The Gift of Leadership

We come now to the last remaining gift of the Spirit: LEADERSHIP.

Leadership is the divine enablement to:

1. understand what needs to be done and how best to do it;
   
2. clearly define what the goal or target is, so that others can comprehend it as well;
   
3. motivate people who are best suited to accomplish that goal;
   
4. coordinate it all the way to completion for the edification of the church and the glory of the Lord.
   

And at the end of the day, no matter how difficult it has been to reach the goal, the people still love the one with the gift of leadership; unlike what happens with people who attempt to lead WITHOUT the gifting.

That last is an important clue to understanding whether or not you have been "gifted" with leadership.

And it is important to be able to differentiate between "natural" leadership ability and "spiritual" leadership ability. The difference, of course, being that a "natural" leader tends to lead others along the course he has plotted, whereas one who is gifted in spiritual leadership, will lead others along the course that the Lord has plotted, as he himself is first led by the Lord

Gifted leaders have the ability to give vision and direction. They can mobilize others to follow them as they stand in front, leading. They know how to delegate. They want to take charge. They enjoy the responsibility, no matter how heavy the task might seem to the rest of us, it does not appear to be burdensome to them. They are not fearful about failing, they just want that opportunity to give it their best shot, because they believe they can get the thing done that most needs to be done. When nothing is happening at all, that is their cue to get up and get into action. They have a vision. And they will see strengths in others that the others might not even have known they had; strengths that can then be utilized in getting the job done and the goal reached.

I am going to attempt to give an example by using a quarterback; I say "attempt" because I probably know less about football than anyone else out there. But my daughter just recently explained to me some of the positions on a football team, and this morning the Lord brought our discussion back to my memory and showed me how it applies here. I think He probably wants me to use it. So here goes.

My daughter, explaining to me what the role of a quarterback is, said that one of the most important qualities of a quarterback is having "field vision". This is the ability to "see" everyone on the field and instantly know who is in the best position to receive the ball that he is about to throw or pass to them. This is what makes good quarterbacks such an important part of a football game (but then y'all probably knew that already!) Now, if the quarterback is a really short guy in the midst of really tall guys, he's gonna have a problem being able to "see" at all; but even if he is as tall or taller than the others, where he can actually "see" the field, he still must be a quick thinker, because the decision about whom to pass the ball to has to be made instantaneously or he will be caught (tackled) with the ball still in his hands and no gain made in terms of moving the ball closer to the goal.

But the team does not consist of only quarterback and receiver. There needs to be many other offensive and defensive positions as well, in order to get the ball both quickly and efficiently to the goal, even though everyone does not have the ball in their own hands, for there is after all, only one ball. In my rather feeble way, I am trying to say that just as the quarterback is important, so is the team that rallies around the actions of the quarterback. The quarterback will utilize the strengths of everyone on the team and the goals will be reached because he has made good choices. But if the quarterback is a proud and arrogant one-man show, trying to do it all by himself, or just not gifted at all as a leader, there is less chance that the ball will make it to the end zone, and more chance that the team will lose the game. And you will find that this particular quarterback is not loved by one and all. He was given a position to which he is not best suited. He is not a leader: he does not have vision, he does not know how to delegate, and his attitude does not motivate others to follow him to the goal. They would just as soon see him fall flat on his face and get it over with, so that the coach will bring in a better quarterback. The sooner the better!

Just as you can have an ill-fitted quarterback, so also can we in the church have ill-fitted leaders. But God knows who His leaders are, for He has gifted them to be so. And the church will recognize them as leaders. This is how elders are chosen. Elders will have the primary gift of leadership, and they will have the secondary gift of teaching as well, according to the bible.

Who were some biblical examples? And what was it they did for the people of God because of their God-enabled leadership skills?

