Leading Implies Movement

At the risk of being stating the obvious, small group leaders are leaders, and as such, need to understand the essence and importance of spiritual leadership. In "Spiritual Leadership" Henry & Richard Blackaby briefly define leadership as, "moving people on to God's agenda". Their definition draws attention to a couple of important truths about spiritual leadership. First, our job as leaders is to help people move. None of us have arrived. All of us have room to grow and mature. Jesus calls disciples to "follow" him. Hebrews 6:1 calls Christians to "move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity." Some other words used to describe this movement are "progress", "growth", and "increase".

Philippians 3:16
But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.

1 Timothy 4:15
Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress.

Colossians 1:10
...so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God

2 Peter 1:8
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The second part of the definition explains the direction we are trying to move people in. I don't know of a better way to speak of the transformation that needs to take place in our lives than to describe it as "moving on to God's agenda". At conversion we don't become perfect, but a heart change occurs which produces a willingness to no longer live for ourselves, but for the one who died and rose again on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:15). The church is supposed to be a Christ-centered community. We are the body of Christ with Jesus acting as the head of this body; and as the head, Jesus sets the agenda for the rest of the body.

Join me as fellow leaders in praying the the Spirit will equip us to influence others to give greater priority to God's agenda than our own! Pray that God will help us to hold up Christ before those we lead so that they will be so captivated by who He is, what He has done, and what he is going to do, that they will be compelled to live for Him!!!