Serving Bread

One of the women in my community has a lot of ideas on what we can do as group. She has plans on doing a car-wash fundraiser, raise money door to door, and at one point thought it would be fun for our group to  attend Shipwreck – The Queen Mary’s Terror Fest (and somewhat of an inappropriate party for a Christian fellowship).

This woman has been our strongest evangelist, having no fear inviting her friends and acquaintances to our various functions. I have been wondering why does she invite and why do her friends come? I think it is because whatever we seem to be doing as a community reaches deep into her passions.

It’s not just that she is paying particular attention to her life of faith, but she is learning to tap into her passions and gifts. She is an evangelist (whether she knows it or not) and she has found a place that frees her to be the person she wants to be.

I like how the Apostle Paul affirms our gifts and passions in his letters. One of the ways I read his theology on these gifts is that they are to be affirmed within the body of Christ. Paul may have seen some ways that people are not affirming the gifts within individuals, which doesn’t just hurt the individual but the entire body.

And leaders may have the unique role to affirm and highlight people’s gifts. As a leader, when we affirm someone’s passion through our words and the structures we build, we will inevitably seem them grow and influence others. This woman in our community has become somewhat of a litmus test for me. As long as she feels comfortable inviting her friends and challenging them to follow Jesus, I imagine we are doing some things right. But if I see her shrinking from her potential and feeling like our functions are not blessing her leadership and friendships, I will be wanting to re-examine the things we are doing.

When we tap into people’s passions, they will feel free to invest in building the community and influencing others. When we don’t affirm those passions, we are doing a disservice to the individuals and the group.

• We can affirm people through our words, as described by Bobby Clinton who has reflected on affirmations recently. How we use our words are important, especially for leaders. But affirmation is not simply telling someone that they are great, but being specific in how we have been blessed by their gifts.
• We can affirm people through our structures. Our structures will reflect our values. During my student years, my Christian community had a strong emphasis on prayer. Many of my friends were shaped by the values on prayer and they found a home within a community that emphasized prayer. Other groups were probably not as appealing to them because the value on prayer may not have been as emphasized. How we build and lead in our structures can serve to affirm people’s passions.
• We can affirm people by letting them try. There are some student ideas that I don’t think will work that well. But it’s the students’ idea and as long as I can make sure it doesn’t negatively impact the community, it can be great for them to try and learn from their ideas.
• We can affirm people through our mentoring. Bobby Clinton mentions that gifts need to be developed. In other words, our passions and gifts are not simply innate, but they need to be nurtured and developed. In our mentoring relationships, we can pay attention to the things that God is doing in them and help them nurture those gifts.

In my leadership, I want people to rise up to their potential. I want to lead in such a way that they are excited for the things that God is doing in them and that they would see their gifts and passions necessary for the building of our community.