Christian Leadership Foundations 7 - SwaySýnishorn

GROWING YOUR SPHERE OF INFLUENCE

Leadership Devotion

2 Timothy 2:2 was an important verse for me in my late teenage years. I had a huge desire to grow as a Christian. I was involved in several Navigators’ discipleship programs that involved reading and memorizing Scripture and passing what I was learning on to others. The mission of the Navigators was summed up in 2 Tim. 2:2, so it won’t surprise you to know that I learned it by heart. We were challenged to practice this verse - learn Scripture from and with godly and knowledgeable people and then pass it on to others with potential.

It was hard work. The Bible study required a lot of discipline and time. I was never strong on Scripture memorization, but I learned so much about the Bible and grew in my ability to disciple others. Some of my approaches to leadership were forged during that period of my life.

In 2 Tim. 2:2, Paul outlines the three steps involved in growing influence as a Christian teacher and leader:
1. Learn from leaders who you know speak and live God’s truth. Be teachable.
2. Pass your learning on to reliable (godly character) and capable (gifted for influence) people.
3. Set them up to pass this learning on to others.

A key contributor to the growth of sway is to invest significantly in followers with potential. Those you mentor (if they are effective in their leadership) will multiply the spread of your influence and increase your sway. When you influence them, and they influence others, you indirectly influence a wider group of people.

It is what Paul put into place in his teaching ministry. It is what Paul advised Timothy to do. Paul passed his teaching on to Timothy, and then Timothy was to deliver it to dependable and gifted people who would teach others. If he did this well, the influence of Paul’s teaching would spread significantly. His sway would increase dramatically.

Of course, we don’t invest in others to grow our influence. That would contradict what we have learned about grace and love. We invest in others because we care about them and want to see them grow and make a difference for God. An inevitable corollary of our effective influence on reliable and capable people is our growth in sway, which is good for God’s kingdom.

You will notice Paul didn’t suggest Timothy invests in anyone who was interested. No, he was to find reliable people who could influence others. Jesus, too, was careful about those he chose to invest in significantly. Read Luke 6:12-13. Jesus bathed this important decision in prayer and then selected 12 disciples from a much wider group.

We are to love everyone who God puts around us. We need to build a team with everyone in the group we lead. When it comes to significant investment, we are to choose wisely. We look for character, gifting, commitment, heart, competency, and potential to influence. Of course, everyone is flawed, so there will be no perfect mentees, but both Jesus and Paul show it is important to invest in people with potential who we have prayerfully and carefully selected.

Perhaps our most important role as Christian leaders is to develop new leaders. Every leader knows this is important, but seldom does it get the needed attention and effort. Your sway will be limited if you can’t or don’t develop new leaders. Christian leaders with the greatest sway are not those with the strongest gifts but those who have raised new leaders and invested their love, values, and skills in these leaders.

To Contemplate

What potential leaders or less experienced leaders are you investing in now? Is there anything more you should be doing? Can you think of how your influence spreads through those you have equipped and mentored?

Leadership Reflection

Investing in people with the potential to influence others is the first key to growing your sphere of influence. The second key is to be mentored and sponsored by respected and influential leaders.

The growth of sway occurs more easily and effectively with the support of a mentor who already has significant sway. We see this many times throughout Scripture. In the Old Testament, we have Joshua’s growth of sway through his leadership with Moses, Elisha’s growth of sway through his ministry with Elijah, David’s early growth of sway through joining King Saul’s team, and Nehemiah’s growth of sway through his relationship with Artaxerxes (the emperor of Persia). The influence of these godly leaders owed much to the sway of their mentors/sponsors.

In the New Testament, we find the same pattern. The disciples were primarily middle-class country merchants thrust into significant leadership roles in the early church because of their relationship with Jesus. It is difficult to see them having the impact (sway) they did without the mentoring and sponsoring of Jesus.

Paul is another example. While Paul had significant influence in the Jewish world, he had no standing or sway in the early church until Barnabas (a respected leader in the church) took him under his wing and introduced him to the church leaders in Jerusalem (Acts 9:27). After that, Paul could preach freely in Jerusalem with the church’s support. Then he disappeared off the scene. Many years later, Barnabas was sent to the growing church in Antioch to check out a new move of God among the Gentiles. One of his first actions was locating Paul and sponsoring him onto the church pastoral team in Antioch (Acts 11:25-26). Paul worked closely with Barnabas in Antioch, then headed off on a mission with him. The rest is history. It is unlikely Paul would ever have had so much sway in the early church without the mentoring and sponsoring of Barnabas.

It makes sense. Your growth in sway will be accelerated if you have mentors with sway who can guide you, develop you, believe in you, and use their networks to sponsor your leadership opportunities. I’m not saying you can’t do it alone (with God), but your growth in sway will be more laborious and probably more protracted without mentors and sponsors. You’ll hit a lot more obstacles and have fewer opportunities.

As you get to the stage in leadership when you focus more on ways in which you can intentionally develop sway, one of the keys is to find helpful mentors who are further along in the journey of influence and who have strong networks. Hopefully, you will already have these people in your life. If not, it’s time to seek them out. Ask them for guidance, let them point out what may be holding you back, learn from their experience, and ask for their help. If you are a strong leader dependent on God but fiercely independent of others, you will be held back in growing sway. Be humble, learn from others, and seek mentors who can guide, stretch, and network you.