Tag: Church Leadership

Resources for Growing in Godliness

Posted on May 3, 2010

Godly Leadership among the people of God is critical. If a man cannot lead himself or his family well, how is he to lead others well? Unfortunately, disciplining yourself for godliness isn’t popular (1 Tim 4:7). Many opt out. Some to their own eternal loss (Heb 12:14). But fortunately, godliness is actually real gain (1 Tim 4:8; 6:6). To live a godly life is to enter into God’s blessing, and that blessing has a way of cascading into others’ lives. Here are some resources to help you cultivate the blessing of a godly life:

Discipleship

Deacons

Elders

Growing in godliness is hard, rewarding work. If you’re striving to live a life of obedience to Christ, be encouraged that he has given you his Spirit to fulfill your desires for godliness. The challenge is to surrender to the desires of the Spirit, not succumb to the desires of the flesh. God stirs up the desires of the Spirit through his Word, worship, and prayer. Throw yourself into these graces and reap the reward of godliness. As you do, you’ll become a blessing to your family, your church, and your city.

Spirit-led Leadership

Posted on April 13, 2010

In his stirring book David: Man of Prayer, Man of War, Walter Chantry contrasts the life and leadership of David and Saul. Chantry’s little book is packed with gospel insights for leaders that draw special attention to Spirit-led leadership.

In this article, I point out three different ways we can follow the Spirit in church leadership. Here is point #2:

2. God’s Spirit Incites Faith. Saul relied on bribes to get others to fight Goliath (1 Sam. 17:25). Saul discouraged young leaders like David (to not fight Goliath) because he was motivated by fear, not faith. Remember, God doesn’t look at appearances, but at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). Samuel would never choose David, but God did. Are you leading your church or leaders based on fear or faith? Do you insist on control or relinquish it to let others rise up in faith? Are you judging by appearances or looking at the heart? Often we are too doubtful about some and too confident about others. Judge by the Spirit, not the flesh; by faith, not fear.

Deacon Installment

Posted on June 2, 2009

On Sunday, we installed the first deacons of Austin City Life, 5 months after they completed training! Church planting! We introduced them as lead servants in our church who have demonstrated a commitment to the character, theology, and service of deacon. It was a sweet time to reflect on the gospel growth in our church, and to celebrate our deacons commitment.

As I introduced each person, I asked them the following question: “Do you pledge, by God’s grace, to serve this church with the character, faith, and service fitting of a deacon? If so, say ‘I do’”. This question simulateously called each person to sober commitment and to God’s all-sufficient grace in serving the church. I am thrilled to have such fine deacons dedicated to the good of our church, the good of the city, and the glory of God!

Here are the Deacon Resources we used and developed along the way. The newest contribution is the manuscript and outline of what I said during the installment. Hope it helps.

Organic Leadership

Posted on January 23, 2009

Neil Cole’s newest book Organic Leadership can be purchased before it hits Amazon over at CMA Resources! He provides a lengthy description of the book and summaries of the sections on his blog. An excerpt:

In Organic Leadership I challenge many ideas about leadership and church life that we all take for granted. Many of them are faulty ideas about church leadership, which we continue to support but which have never really been evaluated in the light of Scripture. Ideas that corrupt our understanding of the kingdom are addressed such as our tendency to view the church as simply a religious institution with a top-down authoritative structure; and some of the temptations that tend to hijack leadership away from healthy fruitfulness and can actually cause leaders to become detrimental to the work of God’s kingdom; as well as some of the ways we try to force people to live up to a religious code of conduct with manipulative tactics.