Session Seven:

When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.’ 23 And he solemnly swore to her, ‘Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.’ 24 She went out and said to her mother, ‘What should I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the baptizer.’ 25 Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’ 26 The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, 28 brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. 29 When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. 35 When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.’ 37 But he answered them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said to him, ‘Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?’ 38 And he said to them, ‘How many loaves have you? Go and see.’ When they had found out, they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’ 39 Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And all ate and were filled; 43 and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.

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What is the difference between Herod’s and Jesus’ leadership? How do they use their power in distinct ways?

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Are there leaders who you look up to? Is there something they have in common? What is it about them that inspires you?

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Where are you seen as a leader? How do you exercise your authority? How could your leadership look more like Jesus’?

Learning Together

What are the qualities or characteristics of a ‘good’ leader?

Towards a Biblical Theology of Leadership

“Leadership”, “Kingship,” and “Headship” within the Christian community belong first and foremost to Christ himself, designated within the New Testament as the head of his body, the Church. The Holy Spirit has given different gifts to different members of the body of Christ, for the common good. The resulting diversity of gifts is to be celebrated and treasured but is not to be made a cause of division or of showing greater honor to some members of the community in preference to others.

Steven Croft (1999) Ministry in Three Dimensions, London, Darton, Longman & Todd, 37.

In your experience of church, are leaders shown greater honor and respect than other members of the community?
Are there particular gifts that we value more than others within leaders?

Collaborative Ministry

Collaboration is at the heart of the nature of our Trinitarian God. The Message version of Isaiah 2:3 encapsulates what this means: “He’ll show us the way he works so we can live the way we’re made,” which we take to mean that we’re made to work in community, collaboratively. In collaborative ministry, we work together, bringing our different gifts and attributes, our complementary callings and vocations.

Sally Nash, Jo Pimlott & Paul Nash (2008) Skills for Collaborative Ministry, London, SPCK, 4-5.

• What gifts and attributes can you bring to collaborative ministry?

Group Leadership

A basic model for group leadership

There are six key functions of the group leader, which should be followed in this order:

To create a climate of safety
To encourage interaction among the members
To adhere to the task established by the group
To direct the group toward the purpose
To intervene when the dynamics prevent group progress
To evaluate the progress of the group

Loughlan Sofield & Carroll Juliano (1987) Collaborative Ministry: Skills and Guidelines, Notre Dame, Ave Maria Press, 83-84.

Why is it so important to create a climate of safety first, before a group can get anything else done?

Images of Leadership

Which image of leadership connects most with your sense of what it means to lead?
Do you think of yourself as a leader?

Reflecting Together on Leadership and Empowering Others

In this session, we will be reflecting on the importance of enabling others to do evangelism, by taking risks, giving opportunities, and leading wisely.

We will focus on leadership and teamwork as key elements of this process; if we can lead others in ways that promote collaboration and group ownership, we can enable and empower them.
Such a process can be costly, risky, and difficult at times, but it can also help to produce mature disciples and healthy teams.

A quick question…

Imagine you’re leading a team at church whose job is to organize an outreach event in the local community.
Why might it be better to ask a member of the team to complete a particular task (e.g., producing the publicity materials), even if you’re fairly sure they won’t do it as well or as quickly as you could do it yourself?

Traditional vs. collaborative leadership

Take a look at the handout contrasting traditional and collaborative forms of leadership.
Which style of leadership do you prefer and why?
Why might collaborative leadership be important if we want to enable others to do evangelism?

Servant Leadership

Who is the leader in this picture?

In his book Growing Leaders, James Lawrence lists six characteristics from the biblical tradition that mark out a distinctly Christian leadership:

Suggested content from Richard Osmer (2008) Practical Theology: An Introduction, Cambridge, Eerdmans:

Osmer discusses various forms of leadership in order to highlight transforming servant leadership as the one most needed in the Church today.
This form of leadership reveals that we only find our way by getting lost. Osmer states that ‘pragmatically, the challenge leaders face is journeying into unknown territory. Indeed, unless they are willing to get lost, they will never find their way’ (Osmer, 2008: 197).
‘It is a matter of not really knowing the way ahead, taking risks and getting lost – yet continuing to venture into the unknown. For many leaders, the experience of “not knowing” and loss of control will be threatening. It is a genuine experience of powerlessness. It calls for the sort of faithfulness to God found in Christ. Trusting God in the midst of “not knowing” is a key part of the spirituality of servant leaders’ (Osmer, 2008: 197).

How does the idea of a leader venturing into the unkown and not knowing the way contrast with how wider society view leaders?

Christian leadership is founded in relationship with God as Trinity
Christian leadership is rooted in the Bible and directed by the Spirit
Christian leadership is marked by servanthood
Christian leadership is shaped by the cross and resurrection
Christian leadership is sustained by prayer
Christian leadership is lived out personally as part of the community of faith (Lawrence, 2016: 31-41).

Lawrence asserts that a servant leader has a servant heart – ‘a willingness to listen, a love for people, an ability to adapt, a humble attitude’ (Lawrence, 2016: 36).

Group Activities

Group Activity and Discussion on Belbin's Team Roles

Belbin argued that a high performing team would need to include each of the nine Team Role behaviours. However, this doesn’t mean that every team requires nine people! Most people will have two or three Team Roles that they are most comfortable with, and this can change over time. Each Team Role has its strengths and weaknesses, and each has equal importance. According to Belbin, most people will have some:

Preferred roles: Ones that come naturally to us.
Manageable roles: Roles we can adopt if needed and might wish to develop.
Least preferred roles: Those we should avoid as they might conflict with our natural inclinations (Belbin, 2015: 2).

Group Activity:

Examine cards summarizing the nine team roles.
Identify:
- Your preferred roles
- Your manageable roles
- Your least preferred roles

Time permitting, consider others in your team:

Notice the differences in their preferred roles compared to yours and discuss how this diversity could be advantageous.

Praying Together

Make a paper chain with YOU in the middle:

On the chains that come before YOU, draw, write or just think about those who have invested in you. Hold them before God in prayer.
On the chains that come after YOU, draw, write or just think about those you can invest in. Who can you enable to grow in evangelism? Hold them before God in prayer.

Session Seven:

Enabling Others

Download Session Content

Eating Together

Dwelling Together