Spiritual Leadership in the House of God

Posted on:October 7th, 2017

08-10-2017 TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME. (MISSION SUNDAY)

SCRIPTURAL READING:

1. Isaiah 5:1-7.

Ps. 80:8.11.12-13.14-15.17b.18-19 (R. Is. 5:7a);

2. Phil. 4:6-9; Accl; Jn. 15:16.

3. Gospel Matt. 21:33-43.

Preamble:

Dear friends please repeat these words after me;

Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my mind, may your word never depart from me.

Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my ears, help me listen and obey your voice.

Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my heart, help me welcome you always.

Holy Spirit, rekindle in me the fire of your love. Amen.

THEME: Spiritual Leadership in the House of God.

It is no longer news that we live in a world filled with so much anarchy, chaos, war, strife, selfishness, mistrust, violence, hatred, idolatry, wickedness, oppression, materialism and secularism, demeaning and gradual extinguish of the presence of God, exultation of human being,  and a host of other thing that trouble our world.

The most logical thought for us as Christians is amidst all these, what then is the Mission of the Church to a troubled world? The Holy Father, Pope Francis gives an answer to this question in his message for world mission Sunday draws our attention to this basic fact:

“The Church’s mission, then, is not to spread a religious ideology, much less to propose a lofty ethical teaching. Many movements throughout the world inspire high ideals or ways to live a meaningful life. Through the mission of the Church, Jesus Christ himself continues to evangelize and act; her mission thus makes present in history the kairos, the favourable time of salvation.”

“Through the proclamation of the Gospel, the risen Jesus becomes our contemporary, so that those who welcome him with faith and love can experience the transforming power of his Spirit, who makes humanity and creation fruitful, even as the rain does with the earth. “His resurrection is not an event of the past; it contains a vital power which has permeated this world. Where all seems to be dead, signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up. It is an irresistible force” (Evangelii Gaudium, 276).”

“Let us never forget that “being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a Person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction” (Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 1).”

The Gospel is a Person who continually offers himself and constantly invites those who receive him with humble and religious faith to share his life by an effective participation in the paschal mystery of his death and resurrection. Through Baptism, the Gospel becomes a source of new life, freed of the dominion of sin, enlightened and transformed by the Holy Spirit. Through Confirmation, it becomes a fortifying anointing that, through the same Spirit, points out new ways and strategies for witness and accompaniment. Through the Eucharist, it becomes food for new life, a “medicine of immortality” (Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Ephesios, 20, 2).

The world vitally needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through the Church, Christ continues his mission as the Good Samaritan, caring for the bleeding wounds of humanity, and as Good Shepherd, constantly seeking out those who wander along winding paths that lead nowhere.

So, if the church must be able to fulfill this mission, it needs missionaries; men and women filled with the Holy Spirit to replace the old order as the readings of today’s liturgy relates to us.

The first reading and the gospel use the image of a vineyard, Israel, says Isaiah, is the vineyard that the lord loved, but it yielded only sour grapes. Jesus takes up that same image but with a difference; Isaiah says that the vineyard will be destroyed; Jesus states that the tenants will be replaced and the vineyard will be kept.

The vineyard for us is the Church. And using the words of St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians 4:6-9, He insists on the concrete aspect of Christian life. He gives an insight to what should be the attitude of those who will become the new tenants of the vineyard of the Lord; men and women with Love, authentic spiritual life, and a grateful heart. He says: “whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” The church needs spiritual leaders who have compassion for the wounded and suffering of our world.

Friends, when we talk about leadership, that is a language God understands so much and God understands the great need for leadership. He recognizes the one whom he has placed in the position of Leadership and so I want to make it loud and clear that he recognizes the role the church has to play in the world, the mission the church places in the hands of her children as given by our Lord and it is very important for us to appreciate this position and use such an opportunity given to us to lead in the church as a way to renew ourselves and become more and more the visible hands of Jesus both within and outside the church.

Leadership is a strong force in any organization or religious institute for so many obvious reasons

1.     Nothing happens without Leadership: leaders establish government, start businesses, make scientific discoveries and advances, disseminate religious and philosophical ideas, and otherwise foster human culture.

2.   Nothing succeeds without Leadership: Leaders develop ideas, carry out endeavours, and keep projects going.

3.   Nothing is altered or transformed without Leadership: unless an individual or a group of people begin to think differently or act differently, circumstances usually remain the same-or become worse.

