GROOMING OTHERS FOR LEADERSHIP IN THE CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL OF NIGERIA.

A talk presented at Anglophone African Conference Of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal with the Theme of Africa-Hope of the Church on the 12^th of November 2009

Session Theme: Servant leadership

Teaching Topic: Grooming others for Leadership.

Introduction

Leadership is crucial to the survival of every organization; the Catholic Church more than any other religious body has an unparalleled history of continuity from the time of Christ till date and this is a strong testimony of the strong leadership in the Church and the benefits are there for all to see. Corporate bodies spend a lot on grooming leaders by way of training and seminars because they know the value sound leadership brings to an organization. No organization can rise above its level of leadership. Leadership abhors vacuum, it is a continuum where by one generation of leaders must pass the baton to the next generation. Without this, valuable time and resources will be lost doing what had been done in the past instead of building on what had been done by the immediate past leaders.

Jesus chose the 12 Apostles very early in his ministry so that they would continue his work on earth after His earthly ministry and they did a marvelous job.  Paul groomed Timothy and his letters to Timothy are eloquent testimonies of how he went about it. In the Old Testament, Elisha was groomed or mentored by Elijah. Grooming leaders is the most cost effective way of entrenching the teachings of the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church.

What is Servant Leadership?

Servant leadership is serving others through the natural talents and spiritual gifts God has endowed you with. By this definition, it is obvious that every member of the renewal has one gift or the other to serve God with in the Renewal. The task every leader has is recognizing the gifts in members or helping them recognize their gifts so as to enable them use such gifts in the Catholic Church.

By baptism, we share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission [CC#1268]. Baptism gives you a share in the priesthood of all believers [1Pt2:9]

Scriptural Principles of Servant Leadership

The following scripture verses are pertinent in our understanding of servant leadership:

Matthew 20:20-28

25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the leaders of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them

26 “ Yet it shall not be so among you; But whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.

27 “ And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave

28 “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

From the following texts we can gather the following:

• Servant leadership is radically different from the Leadership style of the world; it does not impose itself or exert itself on the followers.
• You can choose to be a great person or be first in God’s Kingdom if you are willing to be a servant or slave.
• Servant Leadership is patterned after the service Christ rendered to mankind; through service you literally lay your life down so that other persons can come to the Knowledge of Christ.

Luke 10:1-2

After these things, the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face in to every city and place where He Himself was about to go.

Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the Harvest to send out labourers in to His harvest.”

We can make the following deductions:

• The volume and scope of work is much but labourers are few; the implication is people who cannot trust others with leadership responsibilities or groom others for service in the Renewal are working against the Kingdom of God.
• The Lord owns the harvest-the vineyard belongs to the Lord, so be careful what you do with it. You are called to build the kingdom of God not your own ministry.
• Ask the Lord in prayer for labourers; people who see themselves as servants of the Lord and not chief executive officers are the ones with the right Spirit to make a difference in the Renewal.

2 Tim 2:2

And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

The following inferences can be made:

• Teach your members about the principles of Leadership among other things
• Make faithful persons leaders who will be able to teach others.
• Servant leadership entails grooming others for leadership.

Challenges of Leadership in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal

• The renewal is still relatively young compared to other apostolates-though accepted by the Church, conservative enlightened Catholics still view it with suspicion. We need to groom leaders that will dispel such fears by their conduct and words so that our acceptance will be enhanced.
• The Church is hierarchical and wants orthodoxy maintained at all times. We need to groom leaders that respect the church’s doctrines and social teachings, who respect the Parish Priest, Bishop and Elders.
• Membership is skewed in favour of women and the unlettered. We should groom leaders who will increase the appeal of the Renewal to educated men.
• Preservation of Catholic Identity amidst the cacophony of Pentecostal doctrines. We need to groom leaders who will not import controversial doctrines or teach doctrines that are strange to catholics.
• We need to groom leaders who would shun the allure of Personal Ministries in the interest of the Renewal because of the associated conflict of interests which always impacts negatively on the renewal when the Church has a cause to clamp down on such ministries.

Strategies for Grooming Others for Leadership in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal

The following strategies would greatly enhance your outcome of training capable persons for Leadership in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal:

1.      Teach on What True Leadership is and the principles   underpinning it.

• Everybody has leadership potential because he is created to rule, govern, control, master, manage and lead over his environment. Bring about a change in their attitude. True leadership is the manifestation of an attitude based on the knowledge of who you were born to be. Your attitude about yourself is key to whether you will fulfill your central life purpose. According to William James, “The greatest discovery of our generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind. As you think, so shall you be.” Most of us are not leaders today because in our hearts, we don’t believe that is who we are.

