Before we kick off let’s take ‘Bible believing’, ‘gospel loving’ and ‘evangelical’ as axioms 🙂 If we are to make any progress in housing schemes then we must be encouraging and growing the following types of leaders:
1. They must be able to see what other people cannot see. Where normal people see a problem, a visionary leader will see an opportunity.
2. They must be risk takers. This is not the same as being foolish or unwise but it is a fearlessness that trusts in God however it may look to more cautious outsiders. A risk taker’s first thought is not, ‘I must take this back to the committee’.
3. They must be able to communicate the vision to other people in a way that is winsome, inspiring and believable. They need to inspire followers, envision fellow leaders and recruit potential candidates. If we can’t communicate it people won’t get it.
4. They must have a workable plan and strategy to achieve what they want to do. How will we get from where we are now to where we want to be?
5. They must have a real spirit of perseverance for when the going gets tough, flexibility for when plans change at the last-minute, and spontaneity for when opportunities arise at the last second.
6. Related to the above, can they adapt their plans to changing circumstances and failed outcomes?
7. Are they able to train future leaders to carry the baton on into the future?
8. Can they lead, carry, encourage, motivate, equip, discipline and empower a team in order to get the job done and release people into their right spheres of ministry?
9. Can they take the tough decisions when people cannot find complete agreement and own them when they call it wrong and be humble when they call it right (although a little crowing is healthy for the banter :))
Our schemes need entrepreneurial, inventive, evangelistic, Godly, faithful, biblical ‘go getters’ if we are to reclaim some of the ground we have lost over the last 25 years. That over excited, fringe man or woman who feel frustrated by a lack of opportunity might actually be suited to an environment where they are given free rein over their creative and evangelistic desires. They might also be a nightmare. That’s the risk. Maybe its the people we think of least that might have the most to offer in an inner city housing scheme.
Pray for the Lord to send out workers for fields like ours that are more than ripe for harvest.
Thanks again for the notes adapted from a lecture given by Terry Gyger (a true church planting hero) at Redeemer Presbyterian, NY.