Leadership and Church Administration

 BY: Patriarch and Presiding Prelate Sir Dr Godfrey Gregg

Leadership

According to Dr Williams, no matter how well-designed an organization is, it is only as good as the people who live and work in it.  What determines the organization’s performance is the approach to managing its leaders.  In determining what makes a good leader,

1. Integrity

2. Motivation

3. Capacity

4. Understanding

1. Knowledge

2. Experience.

Without integrity, motivation is dangerous; without motivation, capacity is impotent; without capacity, understanding is limited; without understanding, knowledge is meaningless; without knowledge, the experience is blind.  Experience is easy to provide and quickly put to good use by people with all the other qualities.

Most leaders don’t have a problem getting new, innovative thoughts into their minds; the problem is getting old ones out.  Every mind is like a room packed with antique furniture.  All of the old stuff of what we know, think and believe must be taken out before we can replace it with something new.  When empty spaces are made in the mind something creative will fill them. The question is what?

If one has a desire to lead, they need to invest at least half of their time managing themselves, their ethics, character, principles, purpose, motivation, and conduct. At least a quarter of the time must be invested in managing those who have authority over us.  Managing peers requires a percentage of the remaining quarter of our time.  The remainder of the time should be used to manage those we work for, and those whom we lead.

Leadership is a dynamic process over an extended period in which a leader influences the thoughts and activities of followers, toward the accomplishment of aims, usually mutually beneficial for leaders, followers, and the organization of which they are a part.

According to Archbishop Frank Simon, a leader is a person with a God-given responsibility to influence a specific group of God’s people toward his purposes for the group.  Bishop Antonio defines leadership as the process of motivating, mobilizing, resourcing, and directing people to passionately and strategically pursue a vision from God that the group jointly embraces.

According to Bishop Ollivierre, spiritual leadership is moving people onto God’s agenda.  For Pastor Daniel, leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth.  Leadership is not merely influencing, getting things done effectively, or controlling the decision-making process, it’s been described as something beautiful; hard to define, but you will know it when you see it.

A leader must possess integrity. Integrity is that quality of character that elicits trust from others. It is being whole, complete, and uncompromising adherence to truth. Integrity asks the question, “Am I able to do that which you trust me to do?”  It is developed when I have permission, to be honest about who I am and who I am not.  Integrity needs a safe place to develop. True integrity is realized by understanding the reality of who God says you are.

Leaders are men/women of character. Character empowers our capacities while keeping them in check. Character is what you are, whereas reputation is what others think you are. Though the character is made by many acts; it may be lost by a single act. Therefore, you have to be careful about what you do, where and how.

Humility is a characteristic of leadership.  Humility is trusting God and others with myself. People with humility don’t think less of themselves, they just think of themselves less.

As previously stated, self-leadership is our greatest investment when leading. Leaders would do well to ask the following questions:

• Is my calling sure?
• God, what do you want me to do?
• What is God’s mission for my life?
• Is my vision clear?
• Where are you going?
• A leader’s job is to see around corners.
• Is my pace sustainable?
• Are you preparing for a lifetime of ministry?
• We need to practice that part of the long view.
• Is my love for God and people increasing?
• This can be a key indicator of ministry burnout.  Beware of the danger of plateauing.
• Is your heart for God?  What do you want to learn this week?
• Who is responsible for your leadership development?
• How do you envision God changing you?
• Is my passion hot?
• What is it that motivates you?
• Who is responsible for keeping your passion hot?
• Am I developing my gifts?
• What steps are you taking to develop your spiritual gifts?
• Is my character submitted to Christ?
• What changes need to be made in my character?
• Is my pride subdued?
• Who do you have who can speak truth into your life?
• Am I overcoming fear?
• My fears can seem overwhelming when my focus is not on God.
• Are interior issues undermining my leadership?
• We often want to avoid the dark side of leadership.  We must beware of isolation; character is formed in the community but tested in isolation.

