MLS: October 2007 Archives
Roy Crowne talked to us about assessing our own leadership experiences and development, and asked us some really tough questions. (see the extended entry for a run down of these).
He also talked a lot about his own personal journey into leadership. It's really encouraging to hear that people that you think have always "had it all sorted" actually have had to engage in a long personal journey to get where God ultimately wants them. It also got me thinking again about an issue that Kathryn touched on at team training yesterday, and it centers around this question - "Primarily, does God call people to PURPOSES, or to specific PLACES?" i.e. Does god say "Here's what I want you to do, now find somewhere to do it" or does he say "here's where I want you to go, and do what you can when you get there", or is it a combination of the two.
And the more important question - Does God really care that much what I do, or is he actually totally concerned with who I am?
Anyway, back to Roy...
I guess the one thing that I was really challenged by during Roy's session was the suggestion that "Every issue that you'll ever face as a leader will be a relational issue". And as much as I agree with this suggestion, there's a part of me that thinks that's somehow far to simplistic - and if that it totally acurate, why has no-one ever said it before?
And also, he touched on the whole area of leaders having a "dark side" - the things that we know can easily draw us into danger areas and damage our effectiveness in ministry, leaving us focussed on what John Ortberg calls our "shadow mission".
The strange thing is, that as a magician, the idea of having a darkside somehow sounds mysterious and exciting, even though I haven't worked out what mine actually is yet. Maybe I need to find a different term to use when thinking through this whole area.
So here it is... My first step into the world of REAL leadership!!
And how did this come about? Well...
I'm currently working for a YFC centre in North Staffs, heading up a gap year (ministry apprenticeship) project, developing links with local churches, youth workers etc, and running a media project (film & web based stuff).
...The director of the centre suggested I look into the whole area of leadership training, and more specifically the National Youth For Christ emerging leaders training course known as the Missional Leadership Scheme (MLS).
Now into its second year, the scheme is run by YFC and the Christian Leaders Forum in the north of England, and basically aims to equip and inspire future (and present) leaders to achieve all that they can as they seek to serve God and honour their calling to ministry.
And I, just this weekend, attended the first of 6 high intensity residentials to meet the other team members, get some quality teaching from the National director of YFC, Mr Roy Crowne, and attend the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit.
And what a few days it was...
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