How To Lead From Where You Are: For Those Who Are Not Ministry Leaders
Some people have leadership roles. They are the CEO of their company. The pastor of their church. The head of their committee.
But more important than the role is the character. As we have worked with people in ministry, most of them lay people (that is, not vocational ministers), we have discovered something more important about leadership.
Influence.
Scripture is full of unlikely leaders. An elderly man unable to have children. A prostitute proclaims her faith in the God of Israel by hanging a scarlet cord from her window. A man beating his wheat in a widepress to hide it from his enemies. A shepherd boy overlooked by his own family. A young woman taken into the harem of a pagan king. An ordinary carpenter.
And yet each of these people—Abraham, Rahab, Gideon, David, Esther, Jesus, and many more through the pages of God’s Word—are leaders. None of them were hired on staff at their local church. Most of them lived ordinary lives: shepherding, farming, doing carpentry. And yet, they all were remembered in some way.
This has led me to consider what it means to be a leader. While we are focusing on ministry leaders at OakHaven, we are also keenly aware that not everyone may be in a leadership role.
But that does not make you any less important. Nor does it make you any less a leader.
Leading as God’s Ambassador
Whether or not you are on the elder board, youth staff, or leadership team, all believers are called by God to be leaders. As new creations, we are called to the ministry of reconciliation, serving as ambassadors for Christ. God has chosen us to take the initiative to speak Gospel truth to others, pointing them to Him who knew no sin who gave Himself for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:17-20)
We are all to be salt and light in a dark world, which means we lead by letting our distinctiveness as God’s children influence those around us (Matt. 5:13-16). We are all called to make disciples, which means that we speak up, telling the gospel truth to others and training them to live in the ways fitting to those who call themselves Christians (Matt. 28:18-20).
In these ways, we are to live holy lives, out of a desire to lead people out of darkness into light. We lead by example, by sharing our testimonies, and by calling others to faith in Jesus. That is part of what it means to simply be a Christian. We are in the business of the Father, and that is sharing the good news of Christ, leading others to Him, not ourselves, that they may be saved.
This is true whether you are leading a congregation or leading your family. It is our task whether we are on the college campus or at our 9-5 job. If we are His, we are His ambassadors, representing Him to those around us.
How are you leading where God has placed you?
Leading as One Gifted by God
Not only are we leaders by virtue of being His children, we are leaders because God has bestowed on each of us at least one spiritual gift for the good of the Body or the church (1 Cor. 12:7). Often times there are more.
But whatever that gift is, we are expected to steward it (Matt. 25:14-30). As believers, we will be called to account for how we invested, developed, and grown this gift for the good of His people. Though He does not always tell us how or what to do with it, He does expect us to use it in some way.
A leader will not hide their talents away but will thoughtfully and courageously put it to use. There is a risk involved, whatever your gift is. It takes initiative to not hide it. Even if how you use it is not in a leadership role, it is the job of a leader to do something, not wait for somebody to tell you what to do with it.
How are you using your God-given gifts?
Leading Those You Influence
Some of the strongest leaders we respect and admire are often the unsung heroes. They are the ones that may not say much in a heated argument but their thoughtful and wise words stop everyone short. They are the ones who lead by godly example. They are the ones that everyone seems to know or quote, even if they don’t hold stand up in front of a group.
When we become believers, God calls us not to power or to fame. He calls us to be people marked by being with Christ (Acts 4:13). And that makes people stand up and take notice.
This is something not reserved merely for the pastors. This something that should be true for all of us. That was so for the original band of uneducated, common men who founded the early church. It is so today. We can be uneducated and common, but full of the Spirit—and that makes us stand apart.
This Spirit is what allows us to be influencers—not in the social media scene, but in real life. And that is a real gift too. It is something God invites us to step into.
So when you have a young child who grieves over the loss of a pet, how you are leading them? When you have a single friend who complains that she has no dates, how are you leading them? When your coworker admits their fear of being addicted to alcohol, how are you leading them?
As believers, God gives us a myriad of opportunities to influence—to lead—others to Him.
How are you using your influence to point others to Christ?
These are but some ways that we all are leaders, even if you are not in a formal leadership capacity. Though the posts on this blog, and even this ministry, may focus on vocational ministers, we hope that you will think of the ways God has called you to lead from where you are.
Even if you do not have a ministry title, God has called you to be an ambassador to the lost and gifted you to serve His people. He has blessed you with people in your circles. How will you steward your influence for His Kingdom—at home, at work, and right where you are today?