Gen 1:26-27

Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our   likeness; let them have dominiom over the fish of the sea, over the   birds, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping       thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He             him; male and female He created them.

• Leadership starts at the heart and this is where God looks at.[1Sam 16:7]. The heart of man has been described as desperately wicked

Jer 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked,                      who can know it?

Your heart must be renewed for it to be useful to God

Your spirit must be changed to create an attitude that makes the     leader; talent is said to contribute 20% while attitude makes    80% of the leader. True leadership is your internal disposition                 which relates to your sense of purpose, self worth and self- concept. It has to do with discovering a sense of meaning and     significance in life.

• True Leadership is a product of inspiration not manipulation. It is manifested in performance not results. True leaders do not seek power but have a passion to achieve a noble cause. True leadership gives people a cause, a reason for living, and a sense of significance that gives meaning to their lives so that they feel necessary and purposeful. It gives them an outlet for expressing their own gifting. You cannot give significance if you do not already have a gift. You cannot lead people where you have not already gone yourself. Paul told Timothy in 2Tim2:2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
• Transforming and Empowering Leaders make the difference; Jesus was an example of both. Because you have a task of transforming followers into leaders since within every follower is an undiscovered or hidden leader, your members should know that genuine leaders have the following attitudes:
  • Purpose and Passion [Man possesses the capacity to lead but has lost the will to lead]. Jesus said, must I not be about my Father’s business. As a leader, arouse the will to lead in your members.
  • Initiative. Leaders don’t wait for the future to come, they create it. While vision is a desire, it is initiative that actualizes it. When a need exists in the group, meet it.
  • Priorities Leaders have a clear sense of what they have to do. Would you want to buy a bus when your membership is low and your finances in poor shape?
  • Learn to set goals. This is what separates real leaders from followers.
  • Team work. Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress. Working together is success-Henry Ford. Leadership success can be measured by how much work one can accomplish through the team. There is no limit to what can be accomplished if it doesn’t matter who gets the credit-Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Innovation-Trying new things, Leaders don’t follow paths-they create trails. They venture where others don’t dare to tread.
  • Accountability-people submit to a trusted authority; the only way to enjoy the trust of your members is to be trust worthy.
  • Persistence-Heb 6:12. True leaders never quit, they believe with God they can do all things.
  • Discipline- there is need it to regulate your focus and order your life.
  • Self-improvement and growth.

2.  Regularly Teach on the goals of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal as articulated by International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services [ICCRS]

The goals of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal are:

1. To foster mature and continuous personal conversion to Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour.
2. To foster a decisive personal receptivity to the person, presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.
3. To foster the reception and use of the Spiritual gifts not only in the Charismatic Renewal but also in the broader Church.
4. To foster the work of evangelization in the power of the Holy Spirit including the evangelization of the unchurched, the re-evangelization of nominal Christians, the evangelization of culture and social structures.
5. To foster the ongoing growth in Holiness through proper integration of these Charismatic emphases with the full life of the Church. This is accomplished through participation in a rich sacramental and liturgical life, and appreciation of the tradition of Catholic doctrine guided by the Church’s magisterium and participation in the pastoral plan of the church.

You communicate the vision of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal by simplifying the message so everybody understands it; know your members and what they need to actualize the vision. Recognize teachable moments and when they are most receptible to teaching concerning the vision. Show the way by letting your life match your words. Evaluate and see if members are carrying on with the vision.

3.   Let your leadership training programmes embrace some of     the  following:

1. Spot persons with visible or proven leadership ability who have the right attitude and give them responsibilities. Evaluate their performance, praise them for tasks well done, and for those who performed poorly, encourage them that there is room for improvement.
2. Delegate responsibilities to members and through this allow them to learn on the job. When you give power away as Jesus did in Matt 10:1-15, you multiply your influence.
3. Have as many ministries as is feasible to serve as training grounds for members.
4. Regularly hold capacity building seminars for all members of the group to hone their leadership skills.
5. Help your members identify their gifts and talents which they can use in serving the Lord
6. Mentor your members as Jesus did in Matthew 17:14-21. Give them instruction[teaching], demonstrate to them[show them], give them opportunities to try out what they have learnt and then assess their performance.
7. Involve them in decision making e.g the Council at Jerusalem[Acts 15:6-29]
8. Involve them in problem solving. An example is in Acts chapter 6.
9. Use the Catechism of the Catholic Church to teach on topics like the sacraments, the creed, etc

