Reflection: Servant Leadership in Times Like These

by David Gyertson

If Jesus is the gold standard for servant leadership, then we will obey Him by serving faithfully those He has entrusted to us. Often we will work within the strengths He has provided. Like Moses, the skills and experiences symbolized by the shepherd’s staff can become the “rod of God.” However, we must not be surprised or unprepared when the Master asks us to minister out of frailty and discomfort. Being forced to cast down our rods of ability and stability periodically ensures that we are operating not by our own power and might, but by the Spirit’s (Zech 4:6). For it is primarily when we have nothing left but Jesus that He becomes everything. When Jesus is our only thing, as well as our everything, the excellence of the power is seen by all to be of Him and not of us. In the end, the only star will be Christ Jesus the Morning Star (Rev. 22:16). Such is the servant leadership needed for times like these.

EditorJuly 8, 2018leadership, Bible, servant leadershipComment

Reflection: Servant Leaders as Change Agents

by Beth Snodderly

I did a word study a couple of years ago on the words used for “servant” in the New Testament. One of those words, therapon, is used only once in the New Testament, and is applied to Moses. But this word is used quite a few times in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, also speaking of Moses.

EditorJuly 4, 2018leadership, Bible, servant leadership Comment

Mentoring Insights from the Book of Titus

by John Sheneni

Like mentor, like mentee. In this paper, I explore the qualifications of mentors, the profile of mentees, and the duties of mentors and mentees that we can see in the epistles to Titus. Our hope for producing a viable pastoral team for the future is in doing what Paul and the early Christian leaders did so well—discipling and mentoring the youth for ministry and for church membership.

EditorJune 21, 2018leadership, mentoring, BibleComment

Reflection: Psalm 15, Leadership, and International Development

by Beth Snodderly

Psalm 15 has a serious warning for all societies. Societies and organizations with leaders who are corrupt, undependable, and untruthful, will demonstrate the opposite of the stability and righteous living described in Psalm 15.

EditorMay 7, 2018leadership, Bible, developmentComment

Biblical Models for Christian Leadership

by David Gyertson

It has been helpful, in my goal to understand the impact of Christian leadership on organizational mission and identity, to explore four basic Scriptural models, or what I characterize here as motifs, of leadership style and motivation. It is important, however, to underscore that models are almost always artificial and as a result incomplete. No leader fits fully into any one of these characterizations due to the raw materials of personality, experiences, motivations, and skill sets each individual brings to the specific situation. Current institutional needs and emerging opportunities also influence the tailoring of these off-the-rack suits to fit the person with the place.

EditorJuly 6, 2017leadership, BibleComment

Christian Mentoring: Its Significance and Implications for Leadership

by John Sheneni

In my research I have investigated the state of mentoring in Nigeria, which approaches to mentoring are effective for Christian leaders, and what suggestions can improve mentoring in leadership.

This study addresses the role of pastors as mentors in the church’s leader development process. It examines biblical and other studies on senior leaders mentoring emerging leaders to determine the components of mentoring and its benefits in the church and other organizations. This study demonstrates that teaching, coaching, counseling, advising, and discipling are valid mentoring activities and as such should be included in the church’s leadership development and become expected behaviors by senior leaders.

EditorJuly 6, 2017leaderhip, mentoring, Africa, BibleComment

A World-Changer's Profile

by David Gyertson

The author provides a succinct list of Christ-centered leadership principles from a biblical perspective. Two examples:

• Christ-centered leaders embrace a Great Commandment motivation that compels them to address poverty, illness, exploitation, discrimination, and oppression in the world. They possess a burden for those who—for reasons of culture, social position, political oppression, economic condition, race, gender and ethnicity—are denied the basics of life’s opportunities. (See Luke 4:18)

• Christ-centered leaders’ learning and serving reflect the major biblical themes of justice, mercy, and humility (see Micah 6:8). All three of these are evidence of the transformation that comes when the mind is challenged to see and serve the world like the Christ.

EditorJuly 5, 2017leadership, Bible, spirituality Comment

Leadership

The WCIU InternationalDevelopment Journal

The WCIU International
Development Journal