Hoping to finish my forthcoming book today: Living Leadership: Growing Vibrant Leaders in Your Local Church.
The main themes are how to grow in biblical, spiritual servanthood. Leadership for Christ's sake. That is, leadership dedicated to him receiving glory in many lives as they are transformed to be like him.
I never fail to be surprised by how many churches assume that leaders serve the church for their sake - that is, to do what they want them to do. Where did that idea come from? Leaders serve churches alright, but not in that way. They do it for Christ's sake, which may or may not involve doing what people in the church want, depending on whether or not they want Christ to be formed in them and to live an adventurous walk of faith.
If they do then leaders serving the cause of Christ will also be what the people want. If they don't then leaders serving the cause of Christ will conflict with what the people want. This isn't to give leaders permission to ride roughshod over everyone else, but it is to say: are all the people in your church alight with the gospel? If not, godly leaders should expect opposition because the gospel will challenge people's comfort like nothing else.
I was chatting to a friend over the weekend who had recently visited a church where it seemed that everyone was naturally talking about how great God was, how much they were enjoying being Christians and how good it was to be a team for the gospel. He was pining for his church to be more like that. "Why," he asked, "after a great Bible message and stimulating worship and prayer don't people enthuse to each other about God over coffee? Why do they always talk football instead?"
I know exactly what he means. In our church some people will really light up with God as you meet them informally after a meeting, but not all by any means. And I am not sure how to change this. Maybe it is just that people have no categories for talking about God in a winsome way. They simply aren't used to vocalising it. But maybe the reason they avoid it is that they don't have anything to say if asked. In which case you have to wonder what they have spent years in church for.