4.   Nothing develops without Leadership: leadership take initiative to implement innovations, build on what has come before, and expand on prior successes.

5.   Nothing advances without Leadership: leadership are enterprising and forward-looking. They are often eager to enhance a society’s quality of life through improved efficiency, greater convenience, and the introduction of new products and services.

6.   Nothing improves without Leadership: leaders see potential in situations and conditions where others see no hope and have no vision of the way things could be.

7.   Nothing is corrected without Leadership: to fix errors and solve problems, someone has to take responsibility to see that adjustments are made. Leaders help societies to make a course correction when they have veered onto a destructive path.

Friends, leadership is therefore key to human preservation, growth, and change both in the church, the family and in the larger society. No matter what condition a society or nation finds itself in, it didn’t arrive there by accident. Someone led them there.

Every person on earth is guided, influenced, or manipulated by someone. Directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously, we are continually being led by those who are our “official” leaders, as well as those who have become our de facto leaders by their influence over us. That is why current problems won’t be solved without renewed emphasis on the foundational elements of positive and effective leadership. Countries, corporations, institutions, organizations, departments, and so forth will be effective and successful only insofar as their leaders are effective and successful. When leaders in all realms of life make a commitment to strengthen their leadership, they will enable their society, organization, association to improve, survive, and progress.

Friends, leadership is very much related to change. As the pace of change accelerates, there is naturally a greater need for effective leadership within the church for us gathered here in St. Augustine Catholic Chaplaincy. Like I said to us after the visit of his Grace Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins, to our Great Chaplaincy, we must make proper use of this visit to renew ourselves and forge ahead with resilience to accomplish great things for our great chaplaincy.

If the church in Akoka must fulfill its mission, there is need for spiritual leaders who help the chaplain bring about in all arms in the chaplaincy.

Spiritual leadership

Too often, people assume that along with the role of leader comes the responsibility of determining what should be done. They develop aggressive goals. They dream big dreams. They cast grand visions. Then they pray and ask God to join them in their agenda and bless their efforts. That’s not what spiritual leaders do. They seek God’s will, then marshal their people to pursue God’s plan.

When we talk of spiritual leadership we must know that it involves many of the same principles as general leadership but spiritual leadership has certain distinctive qualities that must be understood and practiced if spiritual leaders are to be successful.

1.     Ephesians 4:12 God has given leaders to the church to equip the saints for the work of ministry, building her up in the faith and knowledge of God. The spiritual leader’s primary task is to move the people from where they are to where God wants them to be. This is influence. Once spiritual leaders understand God’s will, they make every effort to move their followers from following their own agendas to pursuing God’s purposes, people who fail to move people to God’s purposes. People who fail to move people to God’s agenda have not led. They may have exhorted, cajoled, pleaded, or bullied, but they will not have led until their people have adjusted their lives to God’s will.

2.   Spiritual leaders depend on the Holy Spirit. Spiritual leaders work within a paradox, for God calls them to do something that, in fact only God can do. Ultimately, spiritual leaders cannot produce spiritual change in people; only the Holy Spirit can accomplish this. Yet the spirit often uses people to bring about spiritual growth in others.

3.   Spiritual leaders are accountable to God: spiritual leadership necessitates an acute sense of accountability. Just as a teacher has not taught until students have learned, leaders don’t blame their followers when they don’t do what they should do. Leaders don’t make excuses. They assume their responsibility is to move people to do God’s will.

4.   Spiritual leaders can influence all people, not just God’s people. God’s agenda applies to the marketplace as well as the meeting place. Although spiritual leaders will generally move God’s people to achieve God’s purposes, God can use them to exert significant Godly influence upon unbelievers.

5.   Spiritual leaders work from God’s agenda: the greatest obstacle to effective spiritual leadership is people pursuing their own agendas rather than seeking God’s will.

6.   Spiritual leaders lead others to discover their own purpose and identity: spiritual leadership is characterized by great generosity. A spiritual leader genuinely wants others to fully discover who they were made to be.

7.   Spiritual leaders lead others into transformation-not just production: when the goal is spiritual growth and health, production will always be a natural outcome. People function at their peak when they function out of identity. Helping your followers discover their own transformation can happen on the job will engender loyalty and a high level of morale. Spiritual leadership fosters passion in those who follow. Passion is the ingredient that moves people and organizations from production to transformational impact.

