When engaging in leadership processes such as strategic planning, problem solving, and change management in times of disruption, these principles must be borne in mind: the leadership focus is on people and their purpose to glorify God; the leadership heart is that of a shepherd; the leadership attitude is that of a servant; and the active expression of the servant attitude and shepherd’s heart is stewardship.
Shepherds
Psalm 78 says, “From the care of the ewes with nursing lambs He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skillful hands” (Ps 78:71–72 NASB). Shepherds focus on God’s people. They nurture, care, and protect God’s people as under shepherds of God. Their vision is to see people honour God, grow in grace, and fulfil God’s purpose for their lives and their communities. They do accomplish tasks, but such tasks are a means of growth in grace and a means of blessing others as they put their gifts and skills to use. Developing leaders for unreached places means investing in the grace of developing a shepherd’s heart for the people of God. This requires leaders with hearts of integrity and skilful hands.
Servants
Paul says, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Phil 2:5–7). Leadership development for unreached places must produce leaders who have the mindset of servants and who demonstrate this attitude through their humble relationships, actions, and character traits. Through discipleship and mentoring, they pour their lives into the lives of others. They use leadership processes with the attitude of servants.
Stewards
There is no true servanthood without stewardship, and real stewardship comes only from a servant heart. A true shepherd is a servant. Just as a good servant must be a good steward, so also true stewardship expresses itself in servanthood. In disruptive times, those who would lead for unreached people and places must be equipped to express themselves through stewardship as a core attribute or characteristic of their actions. The statistics cited earlier point to the lopsidedness of the stewardship of mission resources today in favour of places where the gospel is already present. A heart of shepherding, an attitude of servanthood, and the attribute of stewardship will serve to renew organizations and refocus their priorities.
Leaders for unreached people and places will view their lives as a continuous state of being and becoming, during which time they steward their gifts, talents, resources, and the trust of others as the Lord’s provision for his redemptive purposes. Such leaders are always growing and developing, while also growing and developing others into true stewards of gifts and grace. Jonah was in a leader development process even as he was God’s messenger to the unreached. God was disciplining and discipling him through his ordeals in the belly of the fish and by removing his shade. Although we do not know the rest of Jonah’s story, we can be sure that God was shaping him to skilfully steward all that he had experienced into his calling as a prophet. Developing leaders for unreached places must embrace a developmental perspective on the leadership journey.
Leader development for unreached people and places involves diverse people, churches, and organizations working together collaboratively to spread the good news of Christ. On the paradigm of control, Araujo, Lederleitner and Mischke write,
We in the West have been so successful in taming the material world to serve our needs and aspirations that we have assumed a paradigm in which control of resources and processes is also the default mode for ministry. Consider . . . we often express our obedience to God in terms of methods and management – assuming a high level of control, taking charge of tasks, and measuring outcomes. We set dates, create timetables, and identify numeric results by which to evaluate how well we serve the Lord and his church
They continue, leaders who function from a paradigm of control and a base of material power hinder mutuality. Relationship is primary, accomplishment secondary. In God’s service, the standard is faithfulness more often than measurable results. The ability to embrace vulnerability and live with ambiguity creates opportunities for trust building. Sensitivity to context and commitment to learn about people, their history, world view, and way of life creates opportunities for relationship, mutual understanding and partnership.
Change is fundamental to transformational leadership and leaders with hearts that are open and committed to change are desperately needed if unreached peoples and places are ever to be reached with the gospel. The ability to change and adapt in times of disruption is the most important survival – and even flourishing – strategy needed by organizations today. Leaders for unreached people and places must be learners who “walk the walk and talk the talk.”
Leadership for the unreached, which embraces the necessary deep change, applies to all levels of leadership in the church and in Christian organizations. Developing such leaders will involve heart, head, and hands, and will embrace the biblical metaphors of leaders as shepherds, servants, and stewards. This will involve refocusing leadership – not just using the business models of measurable goals and an individualistic view of leadership development but seeing leadership development as collective wisdom towards a deep spiritual, emotional, and intellectual journey of change for the sake of the gospel. It is a humble learning attitude that recognizes the giftedness of all peoples and the critical contribution that is inherent in the diverse peoples and cultures in Christ’s global church. Considering that the most unreached places in the world today are in societies based not on individualism but collectivism, the embrace of such a broad-based understanding of leadership is critical for the development of leaders for unreached peoples and places in disruptive times.
Conclusion
At first pass, the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch seems enviably effortless, almost too easy to be instructive for us today. But I believe that there is more than meets the eye behind this “success story.” Philip spent time in the Scriptures and in relationship with Jesus and was part of the community of those who followed Christ. This slow and steady journey of following Jesus contributed to the formation of his spiritual state, a state in which an angel could specifically direct him and he would obey without resistance. Time with Jesus and other disciples would also have imbued in him a profound and thorough knowledge of Scripture. In a world where false teachings, cults, and heresies thrive, a love for and a deep grounding in the word is a basic ingredient of any leader development process. Philip was able to pick up a thread of Scripture selected by the Ethiopian and, beginning with that, share the good news. Philip was also chosen as a deacon based on his being filled with the Holy Spirit and with wisdom (Acts 6:3). Philip was a servant of God and also a servant of the Ethiopian. He travelled to where the Ethiopian was, climbed up into his chariot, and, in a demonstration of mutuality, both asked and answered questions.
Is leader development for the unreached categorically distinct from leader development for other situations? No. Biblical leaders are called to be stewards, shepherds, and servants. There is no alternate leader profile for those who oversee the formation of vision, strategies, and activities for and among the unreached. Rather, the reality of the unreached makes the need for leader development exceedingly acute and exposes the dire consequences of not having well-formed leaders.
The focus of leadership development for unreached peoples and places is the transformation of individuals, families, communities, peoples, and nations from blindness to seeing, from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to the dominion of God, that they may receive the forgiveness of sin and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus. Many peoples and places are still in need of this work of salvation. Therefore, there is an urgent need for godly leaders, both men and women, who can engage leadership processes from diverse cultural perspectives, cultural understandings, and cultural imagery. Let the investing in the development of such leaders begin. Amen.
Excerpted from Leading Well in Times of Disruption by Joshua Bogunjoko, edited by Joseph W. Jr. Handley, Gideon Para-Mallam, and Asia Williamson. Published by Langham Global Library. Used with permission.
