This week’s reading of Leading Out of Who You Are by Simon Walker underlines how vital trust is in leadership. If followers don’t trust their leaders, they simply will not continue to follow. [1] In thinking of this trust relationship, I am naturally put in mind of Native Americans. Recent research says that 66% of Native Americans identify as Christian (either Catholic or Protestant). This is significantly lower than for other ethnicities. [2] They will tell you that they have heard the gospel message. That is not the issue. They have not seen it lived out with integrity by those proclaiming it. It all boils down to an issue of trustworthiness, even in sharing the gospel. I have lived among them now for twenty-one years and have endeavored to fill the trust gap.<\/p>\n
Walker spent a good bit of the book discussing how our own experience of trust was shaped in childhood. [3] I wasn’t altogether pleased with the category I fell into. I was thankful to know that these categories are not written in stone, and that leaders can change with the help of Christ. [4]<\/p>\n
I believe that as Christians, and as Christian leaders in particular, it is very easy to be overcome with busying ourselves with many seemingly good things… Things need to be done by someone, and we are leaders, so we are the obvious choice. We pile more and more on ourselves, when the Lord hasn’t called us to do those things. One person cannot do everything – but sometimes we try. Walker makes an excellent point here. “Be still, and know that I am God.” [5] It is not about getting a lot done, but about getting the right things done. [6] I’m preaching to the choir on this note. I am terrible about taking on jobs simply because they need doing and no one else will do them. Where there is a need, I want to fill it. I am already maxed out in what I am physically able to do right now. But when something comes up my mind will automatically wonder if I am the one that is supposed to tackle it.<\/p>\n
In the end, Walker points out that we ought to have a childlike approach to leadership. [7] I love this. He suggests that as children are playful, so leaders should be playful as well. [8] This reminds me of our tour of Archbishop Tutu’s museum in Cape Town. They told us how playful he was. It was very inspiring. He had an enormous responsibility that could be daunting and overwhelming at times I am sure, and yet could draw people in with a playful heart. We ask children to take responsibility for their messes, and to clean up after themselves. [9] What a wonderful world we would live in if even just our leaders would take responsibility for their own messes and clean up after themselves. We grow up and forget the lessons learned in Kindergarten. Finally, children are very trusting. [10] I’m beginning and ending with this word trust. To be a better leader, we need to build trust between ourselves and our followers. We ought to be trustworthy people. We also need to be vulnerable in areas of our lives. This vulnerability will make us better leaders and build more trust.<\/p>\n
Jesus Christ himself fulfills this model of a leader. He was often playful with his words. For example, in Matthew 7:3-5 we find the story of a speck in another’s eye and a tree trunk in your own eye. [11] He took responsibility for paying his own taxes by sending them to get coins out of fishes’ mouths in Matthew 17. [12] And in Mark 9:30-32 Jesus shared with his disciples the death that he was about to face. He trusted them with this knowledge, and was completely vulnerable, even though they did not understand at the time. [13] Jesus is our ultimate example of undefended leadership.<\/p>\n
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[1]\u00a0 Walker, Simon P. 2007. Leading out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/i>. Carlisle: Piquant, p.6.<\/p>\n
[2]\u00a0 “Religio-Spiritual Participation in Two American Indian Populations,” National Library of Medicine, March 2014, November 3, 2022, https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4646059\/.<\/p>\n
[3]\u00a0 Walker, Simon P. 2007. Leading out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/i>. Carlisle: Piquant, p.62.<\/p>\n
[4]\u00a0 Walker, Simon P. 2007. Leading out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/i>. Carlisle: Piquant, p.98.<\/p>\n
[5]\u00a0 Crossway Bibles, ed. 2007. ESV: Study Bible: English Standard Version<\/i>. ESV text ed. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles, p.603.<\/p>\n
[6]\u00a0 Walker, Simon P. 2007. Leading out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/i>. Carlisle: Piquant, p.101.<\/p>\n
[7]\u00a0 Walker, Simon P. 2007. Leading out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/i>. Carlisle: Piquant, p.127.<\/p>\n
[8]\u00a0 Walker, Simon P. 2007. Leading out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/i>. Carlisle: Piquant, p.131.<\/p>\n
[9]\u00a0 Walker, Simon P. 2007. Leading out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/i>. Carlisle: Piquant, p.135.<\/p>\n
[10]\u00a0 Walker, Simon P. 2007. Leading out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/i>. Carlisle: Piquant, p.134.<\/p>\n
[11]\u00a0 Crossway Bibles, ed. 2007. ESV: Study Bible: English Standard Version<\/i>. ESV text ed. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles, p.1052.<\/p>\n
[12]\u00a0 Crossway Bibles, ed. 2007. ESV: Study Bible: English Standard Version<\/i>. ESV text ed. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles, p.1067.<\/p>\n
[13]\u00a0 Crossway Bibles, ed. 2007. ESV: Study Bible: English Standard Version<\/i>. ESV text ed. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles, p.1097.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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