Do you ever find yourself lacking in experience or the expertise to really help someone else or some situation that requires more than what you have to offer?
Are matters made more complex for you by the fact that you see yourself as the person "in charge" and therefore, you think, "to ask for help would make it look like I don't know what I'm doing..." and that this might give those you lead reason to just walk away?
If so, you're not alone!
I think we too often make the mistake of thinking that because we've been given the title of "leader" that this somehow means we know everything, are supposed to know everything, or are the best at something, and therefore whatever we think - or do - must be right.
When leaders cease to be learners then these same leaders stunt their ability to lead effectively.
It can happen at the "professional" level - with those of us who are in paid leadership positions - believing that our years of experience and education has to show itself for something... but it can also happen at the student leader level when well-intentioned student leaders believe that if they show any sign/s of weakness that the peers that they lead will laugh at them and question the reason for their position...
Leadership is not easy... and I think the world has shown us some misguided notions of what leadership is supposed to look like. It too often places the "leader" on a pedestal as someone who: knows it all, does it all and has it all together.
The Bible, on the other hand, tends to look at leadership from a different perspective in comparison to the worldly models. I like how the apostle Paul talks about this in the book of Romans - and particularly the way Eugene Peterson captures it in The Message - when he records in chapter 12:
4 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. 5 The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, 6 let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.
God has designed us each uniquely... gifted us with different talents and passions that He wants us to use - TOGETHER - to bring about His Kingdom here on earth! Not that you or I might be elevated... but that He might be elevated in us and through us!
So whether we're a paid leader, or a student volunteer, one of the biggest lessons we can learn in being faithful leaders is how to recognize our short-comings, other's gifts and how best to work as a collective BODY to bring about the greatest good!
What do you think? How have you embraced your weaknesses as a way of inviting others into a shared leadership experience? OR, how have you fought this notion and attempted to be something you are not?