It is a good thing to sit at the feet of sound and astute biblical leaders and analyze their leadership. I remember sitting with my Reverend Queen Mother Myers to hear her teach and share her experiences. My life is still hinged on those things. (I trust that within the ranks of the Spiritual Baptist Faith, the leaders and teachers will teach their children the true principles that have guided us thus far.) Samuel was left in the care of Eli at the temple after being weaned by his mother.  As a lad, he had not come to recognize the voice of God.  Chosen by God to judge Israel, he came to the knowledge of God’s voice; he was obedient to the voice and the call to the prophetic ministry and the call to be a judge over Israel.

Samuel was capable of leading himself, and his peers within and without Israel; he led downward and had a right relationship with God which means he knew how to lead upward because God honoured his life.  There was a problem with Samuel’s sons, who lived immoral lives.  The question could be asked, If Samuel was lacking in his ability to lead his family or was this just a case where children have been brought up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, but choose to rebel? (It is your duty as parents to train up your children in the fear of the Lord, so when they become old they will not depart from it. However, every man is a free agent to decide where he will go and the choices that he will make.)

According to scripture, God had complete trust in Samuel, and Samuel found favour with God. When Israel insisted on having a king to lead them like the other nations, Samuel became distraught feeling rejected by a people he had led and was now being cast aside because he had aged.  He was consoled by God’s assurance that it was not he who was being rejected but Israel was rejecting their true King.

Given the arduous task of choosing a king for Israel, Samuel was led to the appropriate location to find the man that God had chosen.  Again, God sets circumstances in motion to have his chosen man, Saul, at the right place at the right time. It was God who was involved in choosing the leaders He wanted over His people.

When Saul was anointed by Samuel to be king over Israel, scripture states that a spirit of prophecy came upon him as he met a group of prophets and his spirit was changed within him as if he were another man.  As long as Saul was obedient to the voice of God he was a capable and successful leader.  He could not lead himself successfully; the flesh was a major problem for Saul.  He disobeyed the voice of God when asked to kill all the Amalekites, including the animals, but Saul chose to save the best of the spoils for himself.  Even King Agag was spared.  Another incident that infuriated God with Saul was his offering sacrifices to God in the absence of Samuel.  The results of these two incidents led to the rejection of Saul by God.  Saul could lead downward, laterally, and upward, when obedient, but was lacking in the area of self-leadership.  This led to his downfall. Some so many ministers fit right here with Saul. Right before our very eyes and even, within our faith. Our lessons are not far away, every church has a lesson we can learn from and within our very own court.

God’s rejection of Saul led to the choice of David as the next king of Israel.  Again, it was given to Samuel to make the trip to the house of Jesse, the Benjamite, to look among his sons for the next king.  After David was finally chosen, Saul asked Jesse to allow David to come to his palace to reside because of David’s musical ability.  After Saul’s rejection by God, an evil spirit entered him and he tended to go into fits of rage.  David’s music had a soothing effect on Saul, but he would also become jealous of David and attempt to kill him.

David was a great warrior and on his return from the battle on one occasion, the women stood on their balconies and shouted, “Saul has killed his thousands but David his tens of thousands.”  Saul’s hatred grew continually against David and he sought ways to annihilate him.

Eventually, David was anointed a king over all of Israel and he was a great warrior king as well as a leader.  He was God’s chosen, but there were flaws in his character. 

Several times he missed the mark in self-leadership.  The one time that stands out the most in scripture was the affair that he had with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, whom he ultimately killed.

David was an excellent lateral leader, an excellent downward leader, he led upward, with skill, but he had to work hard on self-leadership as most of us do.  In his final epitaph, he was declared to be a man after God’s own heart, this was due to his desire to do the will of God.

Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba, was Israel’s third king. His reign was one of relative peace between the nations and one of prosperity. Solomon was considered the wisest man to have ever lived.  In his youth, after being anointed king, it was his prayer to God that he be granted wisdom to be able to in and out among such great people.  God granted Solomon his request and threw in extraordinary wealth along with wisdom.  It was given to him by God to build the Temple of the Lord.  This project took him seven years to complete. 

