Creation, Fall, Redemption, Leadership.
Genesis 1-3 describes the “tension of opposing consequences” that all leaders encounter:
• We have been created in God’s image
• Yet we are fallen.
Romans 7 and Galatians 5 speak of this tension from a redemptive perspective.
The Consequences of Creative Design:
Each person in our organization has the capacity to be loving, kind, and hardworking.
The Consequences of the Fall:
Each person in our organization has the capacity to rebel against God and become greedy, prideful and self-loving.
We live with the tension that both of these statements are true.
There are tremendous leadership implications when we focus on one over the other:
Leaders who Minimize the Consequences of Creative Design, will likely…
Believe others have few moral standards and little potential for growth without their strong leadership
Not trust others much, and therefore micro-manage
Control others using rewards and punishment
Emphasize truth over grace; shrewdness over innocence
Replace inner development with training of outward behavior – many rules and regulations (often unwritten)
Believe people do not know what they need to know
Enjoy quantitative measurements
Thrive on competition (although very subtle)
Have a high view of holding others accountable (not self)
Tend to lead more like a battleship captain than a cruise- ship director (not obviously, but certainly)
Assume they are less influenced by the effects of the Fall than others within their organization
Such leaders need to remember the truths of Galatians 5:22-23…
But the fruit of the Spirit is…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Leaders who Minimize the Consequences of the Fall, will likely…
Hesitate to give guidance and direction
Focus on the inherent goodness of humans
Avoid conflict
Assume goodness will express itself when given the right conditions
Trust people “too much”
Emphasize grace over truth; innocence over shrewdness
Not desire to measure very much
Limited policy formation, feedback loops, staff reviews
Have a low view of accountability
Tend to lead more like a cruise-ship director than a battleship captain
Ignore the power of sin
Such leaders need to remember the truths of Galatians 5:19-21…
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
Effective leaders live in the tension of knowing both consequences are fully true of themselves and the people they lead.
