Leaders must be Learners

On the way to Atlanta today I read a little bit from Missional Leadership by Roxburgh and Romanuk. A quote from p. 117 says,

"In our experience, many congregations are in trouble because their leaders don't know the most basic principles of leading people, forming effective staff, developing teams, or communicating processes. Crucial to forming missional communities, these skills are aspects of leadership that can be learned in other settings."

My experience tells me this is a very true statement. I must say that I've leaned a little toward entrepreneurial leadership models in my leadership and I am swinging back toward a missional leadership model. The thing about this quote that captured my attention is that simple, basic, universal people leadership skills and just plain old "smarts" are required in leading a church and leading people no matter how missional our focus is.

In my prayer time yesterday one of the Bible passages I read was Proverbs 3:19-20

"By wisdom the Lord laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew."

I know that God knows everything but I never thought much about Him doing the work of creation through His wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. I just always saw this picture of massive power shooting forth and...BOOM... everything was in place. This scripture says that it was an exercise, not only of power, but of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.

One of my core values is the pursuit of the manifest Presence of God. I want God's Presence to propel my life, my decisions, and my direction. I want my encounters with God's Presence to be the origination of all of my actions. I also want to learn and increase in my abilities, in my knowledge, my understanding, and to grow in wisdom. I want the origination of my growth to be my relationship with God but I want to grow in wisdom and understanding so that I can be effective in the creative work that God has sown into my passion.

I have a passion to see church leaders relying upon the Presence and power of God but I am also passionate that they learn and grow in their pursuit of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Gotta have both!

When you stop learning you stop growing, when you stop growing the people around you stop growing through your influence, and when that happens the revelations that we recieve from God ring hollow because they don't find their fulfillment in transformed lives.