The Role of Faith in Leadership

We live in a time period that is crying out for leadership. Oftentimes the gift or position of leadership is viewed as having charismatic personality or the ability to speak well. Sometimes leadership is equated with a take-charge attitude or even having the loudest vocal cords!

But to be a true leader in God's eyes, to exercise true leadership, you must be a person of faith. From a Christian standpoint, it is faith (trust and reliance upon God) that opens the door to character, for faith brings the individual into relationship with the God of life.  Through faith, God's righteous life becomes lived out in the believer. 

 Biblical faith has two primary aspects to it, and both of them lead to authority and leadership. 

First of all, a man or woman of faith is a person with ”vision." Having vision --the ability of spiritual foresight-- is basic to the gift of leading.  By definition, a leader is "one who goes before."  This means that he "sees" further than anyone else, and thus leads the way in accomplishing the goal.  A true leader is one who "sees."  This comes by being a person of faith.

I'll never forget hearing Loren Cunningham speak for the first time in Auckland, New Zealand in the fall of 1972. I was an impressionable nineteen year old who was fascinated by his stories of Christian outreach at the Munich Olympic Games and how God was using young people around the world to advance his Kingdom.

But the greatest thing I remember about Loren that attracted me to him and Youth With A Mission was how big his vision was--how far, spiritually he was able to see. It was as if he was peering into the invisible realm, able to "see" the nations and continents of the world and what God's plans were for reaching them with the Good News about Jesus Christ. When he gave the missions altar call at the end of his message, I was one of the first young people to go up from. It wasn't his voice, or personality, or even words that attracted me. It was his vision. I wanted to be able to "see" as Loren saw.

How did Loren come to have this type of vision?  He spent time listening and talking to God who is the only One who sees it all in total perspective and has infinite, exhilarating faith. If we can say that God is hope and God is love, it is certainly true that God is FAITH. Those who walk with him will learn to share his incredible vision.

Secondly, to have faith is to ”persevere to the goal."  A man or woman of faith not only has vision, but harnesses all the attributes of character to endure to the end.  The writer to the Hebrews described this type of faith when he said,

"For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.  For yet in a little while, He who is coming will come and not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith;  and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.  But we are not those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul (Hebrews 10:36-39)."

True faith always involves the element of perseverance.  In fact, it is through chastening and endurance that faith is built and is strengthened.  Those who have done great things in history are those who have persevered to achieve their goals.  They saw a vision, and they set their course to see it fulfilled.  Nothing deterred them.  They came.  They saw.  They conquered by ”faith"--and this faith was full of confidence, and produced the fruit of courage.

Even among non-Christians, the attribute of faith is known to produce leadership.  People in the world are encouraged to believe in themselves, to be positive thinkers, to be visionary entrepreneurs who set goals for their lives and persevere to achieve them.  Those who have faith will always take leadership over those who have no vision or the quality of endurance.  For the Christian, faith is not only powerful-- it is focused on the One Who has all power, and thus even greater fruitfulness and success can be achieved.

In the 1950s a young pastor in Korea set out to establish a church in Seoul.  He lived in poverty and appeared to have little hope.  Then God began to speak to him about setting goals for his church in faith.  First he had faith for 100 people to attend.  Then he believed God for 500, and then one thousand. As he learned more about God, and developed increasing faith, his goals got larger and larger.

Today, Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho pastors the largest church in the world with over 800,000 members and has helped plant hundreds of churches in many different nations.  And all over the world he is recognized as a leader in evangelism, church growth, and missions.  

Dr. Cho "saw" what God wanted to do in Korea and worked hard--persevered--to see it come true.

Faith in God will bring those kinds of results. Faith produces both character and lasting success. The attitude of faith brings leadership and authority to full maturity.