I have just returned from a 1 day Willow Creek seminar taught by a guy called Gordon MacDonald based upon his book: A Resilient Life. He spoke very personally about leadership. what has worked for him, and spoke openly about what hasn't worked. One of the sessions was entitled Dealing with the past and within this Gordon spoke about four areas that we need to address as leaders if we are going to address the past. He commented on how so much of the past can inform the present even though we may not realise it.
John. C Maxwell says that leadership is influence. You may not think it, but everyone has influence, some more than others, but the reality is that everyone has influence. Therefore I think these lessons are of great importance to us all.
Dealing with the past:
FORGIVENESS - Who must be given grace in our lives and ministries? Do we need the 'power to forgive' someone or some people. Making the choice to forgive is the start of dealing with the past.
REPENTANCE - What must I make right in my life? A repentant sinner is a joy to God and as leaders we should be first repenter. We are a broken people. Sin is not just an event or an activity but we need to repent of our sinfulness.
GRATITUDE - Who must be thanked in my life? We need to learn to cover the past with gratitude, to give value to people and respond to others with thanksgiving.
LEARNING - What have happened in the events of the past and what does it mean? We need to learn to look deeper than face value at our experiences, what is God teaching us through them? What can be different as a result of these experiences?
For us to develop as leaders, or indeed people of God we need to learn to deal with the past, for that matter we need to learn from whatever comes our way. This was just one of the things that God has been reaffirming to me today.
John. C Maxwell says that leadership is influence. You may not think it, but everyone has influence, some more than others, but the reality is that everyone has influence. Therefore I think these lessons are of great importance to us all.
Dealing with the past:
FORGIVENESS - Who must be given grace in our lives and ministries? Do we need the 'power to forgive' someone or some people. Making the choice to forgive is the start of dealing with the past.
REPENTANCE - What must I make right in my life? A repentant sinner is a joy to God and as leaders we should be first repenter. We are a broken people. Sin is not just an event or an activity but we need to repent of our sinfulness.
GRATITUDE - Who must be thanked in my life? We need to learn to cover the past with gratitude, to give value to people and respond to others with thanksgiving.
LEARNING - What have happened in the events of the past and what does it mean? We need to learn to look deeper than face value at our experiences, what is God teaching us through them? What can be different as a result of these experiences?
For us to develop as leaders, or indeed people of God we need to learn to deal with the past, for that matter we need to learn from whatever comes our way. This was just one of the things that God has been reaffirming to me today.
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