The Reason For Leadership

As a leader I am constantly evaluating the reason why I do what I do and looking to find new ways of leading more effectively. With that in mind I wanted to pass along a few quick thoughts on leadership from the Apostle Paul, one of the great leaders during the launch of the early Church.

The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. (‭Titus‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬ NIV)

You take notice when a great leader like Paul says, "The Reason I..." And as you look at this one verse there are a couple of insights on leadership that we can pull out and apply.

1. Clarify

One of the biggest challenges and complaints of a team member is a lack of clarity and vision from their leaders. While some times you may not always know the exact details of what you need someone to do, the more clear you can be, the more effective your staff and team will be. Paul takes time to clarify what he wants Titus to do, and a key part of that leadership role is to "put in order" the function of the Church. Basically, he's asking Titus to clarify the situation so that it can move forward. Clarifying Questions: To find out how clear your vision is, ask your team to try to articulate what the vision and direction is of the organization/ministry, if they are off aren't communicating it correctly, than you need to clarify.

If your team can't communicate it, you need to clarify it.

2. Empower

Paul instructs Titus to appoint leaders in every city. (Side note, I think this is one of the most brilliant church building and multiplying strategies.) Now that mandate by Paul sounds easy to read, but that is a big task to accomplish. Titus has to find, develop, and empower leaders to lead the Church in each city. Great leaders know that expansion comes through the empowerment of leaders.

Expansion comes through empowering leaders.

Not just the development of leaders, but the empowerment of them. Nothing is more frustrating the a quality leader than to be equipped but never released into their purpose. Paul said that appointing or empowering leaders was the reason he left him there. If you're a leader, one of your primary leadership functions is the replicate and release more leaders. Pride and small vision can often holds us back from empowering leaders, but I encourage you to be selfless and think big! We have too many people to reach for us to attempt to do all the "leading" ourselves. If you feel like you're doing all the work, you most likely are, and the solution is empowerment.Take the time this week to clarify the vision God put in your heart and then release it into the hands of the leaders that you have.