Loyalty & Leadership
Yesterday, I was reading the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. Clement was one of the elders of the church at Rome and was seen by some as an apostle.
He wrote to the Corinthians about a schism (division) in the church brought about by envious (power hungry) brothers. He pleads with those causing division to stop and submit to their elders.
What struck me was this one sentence:
"Let us then also pray for those who have fallen into any sin, that meekness and humility may be given to them, so that they may submit, not to us, but to the will of God."
His appeal was not to submit to him or the elders because of they were great and very wise, but because their division was outside the will of God being fueled by envy, not truth.
Some exalt loyalty to themselves to their own harm. Their is definitely a need to promote the virtue of loyalty. But when it is raised too high (or one of the highest virtues) we run the risk of manipulating people or at least be perceived that way.
We must teach people that their first loyalty is to God (taking the focus away from us) and then use our authority to tell them what to do based on clear instruction from the Word of God. And the instruction can't be "Obey your leaders" and then proceed to tell people what to do because I am their leader. No, they should obey in the area in question because I show them commands and principles in the Word of God - the ultimate authority.
Peter commanded (1 Pet. 5:3) pastors to lead in the following way:
Lead by example, not by resorting to strong-arm, domineering tactics.
When we as leaders serve others and love them from the heart people will follow us and tend to be loyal because of what we have done for them. If they choose a path of disloyalty, we should look to ourselves first to see if we served and loved them enough to have earned their loyalty.
He wrote to the Corinthians about a schism (division) in the church brought about by envious (power hungry) brothers. He pleads with those causing division to stop and submit to their elders.
What struck me was this one sentence:
"Let us then also pray for those who have fallen into any sin, that meekness and humility may be given to them, so that they may submit, not to us, but to the will of God."
His appeal was not to submit to him or the elders because of they were great and very wise, but because their division was outside the will of God being fueled by envy, not truth.
Some exalt loyalty to themselves to their own harm. Their is definitely a need to promote the virtue of loyalty. But when it is raised too high (or one of the highest virtues) we run the risk of manipulating people or at least be perceived that way.
We must teach people that their first loyalty is to God (taking the focus away from us) and then use our authority to tell them what to do based on clear instruction from the Word of God. And the instruction can't be "Obey your leaders" and then proceed to tell people what to do because I am their leader. No, they should obey in the area in question because I show them commands and principles in the Word of God - the ultimate authority.
Peter commanded (1 Pet. 5:3) pastors to lead in the following way:
"not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock."
Lead by example, not by resorting to strong-arm, domineering tactics.
When we as leaders serve others and love them from the heart people will follow us and tend to be loyal because of what we have done for them. If they choose a path of disloyalty, we should look to ourselves first to see if we served and loved them enough to have earned their loyalty.
Comments
Post a Comment