Young leaders bring fresh perspective, energy and creativity. Actively initiate with them. Actively invite them to serve. Value them. Listen to their ideas. Rely on young leaders to inform the decisions the group is making. (Don’t shut down their ideas, or pull up a policy that says why they can’t do something. Listen well and see if you can find a way.) All of us like to belong. This is certainly true of younger women. They like to have fun, have a good laugh, spend time together doing meaningful work, using their gifts to advance the mission of God in the world. Here are 12 ideas for how to engage younger women in the ministry.
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To see God's goodness in my daily living, I have to stay present and not look too far into a future. Although I am learning to stay present, I must start with a mindful choice that grounds my emotions in truth. During a recent hard season, I found repeating a refrain I learned from Lysa TerKerurst: “God is good, God is good to me. God is good at being God” helped my mind and emotions stay focused on truth. Then, I remembered the past areas where God used "grinding-to-dust" to bring new life in me. In my studies of God's attributes, I have marveled at how intertwined his attributes are together. If he were only good, this goodness would be imbalanced. But because he is just, merciful, kind, patient, all-knowing, all-wise (and many more), I can trust his Goodness when my circumstances don't feel good to me.
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Leaders want to know: how do I lead my teams through hard or difficult times?
Leading others through difficult times requires the sometimes-intimidating task of having hard conversations. Many leaders and even many church pastors feel tension around addressing some of the hard issues we are facing today. According to a comprehensive religious freedom report by the Barna Group (2019), 9 out of 10 pastors believe that helping Christians have biblical beliefs around specific issues is a major part of their role as clergy. Yet, according to Barna Group president David Kinnaman, “pastors actually feel pressured to not preach on certain topics.”
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Wondering how to structure your ministry or organization? Let’s talk about collaborative leadership.
Collaborative leadership is a leadership management practice in which members of a leadership team work together to make decisions (eliminating silos) in order to keep an organization prospering. Collaborative leadership moves away from the old top-down model where a small group of ‘leaders’ (or even one person) control the flow of it all. In other words, it’s collective efficacy. And it’s biblical!
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The truth is leadership is hard. We don’t always get it right, even after having a whole year of exercising leadership practices. At times leadership can be so rewarding and productive. Other times leadership can be frustrating and leave you feeling unsure and discouraged. I can’t tell you the number of times I questioned if I was in the right lane.
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Have you ever considered what differences, if any, there are for Christian women in leadership? When we think of women and leadership, it seems natural that the focus is on the gender (female) aspect of leadership. Not much thinking goes into her beliefs, values, or capabilities. The common thought is that leadership is leadership, whether male or female, Christian or not.
I did a quick Google search on 'women leaders' and found: women and leadership, challenges for female leaders, women’s leadership certificates, the rise of women leaders, and gender differences in leadership. Other research revealed categories around women’s abilities, skills set, characteristics, and competencies. Rarely did I find information broken down by beliefs or values.
The truth is, not all of us have understood leadership as it springs from our Christian faith, although we are Christian. Sure, skills and leadership traits may be similar, but leadership outcomes and behaviors must be worlds apart for the Christian woman who leads others.
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God uses his people, to lead his people, and his call includes sacrifice. Just like God called Moses, he has called you. Just like he called Joshua, he’s called you. When Moses was called he was reluctant. He was afraid, uncertain, even shy. But he answered the call! Moses had to sacrifice to answer the call of God. With each call there is sacrifice. We rarely think about what Moses’ leadership would have looked like without the sacrifices he had to make. Do not forget that Moses was raised a prince. He had a background in good living. Yes, Moses was one of the greatest leaders ever, but his success did not come without great sacrifice.
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