A leader has the task of having to work with different types of people with different ideas, different values, and different attitudes to work. The leader has the task of harnessing their best qualities and achieving the best with them.
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- A leader can have hardworking workers. Hardworking workers are indeed a blessing to every leader.
The hardworking workers are always the workhorses of ministry. These are they who ensure that the ministry survives. The work of ministry involves a lot of hard work and there are always people who take on the burden of the work. They bestow much labour and exert much effort to accomplish ministry tasks.
Greet Mary, who bestowed MUCH LABOUR on us. Romans 16:6
This is what Paul meant when he spoke of Mary who worked so hard when he visited. God sees all the hard work that everyone puts into the ministry and He will reward it. There is nothing wrong with noticing those who work hard in your organisation. Even God notices hard work! In His letter to the Ephesian church, the Lord made special mention of the labours and the hard work of the church.
I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil… And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Revelation 2:2-3
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- A leader may have couples who work together in the organisation. In a church, a pastor may have couples who work together in full-time ministry.
Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus. Romans 16:3
It is a special privilege for a man of God to have both husband and wife working together to help him. It is a special blessing for couples to both find a place in the house of God. What a blessing it is for the whole family to work together in full-time ministry. It must be noted that there are also disadvantages of couples working in the same place, but the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.
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- A leader may have workers who are women, and cannot stop quarrelling.
Women are most precious workers who love the Lord with all their heart and with all their feelings.
However, one of the side effects of ladies working together is female bickering and quarrelling.
Paul found himself in the middle of female quarrelling, and had to dedicate part of his church letter to solving a problem between two ladies.
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I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord
Philippians 4:2
Some of these quarrels and cold wars may be inevitable when women work together. God wants women to work for Him and they have a valuable contribution to make! As we mature in the love of God, the Euodias-Syntyche syndrome will surely manifest! But the love of God will smoothen out all these out!
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- A leader may have full-time innovators, also called apostles.
Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.
Romans 16:7
The work of the apostle is to create something that did not exist. There are some workers who can make something out of nothing. You can send them on a mission and they will bulldoze their way through all obstacles, accomplishing and creating as they go along.
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- A leader has workers who work for you because they owe their lives to you.
I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand: I will repay it – albeit I do not say to thee how thou OWEST UNTO ME EVEN THINE OWN SELF besides.
Philemon 1:19
There are people who work in the ministry out of a sense of gratitude and indebtedness to God. Such people are often grateful for their salvation, and feel that they owe their lives to you. If people really understood what their salvation was, they would spend the rest of their days in full-time service to God. Seventy years of working for God would not be able to pay for the blessing of salvation.
In every ministry, there are people whose contribution is of special note. In every organisation, there are workers who stand out because of their contributions to the organisation. There are people who bestow much service on the organisation in general. Every leader prays for such! They are a blessing to many people.
The impact of these people in the church is seen best when they die. Although most church members’ deaths would not go unnoticed, the whole church feels the loss of the special ones in the ministry. Phoebe, without using the pulpit, touched the lives of many people. A leader does not forget the different people who serve him through the years.
The Art of Leadership By Dag Heward-Mills
theaol@ymail.com