"Growth is in Leading" was the subject title of an email that Rich sent to me last week. I opened the email and it's attachment to find a well thought out small group lesson. Rich had compiled two pages of verses on the Holy Spirit's role in our lives. His notes were clearly pepper through the pages as well as strategically placed highlights. This was an exercise that he was doing to prepare for leading his community group. I think he sent this to me because he simply needed to share his joy of learning. But, his learning was different than before. He was learning as leader. There's something much different about that, isn't it?
Rich is a guy who's also in one of the men's groups for almost a half dozen years. His growth has been fun to watch. Each time he encountered a life-issue, he would wrestle with God's principles of living. It's always a good wrestling, one that fights to understand God's best way of living.
I knew that Rich had the capacity in him to one day lead a group. After a several invitations to lead and one less "no thank you, Phil," Rich is now a leader. His first group, not successful in his mind. His second attempt, golden. God's given him and his wife some wonderful people who have come together "like family" (their words) in short period of time. They are loving each other well and pushing to understand the Truth of God's Word in their lives. I've been privileged to see Rich grow over the years, but this season of Rich's life is something different. He's growing because he's leading others.
What's up with that? What is it about leadership that accelerates our growth? Give me some comments or short stories why "Growth is in Leading."
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God is all about us taking risks to grow and develop. Sometimes the next step in our spiritual development is to become a teacher of others. Some of us have been Christians a long time and it is time for us to take this risk.
ReplyDeleteHebrews 5:11-14 (NLT)
There is so much more we would like to say about this. But you don't seem to listen, so it's hard to make you understand. [12] You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures. You are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food. [13] And a person who is living on milk isn't very far along in the Christian life and doesn't know much about doing what is right. [14] Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right.