8.   Spiritual leaders impact their atmosphere: while we may not stop a tempest with our words, spiritual leaders recognize that they can change the “temperature” of a room, interaction, or relationship. Changing the atmosphere is like casting vision, only it is immediate. When there is tension, fear, or apathy, a spiritual leader can transform the immediate power of these storms and restore vision, vitality and hope. A spiritual leader can fill a room with love, hope, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and gentleness, even while speaking hard things.

9.   Spiritual leaders help people see old things in new ways: many people are struck not in their circumstances, but in their perspectives and paradigms. The word “repent” means “to think differently, or to think in a different way.” Jesus called people to look again at old realities through new eyes. Changing ways of thinking always precedes meaningful change. E.g. David.

10.Spiritual leaders gain a following because of who they are-not because of a position they hold: spiritual leaders can be found in secular organizations, in the same way managers and organizational leaders can be found in religious ones. Spiritual leaders more than they direct and they inspire more than they instruct. They intuitively recognize that they are serving something-and someone-larger than themselves and their own objectives.

Friends, as believers, we must recognize the value of imitating Jesus and His leadership style. But if we really think about it, it’s strange that we try to emulate a leader who never developed an organization, regularly encouraged people to stop following Him, and ultimately saw his death as the pinnacle of His accomplishments.

Jesus was not a manager. His primary role was to function as a spiritual leader and any believer who truly wants to be a good leader must understand that just as Christ was committed to his work, leadership is about service, a life of sacrifice and total commitment to the goal and vision ahead.

It requires total commitment to another’s leadership-in this case-the Holy Spirit who is the power of the Godhead-who governs and directs your affairs. In this case also, it requires utmost faith and complete trust in the lord. It requires the leader to guard his mind to the fact that nothing will take him from his goal.

The mind of the leader is his garden. If as a leader, you care for your mind, if you nurture it and if you cultivate it just like a fertile, rich garden it will blossom far beyond your expectations. But if as a leader, you let the weeds of lust, fear, passion, jealousy, anger take root, lasting peace of mind and deep inner harmony will always elude you.

To follow the lead of the Holy Ghost and to live life to the fullest, you must stand guard at the gate of your garden (mind) and let only the very best information enter your mind. You truly cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought or thoughts-not even one.

The most joyful, dynamic and contented people of this world are no different from you and I in terms of their makeup. We are all flesh and bones. We all come from the same universal source. However, the ones who do more than just exist, the ones who fan the flames of their human potential and truly savour the magical dance of life do different things than those whose lives are ordinary. The most important thing they do is they do is that they adopt a positive paradigm and approach to things about their world and all that is in it.

On an average day, the average person runs about sixty thousand thoughts through his/her mind. 95% of those thoughts were the same as the ones you thought the day before! Those who think the same thoughts everyday, most of them negative, have fallen into bad mental habits. Rather than focusing on all the good in their lives and thinking of ways to make things even better, they are captives of their pasts. Some leaders worry about failed relationships, financial problems, failures of the past as well as mistakes and never allowed themselves to move on.

As a leader your thoughts is very important in leading the people. If as a leader you want to grow, you must actually look inward for you will be awakened but when you constantly look out-you only dream. The power of vision multiplies and strengthens your conviction and sharpens your goal. Your response in every situation will either make or mar your goal.

A leader must train himself on a daily basis to listen to his inner voice and not the random opinion around him. Peter accepted the call of Christ to feed his sheep, he need to (1.) live his life as the spirit willed. (2.) do what the spirit wanted. (3.) choose the profession the spirit willed. (4.) go where the spirit wished.

Following the lead of the Holy spirit means, we cannot do those things we ordinary feel we want for you must follow his lead. For he directs you where you must bear witness to him that is what commitment means.

Commitment requires undivided attention to one’s own task. It requires focusing your attention, will, energy and efforts upon your own call and task. Consecrate on your own call and task. Realize that God knows where you can best serve and that he calls you to that task.

Conclusion

A leader must imbibe some qualities;

1.     1 Cor. 10:24-speaks of “Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.”

2.   1 Cor. 10:32-33-do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God-even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

3.   Phil. 2:3-4- Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Acts 20:28- keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherd of the church of God which he bought with his own blood.