When the temple was completed Solomon dedicated the magnificent structure in a public ceremony of prayers and sacrifices. Solomon was also known for other building projects in which he used slave labour from foreign lands. He spent 13 years building his palace. He built the city wall, a citadel and a palace for one of his foreign wives, and facilities for foreign traders. 

Solomon led downward with great ability, laterally equally as well, upward when in the will of God, but had great difficulty in his middle years with self-leadership.  His many foreign wives drew his heart away from God and he afforded them the luxury of bringing and worshipping their idol gods in Israel. In Solomon’s senior years, he saw the error of his ways and concluded that all of his past vices were nothing more than vanity.

The Bible gives us a picture of biblical leaders who were examples of good leaders. His Excellency Dr Granville Williams used the example of Esther as a prime example of what upward leadership is about.  A Jewish queen, married to a Persian king, with the lives of her countrymen on the line, she was persuaded by her uncle Mordecai to enter the king to intercede for her people.  She was informed that perhaps God had allowed her to come to power for such a time as this.

Haman disdained the Jewish race and because Mordecai refused to bow to him on his approach, he wanted Mordecai, as well as the other Jews, annihilated.  Haman plotted against Mordecai and the Jewish people to the extent that he had gallows built to hang Mordecai from.

Esther was a woman of integrity, possessing the qualities of a good leader; she called for a fast among her people before going in to see the king, because it had been months since he had summoned her into his presence.  To enter the king’s presence without being summoned could result in consequences that were not pleasant.  At the end of the fast, Esther decided to go in to see the king stating, “If I perish. I perish.”

While on his bed one evening, King Ahasuerus could not sleep and read to him the annals of the past.  It was read to him how Mordecai had informed the king that two of his bodyguards sought to lay hands on him and destroy him.  Realizing that Mordecai had never been rewarded for his kindness, the king called in Haman to inquire what should be done.  Haman gave his input for a parade thinking that the affair was for him.

When called to a banquet with Esther present, the story was told to the king of the plot that was being planned against her people.  Ahasuerus asked who it was that was planning this atrocity and Esther informed him that it was Haman. Haman was put to death on the gallows he had built for Mordecai. (Be careful of all your plans for others, they can come back to haunt you)  Though she was an all-around leader; her ability to lead upward was quite valuable in saving the lives of her people.

Another biblical character that represents upward leadership is Nehemiah.  A loyal cup-bearer of King Artaxerxes, he heard that the walls in his beloved city, Jerusalem, were in shambles, and the gates were burned.  Deeply disturbed by this news his continence changed.  The observant person that he was, Artaxerxes questioned the disposition of Nehemiah.  Being a man of prayer and guided by the Spirit, Nehemiah tactfully informed the king of the condition of his homeland.  He was deeply troubled that the place of his father’s sepulchres lay in waste and the gates of the city had been destroyed by fire.

When one leads upward, the proper approach is necessary.  This was seen with Esther and it is also seen in the life of Nehemiah.  He stated, “If it pleases the king, or if I have pleased you with my service, and if your servant has found favour in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father’s sepulchres, that I may rebuild it.”

All that Nehemiah asked of the king was granted him and with much prayer, hard work, and opposition, the work was completed.  The key to Nehemiah’s success was first, his ability to lead upward, getting the king to accept his proposal; and then getting those who may have been his peers, within the group, to work diligently with him.   Because this was the homeland of them all, there was a sense of ownership involved.  He led laterally to those who were outside the group by refusing the help of those who pretended to be supporters, and by refusing to cease working to entertain the antics of Sanballat and Tobias.  To lead upward, self-leadership must come first.

Good leaders allow others to share in or own the vision of the leader.  Leaders must produce visions of passion that will cause others not only to buy into the vision but also to grasp it with passion and go forward with it.  Owning the vision gives value to others.  It allows them to dream and to reflect on where the vision is going.

