The Four Phases of the Serving Leadership Journey

The serving leadership journey begins with self-leadership . We must recognize that we belong to God and must live for Him; He is our Audience of One. Matthew 6:33 tells us to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to [us] as well." Until our highest priority is to glorify God, we are not able to effectively lead ourselves. This requires daily surrender to His will and purpose. In surrendering everything to Him, we sacrifice the temporary for the eternal. When we do, we become leaders worth following. Unfortunately some never step out in faith, focusing on the lack of resources instead of their call. We must always remember that God’s vision will never lack God’s provision.

The second phase is one-on-one leadership . Once I am able to lead myself, I am then ready to influence or lead another person through coaching and mentoring. The goal of one-on-one leadership is to build trust. Without trust it is impossible to create and sustain effective relationships with others (Key texts: Matthew 5:23-24 & 7:12).

The third phase is team leadership . If I master the first two levels, then I am able to lead a team or family by building community. Serving leaders are trustworthy, drawing in people—just as Jesus did—while self-serving leaders tend to drive people away. Trust requires transparency, humility, vulnerability, and giving grace to others.

The fourth and final phase is that of organizational leadership . Only after I have mastered the first three levels am I ready to lead at the organizational level. Here the goal is to build unity and facilitate far-reaching effectiveness.

Failures in leadership often come as a result of passing over one or more of these four steps. Furthermore, we must never get off the journey but continue with greater development at all four phases.

[Next week we will discuss two questions every serving leader needs to answer: "Who am I?" and "Whose Am I?"]