What is Leading and Sharing?
A crucial part of leading is reflecting - looking back down the hill, if you will. As I reflect on ministry over the past 25 years, I am overwhelmingly convinced that leadership that is done in a vacuum is useless. As Pastor Greg Laurie says, “Spiritual growth that has no outlet quickly becomes stagnant and dead.” A crucial part of our discipleship is having an outlet, otherwise we are like someone who has lots of food, but has no plan for exercise and activity. They become lethargic and tired and have no desire to serve, just to be served. As Jesus followers, we have to be balanced in how we do discipleship, both as individuals and as a part of body life. That’s where Leading and Sharing comes in.
Leading and Sharing is a discipleship blog that has as its only purpose to encourage and provide guidance that leads to Jesus followers seeing their discipleship efforts having an element of outside engagement. I can say that, for some of us, we do not need another Bible study or another Christian book to read; we need to have an outlet for what we have learned and pass that knowledge and experience along.
One of my favorite teachers, the late Dr. Howard Hendricks, talked about discipleship within the context of relationships. I have shared this with my own congregation and many others, but, according to Hendricks, we need three key relationships in our life to spur and and fuel our discipleship and growth in Christ. Firstly, we need a “Timothy” in our life: someone who is younger in the faith and needs to be fed and guided along the right path. We need to be pouring our life into them, so they can see what following Jesus looks like in a practical way. Secondly, we need a “Barnabas” to walk alongside us. Hendricks defines a friend as, “Someone who knows you, but is not impressed by you.” We need that persons who engages in iron sharpening iron with us, someone who is not afraid to ask us the hard questions, and not just for the sake of accountability. They ask us the hard questions because we need to understand the power of transparency in the life of a Jesus follower. Lastly, we need a “Paul” in our life: someone who has been down the road farther than us, and is actively pouring their life into us.
Leading says that we are doing what needs to be done for our leadership to be growing, thriving, transparent and contagious. Leading says that we are learning, each and every day, how much more we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our life the longer we serve the King, and we are modeling that for everyone God places in our sphere of influence. Sharing, by its very definition, says that we are to follow the instruction of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:3-4:
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
In the context of what Leading and Sharing is all about, caring is taking what we learn and live out and sharing it with next generations of leaders. There has to be an intentionality about leaving behind a leadership and discipleship legacy. Not having had a good discipleship mentor yourself is no excuse for not being one to others. A leader and friend of mine for many years and I had a discussion about this years ago, and when I brought up the fact that it was hard to find a “Paul”, he simply said, “If you can’t find a Paul, be a Paul.” Somewhere, somehow, we have to break the mold of bad discipleship and shoddy mentoring. For some of us - some of you - that begins now, with us.
Let me close this post with and encouragement: set yourself a reachable goal of finding one person you can speak into, and then do just that - speak into their walk with Jesus. If you are finding your walk a bit dry and lifeless these days, find the outlet. Scatter the seed of what God has produced in you. Lead and care.
Until next time,
Phil
Leading and Sharing is a discipleship blog that has as its only purpose to encourage and provide guidance that leads to Jesus followers seeing their discipleship efforts having an element of outside engagement. I can say that, for some of us, we do not need another Bible study or another Christian book to read; we need to have an outlet for what we have learned and pass that knowledge and experience along.
One of my favorite teachers, the late Dr. Howard Hendricks, talked about discipleship within the context of relationships. I have shared this with my own congregation and many others, but, according to Hendricks, we need three key relationships in our life to spur and and fuel our discipleship and growth in Christ. Firstly, we need a “Timothy” in our life: someone who is younger in the faith and needs to be fed and guided along the right path. We need to be pouring our life into them, so they can see what following Jesus looks like in a practical way. Secondly, we need a “Barnabas” to walk alongside us. Hendricks defines a friend as, “Someone who knows you, but is not impressed by you.” We need that persons who engages in iron sharpening iron with us, someone who is not afraid to ask us the hard questions, and not just for the sake of accountability. They ask us the hard questions because we need to understand the power of transparency in the life of a Jesus follower. Lastly, we need a “Paul” in our life: someone who has been down the road farther than us, and is actively pouring their life into us.
Leading says that we are doing what needs to be done for our leadership to be growing, thriving, transparent and contagious. Leading says that we are learning, each and every day, how much more we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our life the longer we serve the King, and we are modeling that for everyone God places in our sphere of influence. Sharing, by its very definition, says that we are to follow the instruction of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:3-4:
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
In the context of what Leading and Sharing is all about, caring is taking what we learn and live out and sharing it with next generations of leaders. There has to be an intentionality about leaving behind a leadership and discipleship legacy. Not having had a good discipleship mentor yourself is no excuse for not being one to others. A leader and friend of mine for many years and I had a discussion about this years ago, and when I brought up the fact that it was hard to find a “Paul”, he simply said, “If you can’t find a Paul, be a Paul.” Somewhere, somehow, we have to break the mold of bad discipleship and shoddy mentoring. For some of us - some of you - that begins now, with us.
Let me close this post with and encouragement: set yourself a reachable goal of finding one person you can speak into, and then do just that - speak into their walk with Jesus. If you are finding your walk a bit dry and lifeless these days, find the outlet. Scatter the seed of what God has produced in you. Lead and care.
Until next time,
Phil
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