What does Spiritual Leadership look like?

“The ultimate test of a person’s leadership is the health of the organization when the organizer is gone.”

Image credit not mine, click for original source

Recently I shared with some of our student leaders about why their leadership is incredibly important to not only the overall growth of this movement at Cal Poly, but also their personal development. There’s one thing that, for me, ties it all together: the idea of stewardship.

1 Corinthians 4 says, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” (Emphasis mine)

If we believe that everything we have comes from God – our salvation, relationships, even the air we breath – then we must be reminded daily that stewardship is the matter at hand. The verb stewardship can be defined as “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.” So as we think about how to continue trusting God for bigger and greater things through our ministry teams, we must keep managing well what God has already entrusted to us. I’m learning first-hand that my greatest mistake in life and ministry is to forsake the basics of humility and servant leadership.

If I may step up further onto my soap box, there is one more thing that keeps breaking my heart — when some of our student leaders leave our movement feeling burnt-out or “over doing ministry” because they have not learned how to translate what they are doing now into their coming post-college life. Can I just say this: we never want to run our people into ground just for the sake of “doing ministry.” Our heart’s desire is that through empowering our students to be good stewards of their responsibilities, they will find ways their experience feeds into their personal development now and in the future.

As way of encouragement, consider this quote:

“Perhaps the most strategic and fruitful work of modern missionaries is to help leaders of tomorrow develop their spiritual potential… Our Lord devoted the greater part of His three years of ministry to molding the characters and spirits of His disciples.” -Spiritual Leadership by Sanders, p.150

What are your thoughts about spiritual leadership? What do you see is paramount to developing leaders? Does stewardship play a role in that?