Leaders need to emphasize the importance of the group because nothing happens when one works alone. I say nothing happens when one works alone, but I will say like the songwriter if no one joins me I am going to follow.   Though, we all have fears and fear is a common factor in each of us, overcoming each fear makes us stronger. Prejudice comes from a base of fear, fear of the unknown.  Our greatest fear is fear itself. One must be more important and stronger than their fears. To be truthful about it, pain is necessary; dealing with the pain gets one where one needs to be. Good leaders will attempt to see the potential in others and try to unlock those qualities.

We talked about defining the problem and building on it.  People need to be moved beyond their self-serving motives. They have to be taught when to transition and move forward. Empowering others is a key factor in good leaders. Delegating authority builds support. If people are given an agenda they can understand, then the leader will see fruit.  Leaders are to focus on their goals and not be intimidated by negative reactions. Leave something for the generation that follows.

We emphasized the importance of building around strengths and managing around weaknesses. We used the analogy of a family whose child comes home with a report card and did well in all classes except one. We surmise that the family would insist that the child focus on the class that he/she did not do well in rather than accentuate the positive by focusing on the classes that the child did do well in.

Leaders must define strengths and build on those strengths.  Strengths are not what you are good at, but, what makes you feel good.  One must be an authority of one’s strengths.  There are risks to blossoming as opposed to staying in the bud.

I started some time ago that new converts must be taught early how to self-feed.  Facts are the leader’s friend. If you are not getting the expected results, and people are allowed to share with you their feelings concerning the matter, don’t ignore the facts.  Productive leaders will plan strategically. This does not involve what we want to do, but, how do we do what we want to do?

Spiritual leaders must see themselves as delivering a service to a customer.  Four questions need to be asked:

1. How do I define what my goals are?
2. What set of community needs am I going to meet?
3. How can I deliver value?
4. How do I create alignment with the group?

Be clear about your goals and measure them.

For Sir James, leadership is defined as being a problem solver.  Allow others to share their ideas, but, when the leader makes a decision he/she needs to stick to it.  Maintain an open-door policy and put people in the best environment to get the job done.  It is people that get the job done, not charts and graphs.

Astute leaders get information where they can find it if they are not informed on an issue or a situation.  The best performers should be rewarded and poor performers should be gotten rid of.  Keep emotions and professional feelings separate.  Be who you are and be prepared to be lonely, but have someone you can let off steam with. This is so true and sometimes we have to be very careful. The very trusted friend, brother or Minister have problems and we must be warned where and how to blow our steam or vent our feelings.

It is a leader’s responsibility to stay inspired and motivated.  If the leader is not inspired either will his followers be?  When spiritual leaders are inspired, more is given; therefore, leaders must stay crystal clear about their calling from God.  There were times when Jesus was fully engaged in helping the needy but He knew when it was necessary to pull away from the crowds as well as His disciples and refocus.  When our calling is sure, we must stay away from those who will de-motivate us.  Develop relationships with other leaders who inspire and motivate you. Many books are written to inspire and motivate, and we must read them!

There are essential biblical principles in scripture for the five directions of leadership that will work for all leaders. The first and foremost investment is to be in self-leadership.  Those persons who led themselves well were successful leaders. The proper amount of time invested in leading will ultimately lead to leading well laterally, upward, and downward.

The biblical characters whose calling was sure and whose passion was hot were motivated to lead well.  Those persons who neglected self-leadership found themselves displaced in their roles as leaders.  They could not lead to lateral, upward, or downward.  Looking at the plight of those who neglected self-leadership should encourage us to invest most of our time leading ourselves.  Having an understanding that our calling is sure, we must maintain our level of passion for the leadership role we’ve been called to.  It is our responsibility, and ours alone, to remain inspired.  We must associate with those persons who are positive and continue to read material that is inspiring and positive.

