While the terms "leader" and "leadership" aren't found many times in the Bible, leadership is nonetheless a very biblical principal. Preparing and anointing ordinary men and women for leadership has been a part of God's strategy since the beginning of mankind. Read through the book of Exodus and take Moses, Aaron and Miriam out of the story - what do you have? Probably not much of a story. The Israelites would have never made it out of Egypt without a leader. Read the book of Acts and take out Paul, Peter, Barnabus... you get the idea.
God is still preparing and anointing leaders today, and he is not sending them all to seminary. The ordinary men and women who answer his call to leadership provide the framework around which the Lord builds his church. At Bella Vista Church, we desire to create a culture where leaders are developed, nurtured and released in a way that will in turn release the rest of the body to its fullest potential. We desire to see Bella Vista Church as an expression of the Body of Christ reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God and to become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13).
Our philosophy of Leadership Development is based on the following scriptural principals:
Psalm 78:72
And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. Godly leadership begins with integrity (which comes from the same word as integration - a coming together) of heart. This means that God uses all of a person's heart - another word for integrity is completeness - to accomplish his purposes. Integrity of heart also represents the inner life of a leader - the character. David's leadership flowed out of what happened in his inner life, as every leader's will. Godly leadership also means that the leader must work with skillful hands, which represents the practical skills a leader must possess, and a commitment to excellence. At Bella Vista, it is our objective to develop and train leaders that will lead from a well tended inner life and with skill and excellence. Training opportunities throughout the year will assist leaders in developing needed skills, as well as encouragement on their spiritual journeys.
Ephesians 4:11-13
It was he who gave some to be apostles,some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God and to become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:11-13). It is a common misconception that it is the responsibility of the pastor of a church to grow the members up to spiritual maturity. The truth is that unity and maturity are the responsibility of the entire body! That is why he gave us spiritual gifts - not for our own enjoyment and pleasure but for the building up and equipping of the entire body, which results in unity and maturity. Leaders are given the spiritual gift of leadership in order to help the rest of the body use their gifts most effectively. At Bella Vista, we don't train our leaders to do all the work of the church - and we don't want them to. We train leaders to be releasers of ministry, preparing, encouraging and equipping others to live out their own unique place of ministry within the church.
Romans 12:8
[If one has the spiritual gift of leadership] let him lead diligently... Being a good leader is hard work. It takes persistence, patience and constant attention. When the Holy Spirit gives us gifts, they are meant to be used well. I gave my son an expensive camera for Christmas a few years ago. It pleased me greatly to see him work hard at learning all the bells and whistles and experimenting with it, becoming quite a good photographer in the process. It would not have made me happy to find it collecting dust on a shelf somewhere - I gave it to him to use. God also expects us to play with our gifts - to experiment, to keep learning how to use them. Leading diligently means investing in "taking lessons" - getting training, receiving mentoring, staying teachable; it also means staying the course when it gets boring or hard. At Bella Vista Church, we are committed to providing what our leaders need to lead diligently, whether that might be training, resources, encouragement, or coaching. Leadership Resources on the Web
Leadership Resources in Books
They Smell Like Sheep Anderson, Dr. Lynn
The Connecting Church Frazee, Randy
Developing the Leader Within You Maxwell, John
Spiritual Leadership Sanders, Oswald
Breakout Churches Rainer, Thom S.
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