonest gain' (Ex. 18:21a).

5. wise leaders are accountable, able to accept reproof, and willing to repent.
Willingness to be judged by strict standards and to accept reproof is a sure sign of a maturing leader. 'Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a strictyer judgement'. (Jas. 3:1)
Perhaps no biblical leader demonstrated this accountability to other leaders with readiness to repent more completely than king David. David made horrendous violations of God's Holy Law when he coveted Bathsheba. He was guilty of adultery, murder and cover-up - but he repented so well! Though his repentance did not eliminate all the consequences of sin, in David's case God ameliorated a more servere judgement: 'Then David said to Nathan,'I have sinned against the Lord.' And Nathan said to David, 'The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die' (2Sam.12: 13).

6. leaders who are true shepherds have a God-given love for people.
Remember the Lord's restoring words to Peter after the miserable failure and lack of loyalty? 'Jesus sid to him, 'Tend my sheep' (Jn.21:17).
But leaders who persist in denying the Lord end up like malevolent wolves among the sheep. The Lord has harsh words for these: ' Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock! I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them' (Ezek.342;10).

7. good leaders are humble team players.
A leader must be willing to be a 'team player'. Good leaders make it their aim to equip their associates so that they succeed in fulfilling their calling. A leader who understands Team Vineyard is secure enough to let others play that would normally be his position - even if the new guy does not play as well. Team players are thankful - not jealous - when God raises up a star player to lead the team for a season; they understand that when one player shines the whole team advances.
'Do nothing out of selfish or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others' (Phil.2:3-4).


Hope these values are helpful to you in becoming a mature leader in the Kingdom of God... God bless, derek

vineyard values for leadership - part 1

I have an article from a very old 'Vineyard Reflections' that I thought would be of interest... quite a bit to type out so I will do it in two parts. Hope you find it helpful;

1. Spiritual Leaders are lovers of God
The core motivation of vineyard leaders must be to fulfill the greatest commandment which is to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength (Mk 12:30). Psalm 42:1-2 beautifully expresses this ardent love which leaders are given as a gift from God. 'As the deer pants for water, so my soul thirsts for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?'

2. Leaders must be saturated in the Word of God.
Paul admonishes Timothy to, 'Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth' (2 Tim.2:15). Those who lead in the Vineyard must know the Holy Scripture, the inerrant Word of God, our only infallible rule for faith, life and practice. Not only must leaders have a high view of Scripture, giving it positional or doctrinal authority, they must also allow Scripture to have functional authority in their daily lives. It is not enough to give mere mental assent to Bible information. Leaders must seek formation and spiritual transformation through a deep knowledge of the Word.

3. Leaders are called to a life of service and self-sacrifice.
In the Vineyard, we perceive leadership not as a position, or a title, or power, or authority, or respect, or privilege but rather an obligation to service and self-sacrifice. This was Jesus' model: 'Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give His life as a ransom for many' (Mk. 10:43-45).
Both a leader and his / her spouse should sense a call to service. This is because the family is the smallest guerrilla outpost of the kingdom and the basic building block of Christian community. Some leaders have become casualties because their spouse did not willingly share their commitment to be on the front lines.

Part 2 will follow shortly...

stepping out

We have begun a journey that starts with four Tuesday nights in February 2009 but will continue for a lifetime!
The quest is to learn how to lead. There are so many bad examples of leadership out there that it has become a bit of a minefield to navigate, however the bad examples need not have the final word... there is Godly leadership and we who follow those who have taken this journey before are, as someone put it, sitting on the shoulders of giants.
I trust you will enjoy taking this journey with me, the things I teach are things I have been taught and are not original ideas on my part, however I have been on the journey for a while and continue to learn through the good and the bad times.
Let's start the journey together and see where it takes us, through all that you learn and put into practice, remember the most important thing is to have fun on the way!