Keys for Effective Leaders – Conclusions

For the last thirty-six weeks, we have explored key qualities for effective leadership.

We started by declaring that a Sunday School teacher is a leader. They are leading children, influencing children towards God’s purposes for their lives.

They are not a “volunteer”, working without pay and without compulsion. They are leaders of children, with day jobs that vary widely from farming, banking, teaching, construction, home-making, and real estate development. They share a common love for Jesus Christ and for children.

On the weekend, they take up the mantle of leadership, helping boys and girls of all ages know Christ and live the life He intends for them. This series has been dedicated to providing spiritual fuel for these unsung heroes.

This is the final post in my KidMin Leadership blog as we wrap up the lessons learned over the last thirty-six weeks. 

Over my lifetime, I have observed several athletes across professional sports who were extremely talented, but their accomplishments were tarnished or unrealized due to character flaws.

This phenomenon has not been restricted to sports but is found in the marketplace among business leaders, in the political arena, and in the world of entertainment. 

These stories are not the norm, where countless sports figures, entertainers, businesspeople, and leaders go about their work with integrity. However, the stories are not few and far between, but rather more and more common.

Unfortunately, this is true within the Christian family, where hardly a day goes by without some news of a Christian leader falling into moral failure. 

This KidMin leadership series began when I was a seminary student. Taking a leadership class, the professor finished going over the syllabus. He concluded his introduction by explaining that the class was about Christian leadership.

He suggested that many young Christian leaders were going Mach 5 with their hair on fire. They were running ministry programs, casting ministry vision, recruiting teams, and building large ministries.

He suggested they were so busy that they probably signed up for a Thursday night class because “it was the only time slot in their hectic schedules.” 

He continued, “Many of those young leaders are burnt out, and they are going to blow up, blow away, and there would be nothing left of their ministries. Because they don’t understand God is more concerned about who they are than what they are doing.”

Then he prayed. With my head bowed, all I could do was think ………. my wife called him before class. 

That evening changed my life. The professor was Dr. Robert Clinton, and his words that evening are forever chiseled into my memory.

Over the course of the next thirteen weeks, Dr. Clinton taught a series of short devotionals at the beginning of each lecture on “Keys to Effective Leadership.”

Every one of them struck me to the core. Over the years, I integrated them into my life as best I could and made some tweaks and adjustments. 

It became apparent to me that these principles were true for all leaders, including children’s ministry leaders such as Sunday School teachers, VBS workers, camp counselors, and anyone leading children.

I realized that the most important tool a children’s worker has isn’t creativity, great Bible lesson plans, clever activities, games, humor, or all the subjects of “workshops” at a children’s ministry conference. These are all important.

However, the foundational tool is our deep and abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. Leaders who abide in His unconditional love and experience His life-changing spiritual work are the tools He uses for transformational children’s ministry.

Over these thirty-six weeks, we have examined how effective leaders:

• Build ministry on a foundation of personal godliness
• Develop Word disciplines, teaching God’s Word and speaking as He directs.
• Understand that spiritual authority is the primary means of influencing people
• Know that a call to ministry is a call to prayer
• Develop a dynamic way of doing ministry based on biblical principles, personal giftedness, and ministry context.
• Develop other leaders
• Give and recruit resources for ministry
• Are lifetime learners
• Evince a sense of destiny

We examined these principles in the lives of biblical leaders, particularly Joseph, Paul, and Jesus. 

We found that these Christian leadership principles are not particularly unique or shocking, but rather profound in their simplicity. I thank God for using Dr. Clinton in my life and pray that the thoughts shared in this blog were a blessing to you on your leadership journey.

As we frequently read, anything of value is credited to Christ and His servant, Dr. Clinton; any errors are my own.  

I pray that you will be able to integrate these principles into your own leadership life as you seek to influence children towards God’s purposes.