Leadout
Decisive Pastoral Leadership
I. The Need For Leadership
A. The Plan of God
B. The Condition of the Church
II. The Definition of Leadership
A. Negative: what leadership is not
1. An inherited trait
2. Reserved for the elite
3. An official position
4. A personality trait
5. Power or Control
B. Positive: what leadership is
1. Vision
2. True authority
3. Influence
4. A process
III. The Person of Leadership
A. The leader and his character
1. Persistence
2. Resistance
3. Submission
4. Sensitivity
5. Spiritual
6. Disciplined
7. Confident
8. Teachable
9. Positive
10. Visionary
B. The leader and his personality
1. Choleric (Doers, Leaders)
2. Sanguine (Influencers, Expressor)
3. Melancholy (Thinkers, Analyst)
4. Phlegmatic (Relators, Dependable)
C. The leader and his leadership style
1. Authoritarian
2. Democratic
3. Consultative
Authoritarian Consultative Democratic
D. The leader and his time
1. Set aside planning time.
2. Make a “to do list.”
3. Set priorities.
4. Plan “prime time.”
5. Plan for interruptions.
6. Keep a time log.
7. Delegate.
a. Reasons to delegate
b. Reasons not to delegate
c. The delegation process
1. Have a delegation attitude.
2. Set a clear objective.
3. Select the delegatee.
4. Contract the delegatee.
5. Follow-up.
6. Evaluate.
7. Reward.
d. Handle resistance to delegation
e. What to delegate
f. What not to delegate
g. The levels of delegation
1. Take action without feedback.
2. Take action but stay in touch.
3. Take action, stay in touch, but get
approval before moving on.
4. Do only what you are told.
IV. The Team For Leadership
A. Characteristics of an effective team
1. A shared burden -- Prov 18:20
2. Loyalty -- Num 12; 14; I Sam 15
3. Productivity -- Ex 17;
1 + 1 = 3
Eccl 4:9-10
Deut 32:30
4. Compatibility -- Deut 31
B. Basic interpersonal principles
1. We need others to make us complete.
Moses needed Aaron -- Ex 3-4
Paul needed Barnabas -- Acts 13
2. Misunderstandings are natural by products of people working together. ***
I Cor 12:20-21
3. Conflicts develop when we insist on our rights over the relationship.
Acts 15
4. We must understand the principles of change.
a. You can never change a team member
by direct action.
b. You can only change yourself.
c. When you change, your team members
will change in response to you.
C. Steps in recruiting a team
1. Pray -- Matt 9:37-38
2. Communicate your need and vision.
3. Look for people with leadership potential.
Matt 9:9.
4. Ask selected people to pray about the opportunity.
5. Determine their qualifications.
6. Train them for the task.
7. Communicate, encourage, motivate, and
inspect regularly.
D. Training the team
1. Systematic formal training
2. On-the-job training
3. Regular evaluation
4. Reward
V. The Task Of Leadership
A. Strategic Planning
1. Define your purpose.
2. Determine your philosophy.
3. Decide your strategy.
4. Set specific goals.
5. Evaluate.
B. Decision Making
Steps in the decision making process:
1. Define the decision.
2. Gather the facts.
3. Evaluate the alternatives.
4. Test the best alternative.
5. Decide.
6. Make the decision work.
7. Change the decision if necessary.
C. Conflict Management
1. Confronting someone with a different opinion
a. Gather the facts.
b. Give them the benefit of the doubt.
“You are more knowledgeable in this area than I am, would you please share with me why you feel it should be this way.”
“When you approach them with the correct attitude:
1.) If they are wrong, they have the opportunity of getting the facts and changing their opinion without loosing face.
2.) If you are wrong, they can share with you the facts and reasons for their opinion so you can change your mind without loosing face.
c. If a difference of opinion persists: write down your best case scenario and your worst case scenario and three acceptable alternatives.
Ask the person with whom you have a difference of opinion to do the same. You will find there will probably be several alternatives acceptable to both of you.
2. Confronting someone who has made a mistake
a. Use the “+ - +” technique.
b. Discuss the mistake and the contributing factors.
c. Let the person who made the mistake
correct the mistake.
d. Don’t correct the mistake yourself.
f. Never reprimand in public.
3. Confronting someone who has fallen into sin
a. The pre-requisites (II Sam 12)
1. Absolute truth
2. Right timing
3. Wise wording
4. Fearless courage
b. The procedure
1. Pray
2. Prepare
3. Present
4. Pursue
c. The characteristics of genuine repentance
1. An open, complete admission
Psalm 51:1-4
2. A desire to make a total break with the sin
Psalm 51:10
3. A broken and humble spirit
Psalm 51:17
4. A willingness to claim God’s forgiveness along with the consequences
Psalm 51:11-12
I Samuel 12:10-24, 24
d. Genuine Forgiveness
Three ways people forgive
1. “I forgive you.” -- but they don’t
mean it.
2. “I can’t forgive you.”
3. “I forgive you.” -- and mean it with true forgiveness.
Characteristics of true forgiveness
1. Divine perspective
Matt 18:21-35
Eph 4:31-32
2. Divine commitment
Psalm 103:10-12
Micah 7:19
4. Confronting someone who has offended you
Matt 18:15-35
a. The sequential steps -- Matt 18:15-17
1. Go
2. Take
3. Tell
4. Treat
b. The pre-requisite -- Forgiveness
Matt 18:21-22
c. The results -- Matt 18:19
d. The consequences of failure --
Matt 18:32-34