Newsong Church recently had the privilege of hosting the Global Leadership Summit. Their motto: Everyone has influence.
They believe the church gets better when YOU get better as a leader. Although there are different ways to become more influential, let’s focus on one in particular.
In I Corinthians 12, Paul writes that each person has a specific gift to share with the church. The encouragement here is to understand that you do have a gift to offer those around you. But, before you can offer that gift, you must understand that you are a VITAL part of the body/team. For our purposes, think of the body of Christ as the team. Paul also makes it clear that one part of the team cannot disregard or discourage another part. Each member is needed. Each member is to be valued.
There are two types of people presented in this passage. The first: a member of the team that has undervalued another member with the negative things they’ve said or done. The other type: a member of the team that feels undervalued or not confident in their value. Which category do you fall under? Undervaluing or undervalued?
When we feel and know our value, we can operate at a higher level of influence and leadership. If you are the person that undervalues, please elevate those around you. When we undervalue, we limit the effectiveness of the whole. As the one who undervalues, we may operate individually at a high level, but if the team suffers, who wins? Is an individual win worth the loss for the team? On the flip side, if you are the undervalued and yet still operate as an undervalued person, who wins? Nobody. The team suffers and those who you could influence suffer as well. The point is not to influence to gain followers or praise, but it is to showcase the Lord’s greatness.
Let’s think practically. Imagine a basketball team…
A team has players that fill specific positions and play specific roles. Without each player fulfilling their role, the game would be lost. Whether a player fills his/her role on the team can influence the outcome. Are there star players on a team that may carry more of the load? Sure. But do all the players have a role? Yes. Do they all have value? Absolutely. The star player cannot do everything on their own. It takes the whole team to play their role in order for the team to have success. Likewise, if you are a star player and you try to do everything on your own, the outcome tends to be the same: loss. We must ask ourselves: What is our role? Do we know our value to the team? Do we need to take more ownership of our role? Do we need to encourage and build our teammates up so that they know they’re needed? Yes. Know that the gift you have to offer in your role is a vital part to the team’s success.
You’re either influencing in a positive or negative way. My prayer is that you will be an empowering influence. For those that feel undervalued, I pray that our value would be found in the Lord and that we would discover and recover our value to the team. For those that are undervaluing, I hope that we hear the gentle nudging of the Lord to begin to value those around us as the Lord does. I pray that we would be people that would elevate one another in humility and for the benefit of the team.
Joe Choi is Newsong’s Spiritual Development Coordinator. If you want to take a next step in your spiritual development, check out newsong.net/live
