leadership part 1
Have you ever thought about getting involved as a Christian
youth leader?
Perhaps you don't think of yourself as much of a leader but let's
imagine if
you were asked to lead a Bible club or youth fellowship. How would you
respond
to that request? Or let's say that you are a musician who has
been asked
to get involved with a Christian band or worship team. How would you
know if
you should do it? What if you had an opportunity to lead a
Christian youth
group, oversee a church ministry or lead a children's Sunday School
class? How
would you decide if those opportunities were right for you?
The Doctor has been thinking about youth leadership recently
because of some
e-mail questions that he's gotten on this subject. We'll take a look at
those
questions a little later but for now, let's check out some of the
qualities that make for a good leader and see how someone can tell if
they are
right for a leadership position.
Not Old Enough?
Some people believe that most teens are just not mature enough to have the responsibility of a leadership position. While this might be true for some teens (and many adults for that matter), age really doesn't have as much to do with leadership as you might think.
For example, there are a number of
instances in the Bible where God gave people some important leadership
responsibilities while they were still pretty young. Some examples
would
include Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:6-7), David (1 Samuel 16:10-13) and Mary
(who was
probably around 14-16 years old when the angel Gabriel appeared to her
in Luke
1:28-38).
A little later in the Bible we find that the Apostle Paul
(then known as
Saul) was a "young man" shortly before he met Jesus on the
So you can see that youth in itself doesn't automatically
disqualify people
from leadership positions. Of course some of you may be saying, "Yeah
sure, but I'm not a teacher. I'm not a Pastor or anything like that."
Ok, fair enough- you may not be a Pastor, but have you ever considered
that you
are a leader, at least in some ways?
Follow The Leader
The truth is that everyone is a leader in
some respect. This is due
to the fact that everyone has some influence with others, even if it's
only in
small amounts. For instance, you may be in a position to
influence people
like friends at school or co-workers at an after school job if you have
one.
Your words and actions certainly have an influence on those who may be
your
teammates, roommates or classmates too. Or perhaps you have younger
family
members that look up to you as an example. Those of you reading this on
the
Internet know that your words can also have an impact on online friends
that
you've never even met in person.
So you can see that your influence -however small- can be used
to lead and
impact others in whatever manner you choose. This makes everyone a
leader to
some degree and part of our responsibility as Christians is to use
whatever
amount of influence we have to lead and impact others in a way that
honors God.
The Bible talks a little about this leadership responsibility in the
book of 2
Corinthians…
"…God
has given us the
privilege of urging everyone to come into his favor and be reconciled
to him.
For God was in Christ, restoring the world to himself, no longer
counting men's
sins against them but blotting them out. This is the wonderful message
he has
given us to tell others. We are Christ's ambassadors..." (2 Corinthians
5:18b-21a).
So you don't necessarily need a title to be a leader- you
already are
a leader in some way!
The
Doctor is not a real
doctor but he plays one on the Internet. E-Mail prescriptions are also
available on an individual basis.
Except as indicated, all Scriptural references taken from The
Living Bible, © 1971, Tyndale House Publishers Back
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