Replies to leadership

REPLIES TO LEADERSHIP
Name
Course
Date
A.R
From the presentation, it is evident that the writer acknowledges the leader-teacher trait as essential for the growth of the ministry. As spiritual leaders and teachers, these characters must speak, act, and think like Jesus. Just like the disciples, the spiritual leaders must go out and preach the gospel to the world Mark 9:15. In the bible, there are significant figures that can be used as examples to this effect. Moses was an excellent leader whose teachings, to date, still impact on Christians. On the other hand, David, a skilled musician, used his songs to teach and lead the Israelites.
The modern society has detrimentally affected Christianity. Leaders in churches have deviated from their role as the shepherds of the sheep. Strong political waves have made the spiritual leaders shift their attention from preaching the word of God. It is common to witness some of the leaders embracing and teaching the congregation to engage in abortion and homosexuality. ‘ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by cunning and craftiness of people in their deceit scheming’ Ephesians 4:14. Christian leaders must be firm and preach against the evil in the society.
D.G.
Faithfulness, trust, and love are essential for any church leader. In Exodus 4:6, The Lord is described as full of grace, abounding in love, compassionate, and faithfulness. Spiritual leaders must be like God.

Through their faithfulness, they must practice what they preach. Gary Bredfelt asks the leaders not to ‘preach water but take wine.’ Additionally, the leaders ought to use the bible as the only guide when teaching the congregation.
Leader-teachers must display their trust in the Lord. Failure to trust the Lord comes with its consequences. God told Moses and Aaron they would not be the ones to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land because they lacked trust in Him as holy (Numbers 27:12). Gary Bredfelt affirmed that leader-teachers who do not trust in the Lord end up losing the trust of the congregation.
Love was identified by Jesus as the greatest commandment (Mathew 22:36
-40). God released His son to suffer, and die at the hands of sinners to save the world. Jesus, while on earth portrayed humility and love. In John 13:1-17, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, this showed servanthood, humility, and love. Just like Christ, church leaders must teach about love, and lead by example by loving everybody irrespective of whether they are sinners or no.
J.H
The writer compares leadership in the church with any other type of leadership, in organisations. From a theoretical standpoint this sounds valid, however, in reality, it is not right to compare spiritual leadership to other forms of leadership since church leaders, unlike other leaders, use the Bible in teaching and leading the sheep. Nevertheless, just like other leaders, spiritual teacher-leader must display humility, servant-leadership, and place their priorities right.
‘Humble yourself before the Lord, and He shall exalt you’ (James 4:10). Leaders must be humble before the Lord and before their subjects. In so doing, these the leaders gain favour from God, and they also gain influence of the members. Jesus is the role model for all church leaders. He showed humility on different occasions, and always prioritised the needs of His followers. Teacher-leaders must practise servant leadership just like Christ.
Leaders who fail to plan eventually fail to accomplish their expectations.Setting priorities right and making the right decisions are the two critical steps in strategic planning. For notable growth to be witnessed in a church, the leaders must teach the church members how to prioritise and make decisions.
Bibliography
Bredfeldt, Gary. Great leader, great teacher: Recovering the biblical vision for leadership. Moody Publishers, 2006.
The Book of Job, the King James Version. 2017. Ebible.Org. Accessed May 10, 2018. https://ebible.org/kjv/Job.html.