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Author: Arrow Leadership
Date: 29.09.2010
Category: Leadership Development, Integrity and Anti-Corruption, Leadership Development
What are some of the most common barriers that keep leaders from finishing well. If we are aware now, we can be on the alert for the trap that is designed for us personally.
In the Arrow Leadership Program, leaders are mentored to understand and prayerfully get release from those things that are hinderances to their walk with Christ and impacting their leadership.
What barriers have you observed in your leadership?
Keywords: Spirituality, Leadership, Pue, Mentoring, Leaders
Views: 4952
Comments: 11
Recommendations: 0
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Canada
Spiritual Excess
Spiritual excess is usually exemplified in one of two ways: an excessive craving for consolation or the constant need to confess something. Leaders never confess the sin that is at the core of their problem, but rather they confess something that is an attempt to draw themselves close to you without revealing the innermost thoughts of their sinful behavior.
Leaders in this state make extra efforts to appear spiritual and do so by sharing something they say they are learning currently.
Leaders, I believe, are wholehearted in desiring the life of devotion they are portraying, but their efforts and longings remain rather barren. If they acknowledge this, then the evil one twists their desire into discouragement and tries to take hold of their soul that has now become more attached to the attention they get from the consolations and support of others than from God himself.
29.09.2010
Canada
@ Carson_Pue:
Excellent insight. I’ve seen this numerous times, but have never been able to really put my finger on what was happening. This helps. Thanks.
11.10.2010
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Good article. What would you say is the end product of Godly leadership? Results, obedience to God’s will. Both. Neither
01.10.2010
Canada
@ Kenyatta:
I think it is as you say - but in revers order. When we are obedient to His calling on us as leaders - we will see results, the goals He desires.
02.10.2010
Canada
Organizational Dangers of Unaware Leaders
You do not have to be a rocket scientist to understand how this type of spiritual attack on the life of the leader is going to have detrimental effects on his ministry. There are too many documented cases of churches that have been set back years by the failing of their pastor. Often the witness of a particular ministry has been damaged and harmed beyond repair by a falling leader. But there is another, less visible danger to ministries by those who lead them, and that is if the leader doesn’t know who he is or why he does what he does. It is the failure of the ministry to develop someone to take over after the fallen leader leaves.
Unaware leaders perform with a sense of functional atheism and deny that they are ever going to die, or be sidelined due to poor health or other reasons. Therefore, they have no “Timothy” they are investing in—no one is strategically being developed and trained to serve as the next leader of the ministry.
It is impossible for me to illustrate much of this chapter without casting judgment on other ministries, or disclosing information gathered within the context of leadership consulting—and I will not do that. The Christian leadership world is a small world. Moreover, even attempts at disguising a ministry through the use of a composite will cause you to be distracted trying to figure out who it is. So instead, I will quote a list of spiritual dangers from Paul and Christa Schoeber.
Paul and Christa are intercessors who work on our team at Arrow and have had more experience doing prayer counseling with proven Christian leaders over the past ten years than anyone else I am aware of. As you review the list, you will see many noteworthy “better stay awake” warnings that leaders need to be aware of. The Schoebers list these because they tend to come up repeatedly in their prayer counseling with leaders.
Spiritual Danger Zones in Leadership
• reliance on own gifts
• fear of humankind (people pleasing)
• perfectionism
• lack of conflict resolution skills or avoidance of conflict
• lack of accountability
• ignoring evil or lack of understanding how evil works
• unawareness of how to guard against sexual misconduct
• empire building
• need for recognition
• need to control
• lack of trust / intimacy with God (solitude, etc.)
• inability to set boundaries (to say no)
• inability to delegate
• lack of discernment
Any one of these is sufficient to bring down or stop a Christian leader; however, we have observed that they often come in groups or clusters. Christian leadership is a significant responsibility, so to those who lead, and those who help them lead—beware. “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings” (1 Pet. 5:8–9).
29.09.2010
Canada
Lukewarmness
Leaders can also surround themselves with abundance of material possessions and people who genuflect to their every whim and thus shelter themselves from the aforementioned “slippage” strategies. Nevertheless, even if they are able to bypass the discomfort of these, the evil one has saved his best for last. It is not long until the leader falls into the most serious of the spiritual plagues—a state of lukewarmness.
Chuck Swindoll, in his essay “Prophet Sharing,” talks about this lukewarm complacency. As you read his words, ask yourself, do I find myself among them somewhere? “Always evaluating where we’ve been . . . always reacting . . . searching for ways to settle in and find comfort on our sofa-like surroundings . . . yawning . . . slumbering in the sleepy, warm twilight of sundown . . . finding a great deal of security in the mediocrity and predictability of sameness. . . . We are like chatty, laughing tourists taking snapshots of the lowlands through rose-colored filters . . . enjoying today’s lull . . . we are yesterday-dwellers . . . avoiding the reality of today.”9
We know how God detests us being complacent! “Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” (Rev. 3:16 NKJV).
Vomit—that’s right. God does not like it in the same way that our bodies reject food that is bad.
