Everyone is an author in some sense. Maybe you would not think of yourself as one, but every day, you are writing stories in the way you think and treat yourself through the words you repeat in your head.
As you approach the end of the year, it is only natural to begin to reflect on the pages you’ve written about your ministry. Why don’t you pause for a moment and reflect on your current assignment of leadership?
Ask yourself the following questions:
- What am I learning from others on my team or ministry assignment?
- Where do I need to improve?
- If I could change one thing, what would it be?
- How would I judge my current leadership level?
Some of these questions might have been easy to answer, but others might have been more challenging. Whatever your background and life story, God has a divine plan if you are willing to keep obeying, following and serving in God’s will for your ministry. Leadership is not simply leading; it’s about learning who you are, your gifts, and the ability to harness those to inspire others to follow.
Another way to grasp this concept is to think of yourself as a storyteller by nature. The stories you tell are the stories you have bought into over time. You’ve become invested in a story that might not be yours, but it is often repeated. What if the actual story is God’s story that he accomplished through you over the past year?
Origin Story
There is a story of the past that must be learned and adapted as you move your organization forward. You did not choose the family God birthed you into, but you can learn from past and present mistakes or successes by reviewing your family tree. You can glean positive and negative traits from past generations that will help shape who you are today.
So too, in the church world. Remember, just because you were born into something does not mean you have to stay there. Inside of you is something far greater than what you give yourself credit for. As a leader, you are called to use your giftings to uplift the people you serve.
The Story I Am Writing
Everyone has either a positive or negative self-image. Sometimes it’s both in a matter of minutes, depending on your situation. Ask yourself: Who am I? What am I called to do? As you reflect on these two simple yet powerful questions, what are you telling yourself? Leaders who are effective long-term are those that know who they are and what they are called to do with their life. As you play out the story in your head, your actions will speak from the point of thought. What you think, you will become.
Be a leader who tells a story of redemption, renewal, and righteousness living in all aspects of your life. Put away the negative words you describe to yourself, and begin to hear the positive comments that God poured into your leadership from others around.
The Story Others Believe About Me
Each day you impact dozens of people through simple and complex interactions. These interactions could have been short or long, but you have left an impression on each. You have shared a piece of yourself from a social media post, text message, or personal conversation with someone else. It is in these connections that impressions become made about you. The beliefs become cemented over time through more and more interactions and shape how others think of you and your leadership abilities.
God has called you to use your position not as a lever of privilege but as an opportunity to speak into someone else’s life through your own. Be a leader who excels not only in connecting but building a deeper understanding of who the other person is—this is discipleship 101.
Merging Reality With Relationships
Merging reality with relationships is where all your previous stories colloid to form who God desires you to be as a leader. Leadership is about using the tools and giftings you have to help build a team around you that leads you to success. In this story, you can enable or hinder the future chapters you write through your relationship with God and how that impacts your mind. In return, it is how you view yourself in the world you encounter.
Maybe you have heard a similar saying, but it is not what you have today, but what you can put together tomorrow by placing people around you that are smarter and more richly adept at moving their area of expertise forward. Build a team that honors God, honors your leadership, and shares the same calling to build God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Do not let your pride get in the way of God’s passion for your ministry.
Church leader, your story is not finished. Regardless of how this year has gone, there is still more for you to do for the Lord. Be good to yourself. Give yourself permission to tell and write a positive story of God’s grace and love through your ministry.