Leadership & Mentorship
Leadership a personal definition, a person who leads i.e. opens new paths, someone who is in front taking others beyond, showing the way, someone I can trust, who can develop me to be who I can be in Christ.
Mentorship a dictionary definition of a mentor is an ‘experienced and trusted advisor or guide’, someone who will guide me, develop me, encourage me to go beyond helping me to develop me, my character, my gifts, my abilities enabling me to be who I can be in Christ.
A leader must be a shepherd, which brings me directly to Psalm 23, the Lord is the shepherd of His sheep and likewise a leader is the shepherd of the sheep they are overseeing.
Psalm 23
Let’s look at Psalm 23 in a different way a leadership and mentoring way:
The Lord is my Shepherd
That's Relationship!
I shall not want
That's Supply!
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
That's Rest!
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
That's Refreshment!
He restoreth my soul
That's Healing!
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness.
That's Guidance!
For His name sake
That's Purpose!
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
That's Testing!
I will fear no evil.
That's Protection!
For Thou art with me
That's Faithfulness!
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me,
That's Discipline!
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
That's Hope!
Thou anointest my head with oil,
That's Consecration!
My cup runneth over.
That's Abundance!
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
That's Blessing!
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord.
That's Security!
Forever.
That's Eternity!
Two (amongst many) biblical mentors.
Jesus in John 13:20 (AMP) I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, he who receives and welcomes and takes into his heart any messenger of Mine receives Me [in just that way]; and he who receives and welcomes and takes Me into his heart receives Him Who sent Me [in that same way].
I believe what was Jesus saying was that I have taught you everything pertaining to life, learn, reflect and change your thinking. Jesus was and is the ultimate mentor who clearly shows us the way forward and the steps to take. However, the question is do we put our own interpretation on His word and lead; mentor others our way and not His way?
Moses although he made mistakes in not recognising skills and talents within other, surely his mentorship of Joshua is one of the great examples in the bible of effective mentorship (passing the baton onto another). We can read through Numbers and Deuteronomy how Moses under God’s direction raised Joshua up, helped him go beyond, gave him some real opportunities to develop his leadership and people skills and get good feedback on his performance without opinions or criticism.
A personal note:For me personally leadership and mentoring is first and foremost about building pathways to performance, transferring lesson and talent from one person to another, for the sole purpose of improving individuals or organisations (churches) releasing people to be who they can be in Christ and impacting individuals, the community and world around.
In conclusion I firmly believe for leaders to show real leadership and mentoring skills, many have to learn that ‘I’ is the least important word and the most destructive, whilst ‘we’ is the most powerful, if we are to come together as a united church and a united body, a lesson I will discuss no doubt at some other time.
0 comments:
Post a Comment