A Lesson in Leadership

Last evening we discussed the topic of "Leadership" and what qualities should a leader have, in order to be able to face difficult situations and address them in a proper way.  We looked at Acts 6 and how the Apostles handled a disagreement among believers and what qualities they displayed while resolving this dispute.

Here are the notes from our discussion.

July 18, 2011

A Lesson in Leadership

Opening question: What is a quality that you value in a person of authority or a leader?

There are many qualities that we would like to see in a leader or qualities that we strive to achieve, such as courage, wisdom, asking for help from others (delegation), etc.

An event from the Bible gives us some insights on a situation where the Apostles provide a great case of leadership, along with some qualities that we will discuss today.

In Acts 6:1-7, we read:  1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.  2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.  3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them  4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” 

5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.  6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

This is a case of a disagreement among brothers and sisters in the early church, because some of the widows were being overlooked or neglected in the daily distribution of food.

What did the Apostles do to show leadership in addressing this situation and what qualities did they display in this case?

1.         Courage

First, the Apostles did not deny that there was a problem, but showed courage in facing the problem and working to find a solution for it.

There may be situation when people do not want to even acknowledge that there is a problem and try to sweep away the complaint(s) as unfounded or too small to pay any attention to them. 

The Apostles did not do that.  They did not go into the merits of whether this complaint was founded or not and whether this neglect had taken place or not.  They realized that it was important not to have disagreement in the church and to strive toward unity. 

They had the courage to face this problem and to work toward a solution for it.

2.         Wisdom

Sometimes people may feel that the best solution is to tell the people what to do.  We may have even told people, given people a solution when they came to us with a problem. “You need to do this” or “you should do that.”  However, there may be problems when you give people the solution.

What may be these problems?

The Apostles did not give the solution to the people.  They did not chose people and put them in charge of the distribution of the food – instead they asked the people – all the people (we see here the wisdom of including everyone who is affected by this situation and inviting them for their thoughts on the matter) to chose seven men whom they trusted and who were able to work on this issue.

3.         Seeking help

In verse 2, we see that the Apostles had been tasked by God to minister to word of God, to preach the Gospel to everyone.  So, it would have been difficult for them to do both, as they would have had to give us some of the time dedicated to preaching the word to taking care of the distribution of the food.

So, the Apostles asked for help from people chosen by the general gathering of the believers and they also made sure that these people were capable to doing this job.  It is important to ask for help, but it is also important to ask for help from people that are actually able to give you efficient help with the job you need them to do.

Conclusions

Whether you are in a position of leadership or not, we need to show certain qualities that God has indicated are pleasing and acceptable to him.  We cannot run from problematic situations in our lives, but we need to face them and resolve the problems.  We need to be wise to the best way to resolve problems and whenever it is possible, if our plate is full, we can seek help from people who can truly help us in our situation.

Campus Bible Talk 2011