Transactional vs. Relational Leadership

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." -John 15:13

Many a book has been written about the servant leadership Jesus modeled.  He said in a famous verse, "...he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves." -Luke 22:26  But, what was so special about the way Jesus led His followers?

Ford Taylor is a leadership consultant who trains leaders of leaders, and is involved in community transformation in the state of Ohio.  He teaches something called "transformational leadership", which is basically developing a relationship with someone to such an extent that they actually want to do whatever it is the leader is asking them to do.  This is also called relational leadership.

Businesses and other organizations cite fewer problems, higher revenue, and much less turnover by employing his principles.  Building relationship as being primary in leadership isn't a new concept:  Josh McDowell, the well-known youth leader and apologist has said, "Sharing truth without relationship leads to rejection. Discipline without relationship leads to anger."
 

Do you think the disciples wanted to follow Jesus?  Nobody was making them follow Him.  In fact, Jesus didn’t even pay them.  Through His relationship with the disciples, Jesus was able to change their minds about a lot of things, including who He was.  He was king of the Jews, even though He wore no crown, had no castle, and had no horse to ride upon.  But, He developed such a relationship with the disciples that they would have followed Him anywhere, and they would have died for Him.  Many did die for Him, after they realized who He was and that He first died for their sins.  It really was quite profound.

Is relational leadership something you employ?  Think about ways you can motivate those you serve by being more focused on building relationship.

Don't Grow Cold!

"Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved." -Matthew 24:12&13

My husband has been gone a lot at work preparing for a big yearly deadline.  I enjoyed the time off finding other things to do, but I missed him too.  

When life got back to normal, we went on a couple dates to readjust.  “I’m just getting used to you again,” I said.  It was so interesting to me how easy it was to 'grow cold' toward him during our time apart!  We share a common love language - quality time.  It was because we had not nurtured this love language that we felt far away from one another.  I thought about how this relates to our relationship with our Heavenly Father.    

When life gets busy, it’s so easy to begin feeling far away from God.  It’s easy to neglect or forget to put fuel into our heart’s “boiler” so that we remain on fire for Him.  Sometimes offense or hurts get in the way.  But, we need to be mindful of the dangers of being lukewarm or cold:  “...because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”  (Rev 3:16) We definitely don’t want to be found lukewarm, or with our lamps out of oil (Matthew 25:1-13).  

In marriage, it’s not an option to be “kind of” in love with someone, although we may not feel ridiculously in love all the time.  It’s not an option to set yourself up to be looking for someone else while you’re married!  Likewise, as Christians, it’s not good for us to set ourselves up for a passionless relationship with God. We need to make sure we are hot, on fire with the love of Jesus!

Can you say that you are on fire with the love of Jesus?  If you can’t say that you are, switch things up to kindle that fire again. Worshipping to your favorite worship music, praying until you feel God near, or hanging out with people who love God too can help.  Some people re-connect best with God through experiencing His creation, in nature.  God loves us so much, He wants us to be in His presence, on fire for Him, all the time. 

Are you impassioned with the love of Christ today?