Michael Henderson, a member of the Tasmanian Baptists’ Mission and Leadership Development Team, gives insight into some key aspects of leadership.
One of the hardest parts of leadership for me is sustaining passion and perseverance. But they are both essential.
This is the call of leadership; to have both passion and perseverance. If you are to lead, you must have passion for what you do and some level of perseverance as you do it. Grit, in other words, as described in Angela Duckworth’s book “Grit”. (An excellent book by the way.)
Leading must involve your passion. The person with the most passion is usually the leader. This is not the person with the biggest voice or most “charisma”, but with the most passion for the task at hand. Without passion, it is hard to have the energy to keep going.
AND FURTHERMORE . . .
Leadership must also involve your own perseverance. You need to develop perseverance in yourself. Can you see things through, or do you want to give up before we get somewhere? Do your interests change too fast, or can you maintain focus?
You must have both passion and perseverance to be a leader, a pastor.
AND, as a leader/pastor you must develop both passion and perseverance in your church, in the community around you.
Baptists expect the church to join with their pastors in leadership, decision-making and spiritual oversight. This demands, that as leaders, we have a vision of developing passion and perseverance in the leaders around us, and in the congregation who will make decisions with us.
Baptists expect the church to join with their pastors in leadership
IT GOES BEYOND YOU
Don’t just focus on developing your own passion and perseverance. Remember to develop it in your church, your community. Help them see how it all comes together in the vision and mission of your church.
If only the leader or pastor has passion, then this model will ultimately fail. If only the congregation has perseverance to keep going, then our model of church will fail.
It is only when we all have a developed understanding of what our collective passion and perseverance is that we will truly lead together. It is only when this happens that we will ultimately change our communities and world. Anything short of this is just survival.
BEING INTENTIONAL – WITH GRIT
None of this happens by accident, but it can be developed if you are intentional about it.
Download the series of questions to ask, “How gritty are you as leader?” And, “How gritty is your church community that is around you?”
Your answers, and how some leaders around you answer, will reveal a heap about your grit.
If you would like to speak to me about grit, and developing it in yourself or your local church, don’t hesitate to get in touch: michael@tasbaptists.org.au
Grace and Peace,
Michael
Michael Henderson Mission and Leadership Development Team
Apr 12, 2023
