EDUCATION MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST IN THAILAND Asian Academy for Leadership and Peace, India Christian Educators Leadership Training Role of Biblical Leadership Church of Christ in Thailand, BANGKOK, THAILAND October 9-10, 2015 Prof. Dr. John Zechariah Chairman ACISCA 1

Introduction The church is born and continues to live by the people God chooses. Leaders should not forget that the church they are leading is headed by Christ and He is supreme. This means He is head of the Church, He controls and guides. 2

Managing a church needs true leadership. People confuse a strong willed personality as an effective leader, leadership is not being strong willed, rather having a strong sense of purpose that is centred upon God. The church of our Lord needs leaders, not petty instigators. 3

How effectively leaders manages their churches is crucial for its success, depends on goal-setting strategies and budgeting ideas, designing constant meeting and action plans and training leaders for/and congregation. 4

Pre-requisites of Biblical Leader -A vision based on scripture - God’s call as passion -Energy and influence for and from God -Willingness to learn and grow in Christ -Maturity – Individual and church are needed -Perseverance – in His grace and walk with Christ and church 5

Willingness to take risk – for Christ and His church No fear – keep focusing, attentive to call Willingness to be follower- If you are not follower you can’t lead Willingness to listen = How, Where, and What to listen 6

Leadership that is based on Bible can be called as Biblical Leadership. Beginning from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we see different types of leaders. The leadership of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, David, Joseph, Kings and Judges, Prophets, and Apostles and other including Jesus, are few one can mention. A close study of these leaders will provide understanding of Biblical leadership traits and identify certain characteristics. Bible can give account of good and bad leaders and their consequences. 7

It is from this source that Christian leaders derive qualifications, objectives, principles and methodologies. In contrast, Nero, Stalin and Hitler may have been successful leaders, but they used principles foreign to the Christian faith. King Saul 8

Biblical leadership is about character development. Biblical leadership starts with a strong character. A person can have many skills and talents, yet without a fully developed character he will not be able to lead people in the direction they need to go 9

Biblical leadership is about character development. Biblical leadership starts with a strong character. A person can have many skills and talents, yet without a fully developed character he will not be able to lead people in the direction they need to go. Many leaders in the Bible went through a wilderness experience to build necessary character before they were promoted to a place of leadership. 10

Joseph spent 13 years in captivity, Moses 40 years in wilderness, David spent about 10 years running from King Soul, John the Baptist came out the wilderness and began preaching and Jesus was driven into the wilderness by the spirit to be tempted of the Devil before he began his ministry. These wilderness experiences show that God is very concerned about the character development of His leaders. 11

Biblical Leadership will be based: A vision based on scripture, to hear and obey His word. Love God’s call as passion. Energy of influence and being attractive with Christ Willingness to learn and grow from the experience the Lord. Maturity that is needed to church and not to be to ourselves 12

Perseverance is to continue in his state of grace so he lives it out in our lives and walk with Christ Willingness to take a risk and go beyond himself. Have experience and knowledge and into what is best for the body of Christ No fear of failure is the ability to take a risk and keep the focus and attention on our call and obedience. Willingness to be follower, because he cannot lead where he has not been. Unless the leader is a good follower of the Lord, he cannot lead others effectively. Willingness to be listener. He must know how, what and where to listen 13

Characteristics of Biblical Leader: 1. Self Worth and Biblical Leaders The first character a leader needs is a strong affirmation of who they are in Christ. If he is not convinced that they are a person of worth and have a healthy self-esteem, a leader may use their position of power to satisfy their deep-rooted insecurities. Jesus had a strong affirmation of who He was before He began His leadership and ministry. 14

2. Leader Must Be Able to Deal with Failure In the Old and New Testament many Biblical leaders seemed to fail miserably, but without their leadership God’s plan would not have been accomplished. For instance Noah was a preacher for 120 years and only converted right people; his self-worth could not have come from his success but must have come from his deep relationship with God. 15

Moses faced many failures while leading Israelites to the Promised Land, which he could not see. His self-worth had to come from his intimate relationship with God to continue as leader for forty years. Apostle Paul had many successes in his ministry but he also had many failures. Paul had an extremely good understanding of who he was in Christ which allowed him to overcome his failures and to become possible the greatest biblical leader of all time. 16

3. Biblical Leadership is About Trust. Trust is probably the greatest characteristic that a leader must have in building biblical leadership. Without trust people will not follow the leaders’ vision, they will not put forth their full efforts and therefore the organization will never move in the direction a leader desires for it to move. 17

Trust is built out of a strong character. First, leader must trust himself to lead effectively. Secondly, this trust must be developed through persistence. If the leader is not committed to see the vision through to its completion, they should never even mention it to those they are leading. 18

Nehemiah was a man with a vision to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. He took his task and vision very seriously. His focus caused the wall to be built in record time, but it wasn’t without threats or without setbacks. Nehemiah would not be satisfied until the wall was completed. Biblical leadership not only builds trust through persistence but is also transparent. 19

4. Biblical Leaders Keep Relationship with God First : A leaders character is extremely important to their effectiveness in Biblical leadership and give first place to God by giving maximum time, spiritual discipline, prayer, worship, Bible study and keep Christ at center are essential. These spiritual disciplines will give the leader the affirmation of who is in Christ. This will resolve inner conflicts, it will help him grow in their emotional wisdom and build trust with those around him. Leader never should he become so busy that they will lose contact with his relationship to God. (*Biblical inspirational.org) 20

Christian leadership based on Bible teaching, is unique and valuable. Using Christian principles will greatly increase our success in life and work, 21