LeaderLines: Leadership Vows for the New Year, Part Four

Have you noticed how often the phrase “make every effort” shows up in Scripture? For these opening weeks of the new year, I’m taking you you to six places where that phrase shows up in Scripture. You’ll discover that these six challenges are especially important for those of us who lead:

I vow to maintain my integrity.

I vow to forgive those who hurt me.

I vow to be a peacemaker.

I vow to be an encourager.

I vow to mentor others.

I vow to never stop growing.

We’ve already looked at the first five vows. (Click the links above to find the posts.) This week, let’s make a commitment to never stop growing.

In 2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV), the Big Fisherman says, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

There’s that phrase again: “Make every effort.” In this case, it’s applied to our willingness to continually develop.

We cannot afford to get stagnant as leaders. There’s always more to learn about the Bible. There’s always more to develop when it comes to the spiritual disciples of prayer and service and giving and mortification and so on.

But, of course, we’re called to continually develop in these areas whether we lead or not. In addition to growth as faithful believers, leaders need to keep our eyes open to ways we can more effectively lead.

So, are there better ways to run our programs to help us get our people where they need to be? Are there better ways we can organize our time or better ways we can spend our budgeted dollars? Are there trends we’re ignoring to the detriment of the organization we’re responsible for? Are there seminars or books that can help us become more skillful in our tasks?

I ran across an interesting verse in my Bible reading this morning. It was the summary statement of King Hezekiah’s life. 2 Chronicles 31:21 says King Hezekiah “sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.”

Did you catch the formula? Strong faith + energetic work.

As church leaders, let’s make a commitment in 2012 to grow in both areas!

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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 350 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.