Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church

by Paul David Tripp

the means by which you understand and make sense of life.

I love that this book seems to be starting with making much of the Gospel. Creation fall redemption restoration. that is the full picture and it is everything.

Could it be that the way we have structured local church leadership, the way leaders relate to one another, the way we form a leader’s job description, and the everyday lifestyle of the leadership community may be contributing factors to pastoral failure? Could it be that as we leaders are disciplining the pastor, dealing with the hurt he has left behind and working toward restoration, we need to look inward and examine what his fall tells us about ourselves? Could it be that we are looking to the wrong models to understand how to lead? Could it be that as we have become enamored with corporate models of leadership, we have lost sight of deeper gospel insights and values? Could it be that we have forgotten that the call to lead Christ’s church is not summarized by organizing, running, and funding a weekly catalog of religious gatherings and events? Could it be that many of our leadership communities don’t actually function like communities? And could it be that many of our leaders don’t really want to be led, and many in our leadership community don’t value true biblical community?

So i’m reading this the moringin after i just had a long conversation with Andrew Beccue about Davis. While it is easy for me to look back at his faults, i pray that i never fall into the same traps as he did and that i keep my allways focus on Christ and his good news.

To add to their out-of-control feeling, this crisis had shattered their unity. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that the crisis had exposed how thin and easily shatterable their unity was.

May i seek to keep a uinty of Leaders around me and build that ad a culture in my ministry.

The foundation of everything proposed in this book about the shape, character, and function of the leadership community of the church of Jesus Christ is this: the model for the community that is the church, and most importantly its leadership, is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

once again it all comes back to the gospel. That good news of Jesus absolutely must be the core foundation.

and that if the primary driving force of leadership in local churches around the world was the gospel of Jesus Christ, many of the sad things we have seen happen in the lives of leaders and their churches would not have happened.

Can we please just understand the full picture of the gospel and by letting Creation (identity) fall (sin problem) redemption (God’s loving plan) restoration (making all things new) take true hold in our lives we truly transform the way we think, and interact

It should be noted that Paul’s first application of the truths of the gospel, which he has just expounded for the Ephesians, is to remind them that it is those very truths that are to form the way they think about themselves and their relationships to one another.

from that gospel we can now build practical tools for minstry

And let me point out that there is no exception clause for pastors, elders, and deacons or some different community model for them in this passage or in any of the similar passages. The gospel, which is our hope in life and death, also sets the agenda for how we live, relate, and lead between the “already” of our conversion and the “not yet” of our final home going.

like we see in Galations we are all equal at the foot of the cross

1. Humility Humility means that each leader’s relationship to other leaders is characterized by an acknowledgment that he deserves none of the recognition, power, or influence that his position affords him. It means knowing, as a leader, that as long as sin still lives inside you, you will need to be rescued from you.

may i seek this continualy

You will not be more concerned with defending the reputation of your leadership community than dealing with its failures.

we need to quit ignoring the sins of people and tying to cover them but acknowledge them and acknowledre that they are part of the 2nd part of the gospel story - the fall

It means inviting fellow leaders to watch for our souls.

I need community!!!

One of the most beautiful, hopeful, and encouraging gospel themes that courses its way through Scripture is the theme of fresh starts and new beginnings. Fresh starts and new beginnings are a hallmark of the rescuing, forgiving, restoring, and transforming power of God’s grace.

Part #3 Redemption

Grace means we are not held to our worst moment or cursed by our worst decision. Grace means out of the ashes of sin, leaders can rise because the Savior has resurrection power.

Part #4 restoration, we are seen as if we are Jesus b4 God. lets live like it

Do our leadership communities function with a gospel-driven, restoration mentality? I know so many fallen leaders who were cast away and are supporting their families doing telemarketing, house construction, or computer sales.

how can we help aid the reclimation project in fallen leaders lives?

but we also must not abandon our functional belief in the restorative power of God’s right-here, right-now grace.

Praise God for his ability to redeem and restore

So this book is shaped by twelve leadership-community gospel principles. These principles are deeply relational because the gospel is.

Part #1 we were created to be in realtionship with God and others

Every leader leads while being in desperate personal need of the full resources of God’s grace.

grace is the essential ingredient in the success of anyone’s ministry,

In this chapter I want to consider how the good thing—achievement—can become a bad thing for leadership because it has become a ruling thing.

The only thing that distinguished their board meetings from the corporate board down the street was a short devotional and time of prayer before each meeting.

Gospel-oriented achievement is a beautiful thing, but the desire to achieve becomes dangerous when it rises to rule the hearts of the leadership community.

But these things must not become so dominant that they begin to change us and the way that we think about ourselves and the ministry to which we have been called.

Is the gospel still thr main thing and the core?

In your ministry community, has the quest for institutional achievement become dominant? Don’t answer too quickly.

I can say honesty for me and my ministry partners, it has most certainly not

I want to hear what they think those qualities are. Should people be ceded position, authority, or leadership in a ministry or church because they have been successful in ministry, because they have the drive to get a job done, because they have handled their finances well, because they are persuasive communicators, or because they have an impressive resume?

Maybe good things but are thy exhibiting true pastoral qualities