At a recent meeting with the
leadership of the School of Law Christian Union of Makerere University, our
conversation led to some in-depth thoughts on my part. I shared with the young
men and women, my current thoughts on leadership, as inspired by my current
journey with the Harvest Institute (of leadership) as follows –
Leadership is a gift.
Yes – In the first
place, to lead is a gift that the Lord gives to the leader. He has given different gifts to different
people. One of these is leadership. ( Romans 12: 8)
4 For as
we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same
function, 5 so we, being many,
are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then
gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in
proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches,
in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with
liberality; he who leads, with
diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
While some might be
comfortable with remaining in the back pew and chewing popcorn as a spectator,
others are literally kicked out of their seats by the Holy Spirit and disturbed
so much such that they have to take the lead. For these people, it is not naked
ambition per se but a deep longing (
read gift or calling) to be solution givers and often taking them to the
frontline.
Leadership
is about love –
As Chair of the Board of Uganda Christian
Lawyers Fraternity, I was surprised at the thoughts that kept coming into my
head whenever I would think about the Christian lawyers of Uganda. That thought was one of Love. I didn’t understand it when it first came
into my mind. However, with time, I
realised that GOD has given me the gift of leadership and with it, the love for
those He has chosen me to lead for a time such as this. Like a parent with children, a leader ought
to love those under their care. It is
the reason as to why the shepherd will leave the 99 and go search for the one sheep
that has gone astray. (Luke 15: 1-7). The economics of the land does not make sense
for one to look for the lose nickel or dime but the economics of the Kingdom of
God is different.
Love makes it possible for us
to see the better side of the people we have been blessed to lead. We become
more understanding, more forgiving, more bearing, calmer and even more caring
when all around us expect us to blow the fuss or to stomp off in anger. (1 Corinthians 13:4 -5 says that love is patient and kind. Love is not
jealous or boastful of proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not
irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.) This does not mean
that people will not annoy you or disappoint you. It means that your reaction
will be like the one of Christ when He said Father, forgive them for they know
not what they do. (Luke 23:34) I
must hasten to say that this doesn’t mean that people should take you for
granted merely because you love them but rather that one is able to correct
others or even accept correction in love.
Leadership
is about trust: Leaders cannot walk or lead alone. They have
to do it with someone else. The best leadership partner we have is He who gave us
the assignment in the first place – GOD. So we ought to trust that the Lord sees the
bigger picture, and that He can do exceedingly, abundantly, over what we can
ever hope or imagine. (Ephesians 3: 20). Most importantly, He wants
to do this through us as joint heirs with Christ. So, the leader ought to trust
first in the Lord – that He – the maker of the Universe will do it through
them. That is why David said “I come to you in the Name of the Lord, the
God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied .....Vs. 46 this day
the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your
head from you ... (1 Samuel 17: 45).
We can clearly see that David trusted that the Lord will do it – deliver the
lead of what all the army of Israel feared the most – Goliath - into the hand of David.
The aforementioned verse therefore
means that we should not trust primarily in our expertise, physical strength or
knowledge like Goliath – a giant who had
been a man of war from his youth had done. (1 Samuel 17:33). This doesn’t mean that we should not be prepared
but our primary source of trust should not be in our preparations. David had prepared enough by killing bears
and lions as he did explain in Verse 35, but He knew that that was not
enough. As the David’s son Solomon will
later say, Horses are prepared for battle, but victory belongs to the Lord (Proverbs 21:31). Indeed in Psalm 20: 7, David sings some
trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our
God. In Joshua 23:10, the Scripture says that One man of you puts to flight a
thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as He
promises you. Deut 32 30 says how could one chase a thousand, and two put
ten thousand to flight unless their Rock had sold them and the Lord had
surrendered them.
Leaders also ought to trust in those they lead – The
only way for the leader to achieve his or her purpose, is to work in a
team. The said team should consist of trustworthy
men and women, who will also create other teams of trustworthy individuals and
therefore grow the impact of the first leader.
It is therefore important to trust in the teams created and also help to
develop leadership skills in others so that they can achieve more that a single
lone ranger leader can. Leviticus 26: 8 says that five of you shall chase a hundred, and a
hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight. David had an amazing team
of trusted mighty men of valour (2
Samuel 23: 8 -39). It is interesting
to note that these were originally ‘distressed, indebted, discontented, bitter,
people’ who he then mentored into the heroes they later became. (1 Samuel 22:2).
Leadership
is about planning –
Often times one assumes that
leaders are merely born and all things come to them naturally simply because
they have the gift of leadership. However, without being intentional and well
organised, without planning things through and scheduling them, leadership can
be a frustrating and disappointing journey.
This does not mean that well planned activities and strategic plans are
the anecdotes to frustration or disappointment, but rather, they do go a long
way in keeping one focused and on course regardless of the challenges and
sticking stones that might hurt our feet along life’s journey of leadership.
Thinking through and planning,
preparing for the journey ahead is very key. Indeed, before the Israelites
started on their journey to the Promised Land, they were told to pack and even
to ask for money for the journey. (Exodus
12: 34, 35, 39). Similarly, King Solomon
also implemented the detailed plans of the Lord for building the temple. While it is true that credit for the works go
to Solomon, his father David had saved up for this huge project and wrote down
all the plans that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple....
(1 Chronicles 28:11). While it was
not God’s will for David to build the temple (2 Samuel 7:4), he still designated the weight of gold for all the
gold articles (1 Chronicles 28:14)
....the weight of silver for all the silver articles (Vs. 16)...and he had ...in writing as a result of the Lord’s hand ...
(and had been) enabled to understand) all the details of the plan (Vs. 19).
Similarly, before the walls of
Jericho came tumbling down, Field
Marshall Joshua in Joshua 5: 13 – 6:27),
first consulted with the Lord, got his instructions and the battle plan
clearly, and then executed it to the dot. In verse 26 he even cursed the man
who rises up to re-build the city of Jericho.
Leadership
is about learning –
As you can read above, I am
taking time to study and appreciate this amazing gift of leadership
To
be continued .....
