Letters To A Young Leader:
He is God, and you aren't.
18/10/11 10:00 View entire series at:
Letters To A Young Leader
Letters to a young leader is a series of leadership mentoring advice. It is written by Vic Francis who is the Chairman of the VCANZ board. Vic and his wife, Fran, pastor Shore Vineyards in Auckland and have four children.
Some things you need to know about God: God will not fit in your box
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“But it would not be good if our will were always done because we would then become too sure of ourselves.
It is enough for us that we have a gracious God.
Why he permits this or that evil to befall us should not trouble us at all.”
Martin Luther
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I have a file on my computer littered with three, four and five-year plans. You know how they go – if we do “a” and “b” we’ll inevitably get to “c”. These days, though, most of my precious plans are locked away out of the public eye, and I’m not sure whether any of them has really eventuated the way I anticipated.
But, and this is important, our churches have grown, people’s lives have been changed and the kingdom has been and is being extended. God has moved in and through and sometimes despite me and the people of the Shore Vineyard Churches.
I’m not against three, four and five-year plans. Just a few Sundays ago I spoke to our churches about the next decade and what I see God doing in and through us.
But I have also learned that while planning is everything, the plan is nothing; that God’s plan dwarfs our plan; and that what he wants must trump what we want.
The first commandment remains the first commandment. You shall have no other gods before him.
When we travel in India, those “other gods” can be pretty obvious – Kali, Krishna, Shiva et al. But in the West our other gods are perhaps less obvious – try materialism, independence or cynicism for starters. Or even your call, your agenda or your five-year plan.
It doesn’t take long for leaders to realise that God is outworking his plan with and despite us, rather than the other way around. Let’s spell it out. It is God’s church, not ours. They are God’s people, not ours. It is God’s plan, not ours. It is God’s glory, not ours. It is God’s responsibility, not ours.
This is surprisingly hard to accept sometimes when we burn so brightly with the plans and dreams and callings that we are so sure God put on our heart in the first place. But hold them a little lightly, realising with Martin Luther that just being loved by and knowing him is “enough”. Anything else is pure icing on the cake.
Next entry: He’s constantly wooing you
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Tags: Vic Francis, Mentoring, Leadership
