I have been excused a time or two for eavesdropping on someone’s conversation. Not by the people, I have listened to, but by the person, I am sitting with at the table. I am fascinated by people and how they interact with others. Conversations are a great starting point to learn about another person and your leadership gifts. For some leaders, listening to another person talk about their problems is like fingernails on a chalkboard. While other leaders embrace the conversations as they gain a high conversing with others. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, the key to a good conversation is understanding that it is a two-way street and not just one-sided.
In the modern age, conversations are done over text message or email than by personal one-on-one conversation. To be an effective leader, you need to have or at least develop the skillsets to engage in discussions at all levels, not just the surface level. Jesus, in his interaction with Zacchaeus, was willing to enter a conversation with a person others did not care for and did it with grace while honoring his commitment to the Father.
Connecting Connection
Have you ever met someone, and you just clicked? Maybe that is your spouse or your best friend, but you probably have connected with someone that was a stranger ten minutes before but is fast becoming your friend overnight. Connecting connections are authentic relationships that seek to learn from someone else, not to get anything from them, but to learn about them genuinely. Influential leaders who have gained trust from their members have learned this skill.
As a local church leader, you can engage in connections that could make your life easier and help change a parishioner’s life for the long term. Members come to the church for Jesus, but they also look for relationships outside their family circle. In a world that is so connected but disconnected from authentic relationships, people long for a leader who leads with compassion and a listening ear. Here we find Jesus not afraid of the social stigma of sitting down and connecting with a sinner.
Connecting Conversations
As a local church leader and most likely in your community because of your title, people are looking towards you for spiritual and relational guidance. What you say, and more importantly, how you speak or say it, matters to many more people than you might even realize. Jesus understood that when he went into Zacchaeus’ house, he was alerting the neighbors and the community that he loved sinners as much as a spiritual person. Do you? Could others convict you or your local church on the evidence that they see that your church/leadership loves sinners as much as other Christians?
Each day you have an opportunity to impact a person’s life with the gospel of grace if you are willing to open up your leadership to advancing the gospel one sinner at a time. Again, I am not asking you to water down the gospel but to live out the gospel by being Jesus to everyone you meet. Let’s do an exercise. Begin to pray and then several times a day that God would bring across your path someone who needs a connecting conversation that would help them see Jesus in you. When you do, you might be surprised at how many opportunities you will have to be Jesus and share Jesus with others.
Connecting Continually
When you look at Zacchaeus’s story, you will see rather quickly that this was not a one-and-done conversation or connection. Jesus had many relationships with outsiders and showed us even today how to lead with the continual presence of Jesus through our leadership. Throughout the gospel, Jesus connected continually because he was living on a mission. Are you or your church living like Jesus? For most churches and their leaders, the answer would be no if they were honest. Coming out of the pandemic, the church is forced to reexamine its community connections and reshape how leaders lead or close their doors for good.
If, as a leader, you are the same leader you were two years ago, then you might want to begin to ask God where you should change. Each day, people come across your path and need you; they want you to share Jesus with them. Maybe not by quoting or reading scripture but through kindness, help, and spiritual uplift. You are a needed leader. Will you be open to connecting continually throughout the week and be Jesus to others?