Well, there's Moses. And even though this was before the "church" age, still Moses is a good example of a man being used by God in the area of leadership. And who out there wants a job like Moses had? I don't! But then I'm not gifted in leadership either! Even Moses himself tried to persuade the Lord to choose someone else. But the Lord "gifted" Moses with leadership. It's true that occasionally the burden seemed greater than Moses could bear; but those moments were few and far between compared to the total number of years they were in the desert. And even in those moments, Moses knew to turn to God for help. And God did help, every time. Perhaps it was this dependence upon God, rather than upon himself, that caused God to choose Moses as the leader of the Israelites in the first place. Certainly leaders of the church today should be examples to us of how to depend on God. And even though Moses, like David after him, sinned and was kept from entering the Promised Land (or in David's case, kept from building the Temple), still he led the people of God toward the goal. And they loved him. They had to go on without him, but go on they did.

Miriam, the sister of Moses, had leadership abilities even though her primary gift must have been prophecy, since she was first and foremost known as "the prophetess". In Exodus 15:20-21, she led the women into worship of the Lord with timbrels (a type of tambourine) and dancing. Through this exercise of leadership, Miriam glorified God and edified the Israelites by encouraging or exhorting them to worship the Lord with thanksgivng for all that He had done for them. Miriam was the first Jewish worship leader, you might say.

But how about in the church, since we are talking about gifts that are intended to edify the church?

Well, I'd say all twelve disciples had the "gift" of leadership, which by the way took the ministry form of "apostleship" among other things (which we will look at later). We see them selecting men to act as deacons in Acts 6, in order to deal with an issue that had arisen (we discussed that in the last posting.) They saw the need, they delegated the tasks to motivated people with strengths suited to the need, and the need was met, while they (the twelve) went on doing what they were gifted to do: lead.

James, the brother of Jesus, proved his gifted leadership during a meeting of the apostles and elders in Jerusalem (Acts 15), at which time James stood up and clarified what the ruling should be concerning whether or not Gentiles needed to be circumcised or at all bound to the law of Moses. Prior to this there had been much debate, after which Peter gave testimony concerning the problem, as did Paul and Barnabas who chiefly labored among the Gentiles; but when James stood up and pronounced what he thought should be done, all agreed, and it was done. James was obviously a leader in the church at Jerusalem, a spiritually-gifted leader. He had vision and could make the decisions needed. Immediately, the letters went out to the Gentiles telling them of the decision of the council at Jerusalem, which gave them cause to rejoice (Acts 15:31).

Paul, obviously had the primary "gift" of leadership, which was evidenced in his "ministry" of apostleship. He leads us on even today by his writings that the Lord has mercifully preserved for our edification and for His glory; his writings being the result of his secondary gift of teaching. But he was an apostle first and foremost, evidenced by all of his missionary travel, without which the church would not have expanded to the Gentiles as quickly as it did.

If you see things within the local body of Christ that you belong to, that need to be done and aren't being done, and you are unafraid of taking the risks, eager to get things organized and going, knowing there are folks around you who have strengths that are not being utilized and you know just how to do that because the Lord has plotted the course for you….if you recognize these traits in you, then you probably have the spiritual gift of leadership. Don't be put off by the fact that you are a woman and I haven't provided female counterparts to the twelve disciples and Paul. The Lord has areas within His church that are perfectly suited to women leaders as well (they just won't be in areas where women teach over men, as is biblically commanded) and if He has gifted you with leadership, He will also show you the specific ministry designed for your specific gift.

So, if you look back at the seven gifts we've covered here (prophecy, teaching, exhortation, mercy, giving, serving, leadership) which one resonates the most with you? Remember, we all will minister at times in all the gifts, and so you will see signs of other giftings as well. But the objective here is to find the one you will function in primarily; the one you have been best fitted to spend the largest amount of time doing within the body of Christ (your local church). Once you have recognized your primary gift, the next step is to understand its application, better known as "ministry".

We will go next to a better understanding of how "ministries" tie into the gifts, and from there we will see how "manifestations of the Spirit" tie into "ministries." I do hope you will try to see this study through to the end; otherwise, you will not have the complete picture. The completed picture that I would like to bring us all to see is the one of a Christ-centered, Holy Spirit-led church where we all know what our gifts are, how to minister those gifts to and for the edification of the body of Christ, and how to draw others to the Lord by the "manifestations of the Spirit" that He will display through us all, as we faithfully follow the truth of the Word of God.