I recently taught a six-week Sunday School class at our church on how to lead like Jesus. My aim was to help make our church a “leadership factory”, an idea I got from the book 3D Leadership: Defining, Developing and Deploying Christian Leaders Who Can Change the World by Harry L. Reeder III. Here’s an article I wrote titled “Why The Church Should Be Developing Leaders for the General Marketplace and How to Do It” which was the foundation for the course.
The purpose of the class was to explain how to be a Christ-centered leader no matter where you lead – business, education, government, sports, non-profits, the church, or the home. We learn about leadership in many places, including books, school, business, and seminars and conferences – why not learn leadership at the church, using the greatest leadership model – Jesus?
Below is the outline I planned for the course. I have to admit in the six weeks I didn’t come close to getting to everything that I wanted to, especially the practical applications of leadership. But you never come to the end of learning when it comes to leadership. Good leaders are always growing.
Week 1: Introduction to Leadership
- Open and close the class in prayer.
- Who are some leaders – alive or dead – that you respect (and why)?
- What has been your general experience with leaders? Has it tended to be positive or negative? I shared takeaways from my unpublished article “Every Leader Has an Impact on Their Team: Will Yours Be Positive or Negative?”
- How would you define leadership?
- Is leadership the same as management? I shared takeaways from my unpublished article “Are You a Leader of a Manager?”.
- Shared what the attendees could expect in the course:
- Leadership lessons from the Bible – Jesus, Paul, Moses, David, Nehemiah, and Joseph.
- A discussion about servant leadership.
- Leadership lessons from a mother of triplets and Chick fil-A.
- Some key takeaways from leadership books I’ve read written by authors such as Albert Mohler, John Maxwell, Patrick Lencioni, Ken Blanchard, Mark Miller, Cheryl Bachelder, Tony Dungy, John Wooden and Jim Collins.
- Specific everyday applications of leadership (from running a meeting to conflict resolution to performance evaluation).
- Learning from church leaders (business owners, leaders at large organizations, mothers, and ministry leaders) – the last 10 minutes of each class.
- Action Steps to help the church become a “Leadership Factory” (mentoring, book clubs, etc.).
- Shared my leadership journey of more than 42 years – from a contract cleaning company, to a Fortune 50 organization, professional industry organizations and the church.
- Shared what I learned to do from my leaders, as well as what I learned not to do from my leaders.
- Completed week one with leadership lessons from a business owner (Insurance Agent).
Week 2: Servant Leadership: Learning to Lead Like Jesus
- Open and close the class in prayer.
- Reviewed what we discussed the previous week.
- Reviewed a new article from Matthew J. Hall “The Non-Negotiable Virtue in Leadership”. The article was about trust.
- Shared takeaways from my article “Jesus: The Ultimate Servant Leader”.
- Shared takeaways from an unpublished article “5 Books I Recommend on Servant Leadership”.
- Completed week two with leadership lessons from a leader in the IT department of a Fortune 50 organization.
Week 3: Lead Like Jesus and Chick fil-A
- Open and close the class in prayer
- Reviewed and what was discussed the previous week.
- Shared takeaways from my unpublished article “Servant Leadership: Leading Like Jesus, Part 1”, which provided an overview of the book Lead Like Jesus: Lessons from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges.
- Reviewed takeaways from my article “Leadership Lessons from Chick-fil-A”
- Completed week three with leadership lessons from the owner/operator of the local Chick-fil-A restaurant.
Week 4: Learning from Leaders in the Bible
- Open and close the class in prayer.
- Reviewed what we discussed the previous week.
- Reviewed takeaways from my article “Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah”.
- Discussed leaders in the Bible who didn’t lead well, such as Samson, David, Peter, the Kings, the Judges, King Saul.
- Reviewed takeaways from my article “Leadership Lessons from the Life of Moses”.
- Completed week four with leadership lessons from a leader in ministry, who also teaches children’s Sunday School and is a mother.
Week 5: Learning from Leaders in the Bible and a Mother of Triplets
- Open and close the class in prayer.
- Reviewed what we discussed the previous week.
- Reviewed takeaways from my article “Leadership Lessons from the Life of David”.
- Reviewed takeaways from my article “Leadership Lessons from a Mother of Triplets”.
- Completed week five with leadership lessons from a mother of several children.
Week 6: Learning from Leaders in the Bible
- Open and close in prayer.
- Reviewed what we discussed the previous week.
- Reviewed takeaways from my article “Leadership Lessons from the Apostle Paul”.
- Reviewed takeaways from my article “Leadership Lessons from the Life of Joseph”.
- Discussed “Next Steps” in making the church a “leadership factory” – book clubs and mentoring relationships. The hope is that the class was just the starting point on the journey.
- Completed week six with leadership lessons from a former leader in the Claims organization of a Fortune 50 organization, and the director of multiple choirs.
Subjects that I would have liked to cover, but we did not have time to get to in our short class on leadership were:
- Looking at the Bible passages for qualifications of an elder and deacon.
- Takeaways from my unpublished article “Leadership Lessons from Nikki Haley’s Book With All Due Respect: Defending America with Grit and Grace”.
- Leaders as readers. Takeaways from my article “10 Books Leaders Should Read”.
- The costs and joys of leadership.
- Takeaways from my article “5 Essential Qualities of a Great Leader”.
- Leadership as influence. John Maxwell is famous for saying “Leadership is influence, nothing more and nothing less”.
- Character and integrity.
- Humility
- Casting a compelling vision that will stick by sharing “25 Quotes from Making Vision Stick by Andy Stanley.
- Goal setting by looking at takeaways from my article “3 Important Types of Goals Needed to Grow”.
- Communications by looking at takeaways from my articles “4 Thoughts on Communications” and “4 More Thoughts on Communications”.
- Mentoring by looking at takeaways from my article “3 Benefits of Mentoring”.
- Leadership development by looking at takeaways from my article “6 Keys to Successful Leadership Development”.
- Healthy conflict by looking at takeaways from my article “4 Ways in Which Conflict Can Be Your Friend”.
- Leaders as life-long learners.
- Takeaways from my unpublished article “Can an Introvert Be a Successful Leader?”
- Takeaways from my article “6 Lessons from Failure”.
- Takeaways from my article “Battling Our Fear of Failure”.
- Facing Change by looking at takeaways from my article “3 Ways to Face Change”.
- Running effective meetings by looking at takeaways from my article “4 Ways to Assure You Have Better Meetings”.
- Trials in leadership (providing constructive feedback, delivering unpopular messages, strained relationships with team members, performance management, etc.)
- Leadership courage by looking at takeaways from my article “Leadership Courage”.
- Conflict resolution.
- Discernment by looking at takeaways from my article “3 Areas I Needed Discernment in as a Leader”.
- How can emerging leaders grow by looking at takeaways from my unpublished article “How to Become a Leaders Others Will Want to Follow”.
- Treat you work team like family by looking at takeaways from my article “5 Ways to Know Your Team Members Better”.
The above articles, and many more, can be found under the “Articles – Work” tab on my blog. Please feel free to us any of this information as you help others to grow in leadership. And if you have any questions about leadership, please reach out to me.