July 2011 - Blessings of Divine Guidance

Lately, the issue of leadership is very close to my heart. The problems and turmoil we witness in the world today are the results of poor and/or ungodly leadership.

God has established 4 principal institutions that govern the world – family, workplace, government and Church, and God appoints leaders in each to govern on His behalf.

The Church has the single most important role to play:

[Eph 3:10-11]

10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God made known His wisdom through the Church and He expects His Church to set an example for the world to follow. But ungodly leadership in the Church has allowed Satan to persuade unbelievers in the world to discredit God and believers (God’s people)!

I am teaching A Kingdom Church at BBC, and indeed the domain of God’s Kingdom covers the entire universe – everything visible and invisible. And each individual believer has a significant role to play in advancing God’s Kingdom, whether it is in the family, in the workplace, in government or in church.

God’s original intent is that top leadership is male – father in a family, male boss in a workplace, male president or prime minister in government and male pastor in a church. But when men fail God in exercising leadership God’s way, women rise up to take the leadership role!

Mothers are raising up families; bosses in workplaces can be both male & female in the modern world; women are taking up top leadership in government in many nations and we have seen women as top leaders in ministries. Although not ideal, I believe God would rather see good female leadership than poor male leadership governing His world!

Now, as a Christian in the marketplace, I am trying to introduce Godly principles in leadership. Recently I gave a talk on Principles of Good Leadership in our company. Although good leadership includes many aspects, I set out 5 aspects using the word DREAM (i.e. dream leadership :)). I used 5 principles in a workplace context:

D for Delegation

One particular boss in our company does not know how to delegate. He micro-manages the projects, resulting in a lack of ownership and frustration of his sub-ordinates. Lack of ownership leads to lack of responsibility and pride in the work they do. The boss also ended up doing a lot of the junior work himself!

R for Respect

Every worker is valuable because he or she can contribute to the success of a project, if motivated correctly. In this sense, every worker deserves respect. A good leader needs to recognize the strengths of his or her sub-ordinates and assign them in roles that will maximize their strengths and optimize the performance of the project team.

E for Example

Good leaders lead by example. When we expect our sub-ordinates to work hard, we should not be taking time off to play golf or shopping during office hours :). When we expect them to work smart, good leaders should teach the principles of working smart and apply them to their own lives.

One recent example was that I taught my sub-ordinates the importance of having a strong and healthy body and the ways to achieve and maintain it. By way of example, I shared with them what I do. When they see a 62 year old working hard and energetic and not falling sick easily, they may want to follow :).

A for Authority

A good boss cannot expect someone to be responsible for a project without providing the right level of authority. This includes support of resources and manpower.

Recently, we are getting complains from the client on a number of projects because a certain project engineer did a sloppy job. But the truth was that he did not get enough support from management!

M for Mothering

Mothering includes both encouragement and discipline. When someone does a good job, the boss should praise the person for a job well done. This builds loyalty and trust. On the other hand, a mistake should be corrected and bad behavior should be disciplined out of love [Prov. 13:24, Prov. 29:15].

I look forward to seeing the above principles being implemented in our company as my way of seeing God’s Kingdom advancing in the marketplace :).

A nation will be blessed when its king follow God’s principles. “Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor. He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations. He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more. He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. The desert tribes will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to him; the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts. All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him.” [Ps 72:1-11 NIV]

God demonstrates His ways through the nation of Israel in the Bible. When people of God did not walk according to God’s principles, He disciplined them. “…..when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their conduct and their actions. Their conduct was like a woman's monthly uncleanness in my sight. So I poured out my wrath on them……I dispersed them among the nations……for it was said of them, 'These are the LORD's people, and yet they had to leave his land……the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.” [Ezek 36:16-28 NIV]

Whilst God expects leaders to lead correctly, He also expects followers to obey their leaders. ‘“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honour your father and mother" — which is the first commandment with a promise —"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."……Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favour when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.’ [Eph 6:1-8 NIV]

Many families are broken when the father commit adultery. God expects all men to love and honour the women of their youth. “Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well……Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer? may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love. Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife? For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths……He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.” [Prov 5:15-23 NIV]

Amen and amen!