Core Message Highlight: Transformational Leadership

Core Message Highlight: Transformational Leadership

A transformational leader is someone who has been and continues to be personally transformed into Christ-likeness and, in turn, stimulates transformation in their families and communities. The world would say that change happens from the top-down and outside-in. We believe change best begins with the individual and flows from the inside-out. As we are transformed on a personal level, it creates a ripple effect that extends into the other jurisdictions.

Through the transformative journey, our motives become more pure, and our desire to obey God becomes our priority. Through obedience, we can learn to master the disciplines of character and cultivate a genuine love for others. This is the process that qualifies us for leadership of God’s affairs.

Moving toward Transformation Is Moving toward God 

We must move away from the narrow definition of a leader as someone who holds a certain title or place of influence and embrace the reality that the most effective leaders are individuals who have themselves gone through personal transformation and desire to see those changes take effect in those they lead. We all are leaders, most basically of ourselves through self-government, but also of others if we bear the role of a parent, business manager, church elder, band leader, etc.

Genuine transformation is holistic, people-driven, and leads others toward God. Most human-oriented change is motivated by the desire to be more “fulfilled” in some area of our lives: more “freedom,” more resources, more power, more recognition, more of what makes me feel better about myself. In contrast, biblical transformation is motivated by the desire to obey God and please Him. God and His purposes and pleasures are the engine driving our desire for change rather than mere self-fulfillment. God’s scorecard is not focused on “How much?” (money, fame, power), but rather, “Why?” and “For whom?”

To Lead Others into Transformation, You Must Be in Transformation Yourself

God, the ultimate leader, builds relationally and works through people. If Christians are to influence the culture, we must be people of substance with the capacity for personal change by virtue of dependence on the transformational power of Christ. Truly being salt and light means pursuing godly transformation in every season and circumstance!

For further teaching on the topic of leadership, we recommend the following 6-part MP3 series: