Christian Leadership Foundations 5 - FaithSample

SHARING A FAITH VISION

Leadership Devotion

Christianity was birthed out of the Jewish faith. Jesus and the disciples were Jews. In the early days of the church, Christians were still praying at the Jewish temple (Acts 3:1). When Paul and Barnabas evangelized to the Roman world, they almost always started at the Jewish synagogue, where they were welcomed as Jews. It's no wonder early Christianity was seen as a Jewish cult rather than a brand new religion.

These Jewish origins left the Christian church with a dilemma. How much Jewishness was necessary to be a Christian? This didn’t matter a lot at the beginning. Believers in Jesus were almost all Jews who were circumcised and who practiced a Jewish way of life. They could be both Jews and Christians. As the gospel spread among the Gentiles, it became a really big issue. Did God's laws and practices for his people in the Scripture (Old Testament) apply to all Christians?

For some (especially those who had been very strict Jews), the answer was clear. They argued God didn’t change his mind. They built their whole life around obeying Yahweh (God) and following his laws. To them, it was obvious that Christians would need to be circumcised and follow the Jewish laws. They believed this was what God asked of all his people. To them, it was an open and shut case.

Peter and Paul, and Barnabas had a faith vision. God had revealed that the Gentile Christians did not need to become Jews. Peter had seen this in a vision. Peter, Paul, and Barnabas had found God saved pagans and filled them with the Spirit without any need to live like Jews. They wanted to share this revelation with the whole church.

That’s what the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 was all about. The mother church had to decide on the faith vision for the whole church. They needed to discern what God was saying. Peter spoke from his own experience. Barnabas and Paul shared stories of the powerful work of God among Gentiles. After much discussion, James (the brother of Jesus and probable leader of the Jerusalem church) summarized what God said. Gentiles could receive God’s grace with no strings attached. They had their faith vision. God has spoken. Christianity was now a Gentile faith as well as a Jewish faith. Gentiles had to do a few minor things (15:20) to preserve their relationship with Jews.

Calling people to the faith vision you carry from God can be challenging. It took words from Peter, Barnabas, Paul, and James to convince the Jerusalem elders the Gentiles didn’t need to become Jews to follow Jesus. Our role as leaders is to galvanize people into believing and pursuing God’s revelation. We need to share our faith visions effectively with those we lead.

To Contemplate

What faith vision (if any) have you shared with others? How did you do this?

Leadership Reflection

An important aspect of our leadership will be sharing our faith visions with those we influence and encouraging faith in them.

Of course, we need to be careful that we don’t claim a faith vision is from God when we are unsure. Here are some ways you can phrase a faith vision when you are sharing it with others:

• “I think God is telling us to …”
• “I have been praying about this, and I have felt in my spirit that God is asking us to …”
• “God’s word tells us to …, so I think we should ….”
• “God is working like … in other places, and I believe we should have a go at this ourselves.”
• “Kass has suggested we … Through praying about this, I believe she is right.”

So what does this look like in practice? Here are some examples of faith visions. These are not visions for a church or major organization but smaller faith visions God may give a Christian leader for a church ministry, a group of Christian friends, or a workplace.

• I think God wants the three of us to get together each week and hold each other accountable for a God-pleasing life, so our character grows.
• I believe God wants our small group to focus more on encouraging and supporting outreach. So from now on, I would like to suggest we spend 10 minutes each night praying for our non-Christian friends.
• We may be spending too much time entertaining the kids in the youth group. While they must have a good time, I have a vision to see the kids really grow spiritually this year. How can we make this happen?
• Our church is focusing on worship this year. I envision a type of corporate worship that is not just about singing. God is growing in me a heart to explore ways of worship that don’t depend on the music. Could you put aside an hour every month to join me in this quest?
• It seems God is calling us to become effective for young adult small groups. We have to find the leaders and then resource and encourage them.
• I read right through the New Testament last year. I feel God is leading me to ask you to join me next year in doing the same thing so we can talk together about what we are learning and be more biblical people. What do you think?
• I think God is calling me to help grow a compassionate heart for the broken in our community. I want to develop a team to do random acts of kindness in our community every month. Will you join me?
• I believe Christians at my workplace can have a greater positive impact. I am asking Christians I know to join me in prayer and fasting each week to pray for our workplace and colleagues.
• God has given me a deep concern for Muslim refugees. Many have become open to the gospel as they have relocated to another country. I visit a group of refugees every week, and I need prayer support to make the most of this challenging opportunity.

Communicating faith visions

A Christian leader needs to effectively communicate the revelation they receive from God with those they are seeking to influence to inspire faith in them. While leaders with different personalities will do this in different ways, here are a few ideas to get you started.

1. Get a clear picture of what you believe God wants. The clearer it is to you, the better you will be able to communicate it to others. Picture what this faith vision will look like when it is achieved.

2. Pray about it personally and have faith in God to make it happen. If you don’t have faith God wants to do this, others will be even more unsure. Let the passion of God rise in you through prayer and contemplation and reading Scripture.

3. Share God’s faith vision one-on-one. Sometimes it’s a good idea to share your faith vision with group members individually before presenting it to the whole group. This will help you gauge the response as well as build momentum.

4. Tell God-stories that reinforce the faith vision. The story may be about how God showed you the faith vision, or it could be about how this vision has been implemented in another context. It could be a story about some movement you have already seen towards this faith vision. Stories of God’s work are compelling.

5. Repeat the faith vision consistently in a range of situations. Don’t think people will grasp the vision immediately. Some people will need to hear it many times before they get on board. Keep repeating it until people are buying in.

6. Get people to seek God together about the faith vision. If this revelation is from God, it will be reinforced as you pray together. Prayer gives God a chance to speak to everyone.

7. Listen for others sharing the faith vision and reinforce what they say. As people start to grasp the faith vision and buy into it, they will feel that it is their vision. This is exciting. When you hear others sharing your faith vision as their own, encourage them.

8. Recognize and celebrate movement towards God’s vision. A revelation from God may take a long time to achieve, but often there will be earlier indications God is changing things. Look for these small movements and celebrate.