Jane Overstreet (USA) shared from Ezekiel 34:1-5 and how this is still being repeated in 2010.

We then watched a video of a cabinet meeting in Uganda in 1970 led by Idi Amin.

The Survey Results

Dr James Magara (Uganda) the descriptors of the survey are used to describe Christian leaders.  In 2008 a primarily web-based survey was done with 1031 leaders distributed across 6 continents (not Antarctica).  Age included a wide spread, one-third were female.  Professions included business, education, medicine and law.  59.3% had more than 10 years of experience in leadership.  The survey was made available in five languages – there was rarely any difference between the results of different language groups.

Dr Magara then took us through the results as outlined in the Advanced Paper – We Have A Problem! – But There Is Hope!:

Characteristics of poor leaders: Pride, lack of integrity, harsh and uncaring

Five most pressing issues: personal pride; lack of integrity; spiritual warfare; corruption; lack of infrastructure

Traits of a Christ-like character: integrity, authenticity, excellent character; servant’s heart and humble; spiritually mature, hear’s God’s voice, holy & prayerful.

Leadership subjects of interest: mentoring/coaching; spiritual formation; people management; conflict resolution; strategic planning.

Causes of failure of Christian leaders: burn-out; abuse of power; inappropriate use of finances; inordinate pride; lack of growth in their spiritual life; sexual sin.

Leadership development opportunities wanted: mentoring; small accountability group; informal discussion with peers; workshops.

Why is there such a shortage of Christ-centred leaders?: so-called “leadership training programmes” don’t really prepare people ot lead in the real world, people have credentials but they can’t lead.

Conclusion

• Too many of our leaders today are not Christ-like
• We are doing a poor job of leadership development through our existing programs today!

We then watched a video clip from Invicta,   Does your current leadership look more like Idi Amin or Nelson Mandela?

Christ-like Leadership

We watched a video on the theme of “It’s not about me, it’s about you Lord”, which Branko Bjelajac (Slovakia) linked to 2 Corinthians 4:5-18.

There is a tension between leading and serving – Jesus focuses on serving, which fits with some but not many of the present day leadership models, two key aspects:

• No recognitions or medals.  Mary models this for us: “My soul glorifies the Lord” – Luke 1:46.
• The quest for significance – a fractured spirituality is widespread.

Leadership development methods that have been tried and tested

Led by Shamira Manwar-Philip (India).

Character & knowledge: Leader development is a complex and life-long endeavor, but there are some methods that work better than others.  Here is an example:

3 main objectives :

• To use Biblical principles focused on integrity.
• To use adult learning methodology within creative  curriculum.
• To engage in constant interaction to facilitate mentoring and open discussions.