Doing Righteousness Before Men

Here is a great danger for leaders who are undercapitalised (ie not given the practical and spiritual resources they need to keep energised and spiritually fresh). We know we have to do deeds that are seen - but for whose glory? There is a hair's breadth between doing it so God will be praised and so I will be praised. It is not wrong that the hypocrites give, fast and pray, its why they do it. Why would people get tempted down the hypocrite route. I don't think anyone starts out thinking that's where they want to go. I doubt they were trying to be evil. I suspect they were in an environment that expected spiritual-looking people to present in a certain way, and to receive validation for their spiritual living in certain ways.
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Churches Die From the Top Downward

Great quote from George Carey (in Peter Brain "Going the Distance" p16):

Churches die when leaders die. Churches die from the top downward. Show me a growing church and you will show me a visionary leadership. It is leaders who make growth. When you have spiritual leaders, men of prayer, women of prayer - imaginative, alert, intelligent - there we have growth

 

I have three questions to pose from that:

1. are the leaders in your church given the time, resources and freedom to lead (pray, bring vision, develop strategy) as opposed to manage or keep all the activities running?

2. are the leaders in your church given the time, resources and freedom to bring on the next generation of leaders? If they are too rushed off their feet it will never happen

3. what are the main reasons why your church and its leaders don't develop more new leaders than they do, if there are possible candidates to work with?