The critical questions to ask are those questions we should ask ourselves daily:

1. What is my focus: self, upward, laterally, or downward?  Where the focus of leadership is placed is important.
2. Is my calling sure?  What is God’s mission for my life?  God, what do you want me to do?
3. Is my vision clear?  Where am I going?
4. Is my pace sustainable?  If I’m preparing for a lifetime of ministry, which I am, am I practising the art of the long view?
5. How is my heart?  What do I want to learn new this week?  Who is responsible for my leadership development?  How is God changing my life?
6. Is my love for God and people increasing?  I should be aware when I am about to experience ministry burnout.  I have been in that position before and it is a place that I would like to avoid in the future.

Those are the questions that we should constantly ask ourselves as we continue to invest more time in self-leadership.

The biggest challenges or most dangerous temptations that would result in failing to lead well in this direction are that our loss of motivation or inspiration will cause those whom we lead to become uninspired.  It will also cause us to lose our vision or focus and love for the work of ministry as well as caring for those whom we lead. I know this too, well and so I ask the Lord to keep me one step ahead. These are my comforting words. This will I do my dying Lord, I must remember Thee.

We will know that we’re doing well in this area when others are excited about the vision that is given to them and inspired to work without being coerced.  As I point out there are signs that leaders should ask for. Leaders should learn how to read people, body language, facial expressions, nervous laughs, and slumped shoulders are some of the signals people will send to let you know how well you are leading.

People will tell you with signals when to listen. Leaders tend to talk too much and signals are sent to tell you when to stop talking.  Leaders need to know that you can’t listen in a hurry. Good leaders will bring focus to the group. People will send signals to leaders to inspire them and to motivate them. The best signal of a leader losing focus is when people become stagnant. So, we know that we’re doing well when people are focused, excited, inspired, and motivated.

Our focus for continual development in this direction should involve better management of time in self to become the leader that we should be.  How do we know when to say no to a given situation that will draw us away from our main focus, which is leading ourselves first?  We need to do what is necessary to remain inspired, and excited, and maintain a passion for ministry and leading well.

A Church Needs Good Administration

A church is an organism.  An organism is a complex structure of interdependent and subordinate elements whose relations and properties are largely determined by their function as a whole.  The church, an organism, is a basic unit constituted to carry on the activities of its life using parts separate in function but mutually dependent.  As organism requires administration, good administration, and strong administration if it is to be very effective, positive and powerful.

A church is of God and people.  There is an essential partnership between God and persons in the life and work of a church.  Church administration concerns itself with presenting the human element in the partnership equation as a disciplined, orderly, purposeful instrument to be directed and used by God as He sees fit

Church resources are limited. Church administration concerns itself with the overall guidance provided by church leaders as they utilize the spiritual, human, physical, and financial resources of the church to enable the church to move toward fulfilling its purpose and objectives.  On the human plane, church resources are limited. The limitation of resources makes the management of the more imperative. Church administration offers good management for a church’s limited resources.

Churches are experiencing sagging influence and a lagging pace. The well-documented decline of the influence of churches on society, the continuing decline of participation in many churches, and other signs of the times indicate that churches are losing ground.  Presently, most churches are decreasing in both numbers and percentages about general population growth. Ill-discipline members, lack of vision and at times jealousy also cause an exodus from churches. There is a lack of vision within the church and so we experience the slow movement of growth in the church. Too, much time is spent trying to fix the leaders and neglecting oneself. It is often said to take care of your own house than that of another. Why work on the leader when you are a failure, to begin with? Where is your vision? What are you doing to enhance the growth of the church?

If allowed to go unchecked, this trend portends the reduction of churches to mere remnants in the lifetime of some persons now living.  Church administration offers no cure for such conditions.  Yet, good church administration, like Christianity itself, has not been tried and found wanting.

Improved leadership in non-church sectors affects the church.  The quality of leadership other than church organizations has generally, though not universally, improved.  There is a higher educational level among church members, reflecting that of the general population.  More church members are in places of responsible leadership in their occupations.  There, they are expected to perform according to increasingly high leadership standards and to employ ever more sophisticated techniques.