What is lukewarmness among leaders? It is a place where leaders begin to feel that they have arrived—that they have reached a particular degree of development or stature—and then gradually allow themselves to become complacent in that place. They feel sapped of energy, eventually not wanting to try at all to improve their spiritual life. It is like a slow-working disease eventually taking the life of the host.
Spiritually it is akin to physically suffering from anemia. Our blood is composed of three types of cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets) that circulate throughout the body. Red blood cells contain hemoglobin, a red, iron-rich protein that carries oxygen from the lungs to all of the body’s muscles and organs. Oxygen provides the energy the body needs for all of its normal activities. Anemia occurs when the number of red blood cells (or the hemoglobin in them) falls below normal and the body gets less oxygen and therefore has less energy than it needs to function properly.
Anemia makes it hard to find the energy to enjoy hobbies or other leisure activities, or even to complete basic tasks at home or at work. Particularly for a person with a serious case of the disease, the fatigue, weakness, and other symptoms associated with anemia can compound the challenges of coping with the disease.
Major symptoms of anemia include:
• extreme fatigue
• weakness
• shortness of breath
• confusion or loss of concentration
• dizziness or fainting
• pale skin
• decreased pinkness of the lips and gums
• rapid heartbeat
• feeling cold
• sadness or depression
Because the symptoms of anemia are easily confused with the symptoms of other conditions, it is important to see a doctor for an evaluation if you are experiencing significant fatigue or other signs and symptoms listed above, and especially if you already have a serious disease.
Spiritual anemia in the life of a leader, lukewarmness, reduces the number of “life cells” in a leader, and this gradually weakens the soul, allowing for the door to be open for all sorts of destructive forces that often appear, not one at a time, but as many bursting through the door at once.
With the heart and soul poorly guarded, the leader becomes prey to all manner of unwholesome thoughts, suggestions, curiosities, and sensuality. Frequently temptations are only halfheartedly rebuked, and when indulged, the sins quickly multiply and are hardly regretted.
Once leaders are at this stage—while still under God’s sovereign ability to be saved from falling—few survive. Their spiritual organism is so weakened that it is like they are simply preparing for a shameful surrender—they have forgotten that they are a child of the King, and joint heir of the kingdom. It has happened to many, so all readers beware, for none of us is exempt from falling to this onslaught from the evil one. Take heed.
Here are the symptoms of spiritual lukewarmness setting in:
1. Gradual weakening of your ministry energy and spiritual desire.
2. A blinding of your conscience—judgment becomes warped.
3. Gradual weakening of the will—making concessions that were once unheard of.
4. No desire to work hard at repairing—dodging and avoiding restoration attempts.
5. Letting yourself slide in every respect—often this appears with changes in physical appearance.
29.09.2010
Canada
Surrounding with Abundance
Perhaps one of the more surprising of the spiritual strategies employed by our spiritual foe is surrounding Christian leaders with an abundance of resources and opportunities, allowing them to hide from their sometimes less than stellar spiritual life.
This abundance includes spiritual books, readings and research that consume all of the leader’s time and energy and leave nothing for personal interior work. This is a particularly appealing distraction to the more scholarly leaders who have been trained in and are drawn toward academic study rather than introspection of their own soul life.
Another popular abundance is the practice of taking on too many duties and responsibilities—once again leaving no time to get in touch with who they are and what their unique and special calling is. Sadly, this form of abundance is often applauded by the church and ministries because of the amount of “work” that is accomplished—all the while eroding the leader from the inside out.
Another variation on abundance is especially tempting to multigifted leaders. They find themselves surrounded by a multitude of ministry opportunities and end up quitting one thing for another, changing, exchanging, arranging, and rearranging until finally settling on something that is usually expensive financially and in terms of human resource cost (and ironically, often not as potentially far-reaching as what might have been). In addition, during all this time of trying things out, the pressing on of kingdom work is delayed, bringing about a form of temporal victory for the opposing side.
29.09.2010
Canada
Tiredness and Sloth
Symptoms of this are weariness in performing even the most elementary of the spiritual disciplines. Reading of God’s Word, prayer, devotional meditation, and even public worship are not relished. They are either shortened or omitted altogether.
Not wanting to receive advice or recommendations about their spiritual disciplines, leaders in this state seek out a more amiable sort of spirituality—one that does not interfere with their current lifestyle or sense of ease.
Now tiredness may be a medical condition. If you are troubled by constant fatigue, then make an appointment to see your doctor for a checkup. You may be anemic or your thyroid may be underactive. Your doctor will examine you and order simple blood tests to determine whether either of these easily treatable conditions is responsible. However, your symptoms may be because you are suffering from depression.
29.09.2010
Canada
Spiritualized Lust
This is craving after spiritual things because of the feelings attached to it. This spiritualized lust is nurtured while doing ‘good things’ like attending prayer meetings and while ministering with someone at church or in the ministry organization. At times of prayer, sensual feelings can be produced. Prayer is an intimate experience and the feeling of intimacy is akin to the feelings of sexual intimacy. Especially vulnerable are those leaders who are tender and affectionate in nature to begin with. Often confused by the feelings, leaders develop a sense of awe about the “feeling” of this new spiritual high and develop a craving for more and more. This may prove to be more of a source of temptation than they can handle.