10. Teach them to develop a habit of praying 1Thes5:17

11. Teach them to love the word of God, read and memorize portions of it. 2Tim 3:13-17. Paul asked Timothy to preach the word 2Tim4:1-4

12. Teach them to walk by the Spirit so that they would not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

13. Be watchful in all things 2Tim 4:5.

14. Groom your members on team work.

15. Managing the finances of a prayer group[Accountability]

16. Conflict resolution[Acts 15:36-41]

4.   For Officers in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal

• They must have a burden for the Church
  • They must love the Catholic Church
  • Ensure the person does not want to use the renewal as a launch pad for personal ministry. Persons with such an agenda have no love lust for the church, are hyper critical of the church, they are not committed in any way in the church and only serve in the Renewal.
  • Use Paul’s Guideline in 1Tim3:1-7 in assessing individuals :

1. He must be blameless.
2. He must be the husband of one wife who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence [for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the Church of God].
3. He must be temperate, sober minded and of good behaviour.
4. He must be hospitable
5. He must be able to teach
6. He must not be given to wine
7. He must not be violent, not quarrelsome
8. He must neither be greedy for money nor covetous.
9. He must not be a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall in to the same condemnation as the devil.

10. He must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he falls in to reproach and the snare of the devil.

Conclusion

The following story and parable will help us understand better, who we are in Christ and facilitate that change in our attitude that will unveil the leadership potential in us.

Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish theologian and philosopher, told this parable: A wild duck was flying with his mate across Europe during the Springtime. Enroute, he landed in a barnyard in Denmark where he made friends with the tame ducks that lived there and enjoyed their corn and fresh water. He decided to stay for an hour, then a day, a week and finally for a month. At a time, he wanted to fly to join his friends in the vast Northland but because the tame ducks had made him feel welcome, he decided to stay on for the summer.

One day in autumn, when he heard his wild mates flying southwards, it stirred him with delight, and he enthusiastically flapped his wings and rose in to the air to join them, much to his dismay, he could not rise higher than the eaves of the barn. In the spring, when the wild ducks were flying overhead, he had a strange stirring within the breast but did not even try to fly to meet them. With time, he no longer noticed them but kept on eating the corn that had made him fat.

The second story was told to author Myles Monroe and narrated in his book, The Spirit of Leadership. An army of a sheep led by a lion will always defeat an army of lions led by a sheep. A local Chief told this story of a shepherd in Zimbabwe who picked up a lion cub abandoned by his parents and reared him with his sheep feeding him with milk. He grew with the sheep and became a part of the herd which he always took out to graze. Four years later, while grazing, the flock waded in to slow running river to drink water when out of the thick jungle bush, a large beast emerged which attacked an killed one sheep while the rest of the flock fled to the pen and hid together with this lion that had become a full grown lion. Seven days later, while the lion was grazing with the flock, he went to drink water by the river and this time saw a reflection of himself in water and fled to the farm house thinking that same lion had come again. The rest of the sheep wondered what was pursuing him.

On another day, while the flock was grazing at the usual spot, this huge beast appeared from the jungle and let out an earth shaking growl that made the sheep scamper to the pen. This domesticated lion could not immediately let out a similar growl but after 5 attempts, he was able to growl as loud as the bush lion. The bush lion by its growls was communicating to the domestic lion, “Are you coming with me?”, the young lion knew his day or moment of decision had come. He would either continue to live life as a sheep or be the self he has just discovered. To be his true self, he must give up the safe, secure, predictable, and simple life of the farm and enter the frightening, wild, untamed, unpredictable, dangerous life of the jungle. It was a day to become true to himself and leave the false image of another life behind. It was an invitation to a “sheep” to become the king of the jungle and for the body of a lion to possess the spirit of a lion. After looking back at the farm and the jungle a few times, he turned his back on the farm and the sheep with whom he had lived for years and followed the beast into the forest to become who he always had been——– a lion king.

Jesus in John 17:16 said “They are not of the world, just as I am not of          the world”

Paul in 2 Cor 5: 20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ

Isaiah 60:1 Arise and Shine for your light has come.

Thank you and God bless us all, Amen.

This article was written by Dr Francis Edo Olotu, Physician, Family Counselor, Author, Conference Speaker and host of the Blog Empowering Dads. Dr Olotu’s book, Releasing the Power in Fatherhood is available

at http://www.authorhouse.co.uk/bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=64673