Many church members expect leadership intensity and quality of effort in the church comparable to that with which they work in their jobs outside the church.  Some even better effort, since the church is God’s business.

Church leaders need an administrative style of leadership:

Church leaders need to discover, accept, and develop an administrative style of leadership.  The need is not a new one, neither is the approach to the remedy.  Both are apparent in history at least as far back as the Exodus.  Exodus 18:17 – 18 is the beginning of Jethro’s counsel to his son-in-law, Moses:

What you are doing is not good.  You and the people with you will wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it alone.

Jethro followed his consultation on administration with the promise of these benefits:

So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.  If you do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all his people also will go to their place in peace (verses 22 – 23).

Jethro admonished Moses to listen to his counsel.  He invoked God’s presence with Moses (verse 19) and the authoritative command of God (verse 23) that Moses follows the counsel.  Here are the major points of the prescription.

1. Pray for them:  Moses was to represent the people before God.  He was to bring their causes to God.  This seems to be a way of saying he was to pray for them and their problems.

2. Teach them the guidelines:  Moses was to teach the people the statutes and the laws.  These were to be their guidelines as policies, procedures, and rules.

3. Show them the way:  Moses was to show the people the way wherein they must walk.  Since they had the pillar of cloud and fire for their physical direction, this admonition must refer to Moses showing them their life direction, as a spiritual counsellor.

4. Show them the work:  Moses was to show the people the work they must do.  Their work was to become a nation to be used for God’s redemptive purposes.  The work was their challenge from God.  It was to provide much of the motivation for their struggle to become the kind of instrument as a people through whom God could work.  Their work was for them the “program”.

5. Organize the people into manageable groups:  Moses was to organize the people into manageable groups.  The pattern was to have groups of thousands, which, in turn, would have groups of hundreds.  The hundreds of groups were sub-grouped into the fifties and the fifties into groups of tens.  This was their organizational design.

6. Choose qualified men to lead each group:  Moses was to see that qualified men provided “out of all the people” to be placed over each unit of the organization.  The “job qualifications” are impressive.  These leaders were to be able, God-fearing, truthful, and haters of unjust gain.  Their span of leadership was reasonable.  Each man could be expected to cover his assignment effectively.

7. Give the chosen leaders continuing authority:  Moses was to let the chosen leaders of the group judge the people at all seasons.  Their authority was not limited to any season.  No one would benefit by waiting for a different season for his arbitration to be handled.  This arrangement would expedite the solving of disputes and avoid a loaded docket.  It would be an exception to the statutes and laws which would not be decided by these judges.  This pinpointed responsibility both for the people and for their leaders.

8. Have leaders decide routine matters:  Moses was to have the chosen decide “every small matter”.  There were the routine kinds of problems that were covered by statutes and laws which were of limited magnitude.  This kind of problem was to be solved on the lowest possible level of the organization structure, at the point nearest the problem itself, where the facts of the issue were most readily apparent.

9. Bring “great matters” to the chief leader:  The people and/or judges were to bring to Moses “every great matter”.  These would be matters of large importance which were not satisfactorily dealt with under the statutes and laws.  These were the exceptions.  Moses was to judge these.  He was to manage by exception, a management concept which has been articulated in this century by some, as though they invented it.

The illustration from Exodus does not imply that a Mosaic structure suits all needs for all time.  But, the lesson should be clear that for leaders to endure and to get the work done, they must lead others to bear the burden also.  This is the meaning of an administrative style of leadership.

One who wonders how a man like Jethro could be the source of such keen insights should consider at least two factors.  First, there seems to be sufficient evidence that God was initiating this counsel.  Second, each suggestion Jethro made is filled with the kind of practical wisdom which might come from any objective, intelligent, thoughtful person who was not so caught up in busyness that he couldn’t take time to think through the problem.

Jethro’s advice to Moses was not mysterious, not in a language foreign to Moses, and not without many pieces of evidence of “common sense”.  It was instrumental in helping Moses move from being a mere hardworking leader with a following to being an effective administrator in his time.