Sunday, 27 January 2008

Pastor or Leader

Recently through a lot of the material we are reading and studying the concept has continually been surfacing are we as officers being called to be leaders or pastors/shepherds. I know a lot of what is being taught now points towards leadership and getting others to follow your vision, I am leaning to the fact that most of our people and I believe most of the community in which we live now are looking for someone to take time to care for them, to take an interest in them and to show them the true meaning of Christian Love. I believe if we do this people will follow so leadership takes care of itself.

We are so worried about putting process in place for this and that,and to make sure that we know what we should be doing and how we should be leading people that I think we have walked away from the most important principal, Jesus showed us an example of a Christian Shepherd. Jesus built friendships, he took time to get to know people on their level, he took time to teach and to listen. I don't think Jesus ever said I will let others do the caring I have to "be up the tree".

I don't know maybe I have got this wrong, if you think so let me know. I would be interested in others thoughts. In the meantime I am going to try and build relationships with people and lead the way I believe Jesus taught us to, by building relationships with people on their level and taking the time to care.

1 comment:

Joel Clifford said...

Hey Darren, you raise some good points here. I'm not sure that the role of leader and pastor are mutually exclusive. In fact, some of the best leaders that I have followed were great leaders because of the way they cared for me. In fact, I would go as far as saying that leadership without care is managment, and management tend to imply maintenance of the status quo and not progression. If this is the case surely good leaders must need to care for their people at the same time as calling them on to something greater. In fact, great leaders will call others to follow them to something greater because the love them.

Just a few rambling thoughts from someone who wants to be a great leader who cares for people someday.

Keep up the good work, see you soon mate.