Exodus 18:13-18
The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”
Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out.”
We’ve all made Moses’ mistake… We have the best intentions for our church and so we position ourselves to have our fingerprints on everything. The gift of leading comes with the snare of arrogance. It’s tempting to take the burden of the journey on your own back and pull as hard and as long as you possibly can. And for a while, it works like a charm… Vision is crystalizing. Movement is happening. And God seems to be blessing everything.
Life is good. But then the crash inevitably comes… The leader is embittered by the pettiness of the people he’s leading. The people get frustrated with the bottleneck of information. All movement slows to a weary trudge. And everyone starts questioning their place.
Here’s what Moses (and we) forgot…
- Leaders lead…they don’t manage.
- Leaders dream…they don’t manage.
- Leaders blaze trails…they don’t manage.
- Leaders don’t manage…they surround themselves with managers.
If you’re completely worn out with leading, let Moses’ father-in-law’s advice save your ministry…
Exodus 18:19-23
“Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”
Listen to God and take the lead but trust the managers God has put in your life. Do this, and everyone will be happier.
***
Check out the first three posts in this series on leadership…
September 26th, 2011 at 11:00 am
To bad our elders do not understand this.
September 26th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Sometimes “leaders” are good starters and poor finishers. They want all the vision and none of the actual work. I think, this is a true pitfall.
Anyone can dream (you don’t have to be a leader). But if a leader dreams and gets “managers ” to do and supervise the work then goes on to the next dream, It is no wonder “people” get mad. They have every right to.
Each leader needs to ask him/herself, Am I too good to do the work? If so, he/she has a real problem. Leaders must lead by example.
(Please note: All of the above is hypothetical and aims to point fingers at no one.)
September 26th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Absolutely correct.
Great leaders are the first to sacrifice, the first to sweat and the first to get dirty. They’re often the last to quit and last to go home. A great leader is never to good to the work. Great leaders build community and rally people to a cause.
September 26th, 2011 at 11:58 pm
Helen, after thinking about your comment awhile, I decided it tied in well to the next post in the series. So I went and rewrote the beginning to include these words, “Anyone can dream (you don’t have to be a leader). But if a leader dreams and gets “managers ” to do and supervise the work then goes on to the next dream, It is no wonder “people” get mad. They have every right to.”
I only included it because you said what I had tried to say, but you’d said it better than I had. Thank you for sharing those thoughts with me!
September 26th, 2011 at 6:58 pm
Wow, spot on and I needed to hear this as I tend to manage and lead as a youth pastor. I need to surround myself with more managing types….
Thanks for sharing!
September 27th, 2011 at 8:04 am
[...] Invest In What They’re Leading By Jones After my last post, “‘Leader’ Does NOT Equal ‘Manager,‘” helenl had a great comment that sets up the final post in the series. She [...]
September 30th, 2011 at 8:03 am
[...] “Leader” Does NOT Equal “Manager” [...]