During my 30 plus years of working in management I have seen and worked with many styles of leadership. Some of these styles were and are very effective and some were and continue to be lacking in substance and not fruit bearing.
This is happening in many businesses and even in our modern day churches.
In my earlier years of adult life I remember managers being tough and the one know-it-all about the product being produced. It was their way or the highway and if you wanted to work you listened to them and heeded to their style of management.
If you stop and think about it, Jesus was very similar in His style of leadership.
Jesus is God Incarnate, the Truth, the Light, and the Way. Only through Him will anyone see eternal life and yet, we, as mere mortals, question His dynamic leadership and demands.
In the gospel of Mark 6:8-11, Jesus gave the twelve authority over evil spirits and sent them out two by two, and tells them, “Take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.”
In today’s society many of us would question our Lord and Savior on His directions. Management and leadership styles have changed because we are a world that doesn’t heed instructions and trust our leaders. We have become a society of do-gooders doing what we want instead of doing what is right and what Jesus would do.
We have become a nation of making people feel good instead of telling them the truth and guiding them in the direction that Jesus has laid out for us.
Leadership isn’t letting people stay comfortable in what they are doing and it certainly isn’t being easy on your followers.
We need to quit speaking in nice generalities and letting ungodly ways and speaking dictate our lives. We need to do as Jesus did. Give good instructions with proper tools and send people out and teach them to think on their feet and become successful within their means.
Sometimes I feel that the old way of management was better than the quick and easy styles we have allowed to creep into our businesses and churches. At least, back then, everyone knew exactly where they stood and what was expected of them.
GARY ANDREWS' devotional appears each week on the Church Pages of your Clarksdale Press Register. You can contact him at GARY@gadevotionals.com
