Asked to be a leader?

So you’ve been asked to become a leader in your fellowship group. You may feel honored and excited — or you may wonder, “Why me?” If you feel uncertain, you’re not alone. Leadership is a high calling, and these articles can help you decide if you’re ready to lead.

We hope you will discover that you’re called to lead, even if you know you’re not fully prepared for your role just yet. But whether you’re feeling doubtful or over-confident (which can be worse), take a look at these words of wisdom from those who’ve said yes. They might just help you decide how you’ll respond to the invitation to lead.

You’re asking me to be a leader?

As a student, Liam considered himself to be the “barely-tolerated bad boy” of his fellowship. Being asked to lead was humbling and life-changing. Once critical of the leaders of the group, he found he was now one of them. “The opportunity to join the chapter’s leadership team caused a crisis for me,” he writes. “‘Them’ would now be ‘us.’ My experiences with other members of that year’s exec soon confirmed what became a new working axiom: Christian leaders are still sinners. Even bad sinners. Not as bad as the Apostle Paul, maybe (who claimed the title ‘chief of all sinners’), but still really bad. And I was one of them.”

Should you say yes or no to leading?

Is your inner life joyful, peaceful and ordered, or do you panic and feel overwhelmed much of the time? Do others close to you feel empowered when they’re around you, or do they often feel left out or discouraged? Do you have trouble making a commitment, or do you find that you just can’t say no and end up over-busy? Alice Fryling writes, “Rather than take responsibility for these symptoms of imbalance, we often blame God for our busy lives. But I suspect that our busyness actually stems from complications we — not God — have brought into our lives.” This article can help you think about opportunities to lead in the light of your own inner health.

Me? A small-group leader?

“Unfortunately, many of those who would make great leaders pass up the opportunity to be used by God in this capacity,” writes Mark Welchel in this short article. Six bulleted points describe the qualities of the best small-group leaders he has known. “Anyone who has these qualities can probably be an effective small-group leader,” he asserts. Take a look and see how you fare.

The high cost of leadership

This article by Andy Le Peau, senior editor for InterVarsity Press, starts off with a real challenge: “Consider Jesus’ parable about a king preparing for war (Luke 14:31-32). Waging spiritual war on your campus is no party. If you don’t have the resources to win, it could be better not to go to war at all.” If that sounds a little heavy, he goes on to add, “Spiritual war on campus is risky; there will be destruction and there will be blood. ‘Sit down and consider’ before you decide to lead.” Well, after that intro, you may be wondering if this article is worth reading. It is. It gets better. All Andy is trying to do is help students see the gravity of God’s call to lead. Can you pay the physical, financial and emotional price of committed leadership? You may end up saying, “Yes!”