A seminary student, who was in my first youth group soo long ago, wrote the following to his trusted contacts a few days ago:
I had the opportunity to walk across Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary with Chuck Colson. Given his extensive roles in leadership, I asked him about leadership.
Given that all of you have lived in life for a while, and many of you had either had leadership positions or have dealt with people who are leaders, would you please answer the following question:
How does a leader know when they are right and, in the face of opposition within and without, stand their ground and remain true to their idea of "right", versus knowing when to humbly admit being wrong even when he/she was previously convinced of his/her being in the right?
Here is my quickly written response:
Right for me is determined by my understanding of biblical principles and my personal values on how those principles should and could be lived out.
Opposition can be taken on with full force when it's over a 100% clear biblical principle, (If someone is against evangelism or the Virgin Birth, there is no wiggle room) however most conflicts occur over style and fleshing out of the values. And even though there really isn't a biblical mandate on how something should be done, from the kind of building to build, style of worship to use, or even what to serve at a church potluck, people can and will get upset over it not being their way.
When leadership (Most often times, that doesn't include the youth pastor) is agreed on the course of action then it's a matter of sharing it in a way that's understandable and people are able to buy into it. When people disagree with the plan of action, leadership should humbly listen and consider their issues because even our greatest enemy should have some truth about ourselves and our plans, though it may be exagerrated, when they share it with us.
You have to ask yourself is it worth it dying on this hill? Oftentimes, it's not. We'd like to think it is but in reality we think it is because we have a bigger value on our vision and goals than they are probably worth. Is it better to love and be wronged and hope eventually the other group (or the leader) comes together for God's glory or is better to be right and opliterate a person in the process?
It's very hard dealing with real people. But thankfully God is also dealing with us and we need to show the same patience to them that he gives to us.
Len
What would you say?
I had the opportunity to walk across Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary with Chuck Colson. Given his extensive roles in leadership, I asked him about leadership.
Given that all of you have lived in life for a while, and many of you had either had leadership positions or have dealt with people who are leaders, would you please answer the following question:
How does a leader know when they are right and, in the face of opposition within and without, stand their ground and remain true to their idea of "right", versus knowing when to humbly admit being wrong even when he/she was previously convinced of his/her being in the right?
Here is my quickly written response:
Right for me is determined by my understanding of biblical principles and my personal values on how those principles should and could be lived out.
Opposition can be taken on with full force when it's over a 100% clear biblical principle, (If someone is against evangelism or the Virgin Birth, there is no wiggle room) however most conflicts occur over style and fleshing out of the values. And even though there really isn't a biblical mandate on how something should be done, from the kind of building to build, style of worship to use, or even what to serve at a church potluck, people can and will get upset over it not being their way.
When leadership (Most often times, that doesn't include the youth pastor) is agreed on the course of action then it's a matter of sharing it in a way that's understandable and people are able to buy into it. When people disagree with the plan of action, leadership should humbly listen and consider their issues because even our greatest enemy should have some truth about ourselves and our plans, though it may be exagerrated, when they share it with us.
You have to ask yourself is it worth it dying on this hill? Oftentimes, it's not. We'd like to think it is but in reality we think it is because we have a bigger value on our vision and goals than they are probably worth. Is it better to love and be wronged and hope eventually the other group (or the leader) comes together for God's glory or is better to be right and opliterate a person in the process?
It's very hard dealing with real people. But thankfully God is also dealing with us and we need to show the same patience to them that he gives to us.
Len
What would you say?