Teresa of Ávila gave this wise counsel to her brother who had been complaining of this form of temptation: “As regards to the distress of which you complain, in no instance must it be heeded. It is the very intensity of the soul’s delight that produces such reaction in nature. With God’s grace that shall pass away, if you will not be disturbed by it.”8
This saint is telling us as leaders today that we can overcome this temptation. But notice that her brother wrote to her with an awareness of what was going on—he was aware. I have actually come to believe that most leaders have awareness of the indicators that this “false motivation” is behind the feelings they are experiencing although many claim to be completely unaware.♦
29.09.2010
Canada
Sensuality
There are several other signs of leaders succumbing to the onslaught of the evil one, including several elusive behaviors we can call sensual because leaders receive some personal response that makes them “feel” better.
When I wrote to Dr. Mitch Whitman about this, he responded:
The rigorous demands of ministry may offer fertile ground for compensatory “feel good” behaviors that meet emotional needs. These may include misusing food for comfort, altering mood by alcohol or other drugs, sexual escapism in pornography, or seeking satisfaction through inappropriate relationships.
Most Christian leaders are clear about the moral and ethical constraints of extramarital sexual behavior, but may be naïve about the subtle draw of emotional involvements. In my study of proven Protestant Christian leaders, 27% acknowledged two or more experiences of extramarital emotional connection characterized by a combination of sharing emotional intimacy, sexual energy, and keeping these feelings secret from their spouse and others. In contrast, 8% of the sample admitted to some type of sexual contact on more than one occasion, and these almost never included sexual intercourse.7
An “emotional buzz” from the relationship may be experienced positively, but is nonetheless seductive by meeting non-conscious emotional needs without being considered “sexual” in the same way that overt sexual contact is judged negatively. This is often the start of a slide down the slippery slope toward serious relational and ministry betrayals.
Leaders disguise this sensual lust by cloaking it in spiritual overtones and words. One outward appearance is a leader seeking either sentimental or sensual friendship with another (most frequently of the opposite gender) under the pretext of ministry—either ministering together, or the leader ministering to the one from whom the relation is sought. These leaders speak of the relationship as something that is intended to evoke the respect and admiration of others. Often they talk about it as publicly as they can to diffuse their own sense of concern or worry about being caught—or of someone being able to look through them, or “read their mail,” as one of our Arrow leaders says.
29.09.2010
Canada
The Inclination to Pride
Leaders of Christian ministries can actually hide the inclination toward pride quite well. The most obvious manifestation appears among those who hold themselves in too high esteem. Others often know what they are doing, but their presumption is so powerful that it is seldom challenged—largely because they have no one close enough to them to confront their posturing.
Another sign of pride is when leaders talk about the things of the spiritual life rather than actually training and mentoring others in how to put into practice these lessons themselves. The shadow side of this leaning is to condemn those who challenge or question their approach to spirituality.
Leaders who have slipped to the inclination of pride cannot stand rivalry. Once pride has entered into their lives and leadership, if a rival or challenger appears, they will find ways to condemn and belittle that person until the threat is reduced or removed.
Interestingly, I have observed leaders in this state who seek out and desire intimacy of a spiritual mentor, but when the mentor begins to challenge them, or disapproves of their current ways, they look for another who will be more accommodating.
Mentors need to be cautious of this behavior pattern. If a leader has selected you to be his regular mentor, the leader will want you to affirm his thinking and behavior. When, or if, the leader falls into sin that becomes public, he may seek another mentor whom the leader will say agrees with him or encourages his behavior.♦ Be careful about becoming this second mentor. Ask about previous mentor experiences.♦♦
I have had this happen to me on a few occasions—and I wish someone had shared this with me earlier. When a leader begins a relationship with you with a comment about how he has been seeing so-and-so (usually someone you know who has fairly high credibility as a Christian brother or sister) but that he really felt led to seek you out as a mentor—it appeals to your ego, and it is easy to get sucked in.
When prideful leaders fall into a serious outward sinful state, they can easily get very disheartened by their own failure, and have a difficult time continuing, or facing the music of their action in a proper biblical manner. At this point they become a discouraging model for all the younger leaders watching them. Young leaders think, If they can’t make it—how can we possibly do so?
A distracting strategy of our spiritual foe is to have prideful leaders season their talk and lifestyle with expressions of their own contributions. They tell the same stories repeatedly about their good works and their success. When you listen to them, you are not sure if they are trying to convince themselves and seeking your approval to boost their sense of security, or if they are so full of themselves that this is all that can flow from their mouths.
The reason is a spiritual one—they have inclined toward pride and forgotten their position. From pride springs envy, which betrays itself by the amount of displeasure they take in learning of the spiritual good others are doing—especially in ministry areas closely related to the ones they are called to.
Behind closed doors, leaders have confessed to me that they feel a sense of pain when they hear another ministry or leader praised. Given an opportunity, they always speak ill of those other Christian leaders whom they view as a challenge or threat to them personally—or the ministries they lead (which are often strongly personalized and identified with a leader in this state).
29.09.2010
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