Courageous LeadersSample

ROLE OF A LEADER

What was Moses understanding of his roles as leader? 

1. Receiving the Vision

He received a vision from God, for himself, his people, and the nation of Israel. He, through listening to God came to know that God was calling him to take the people of Israel from Egypt to Canaan. He was unwilling and felt incompetent but was willing to take the step of faith of moving in this direction. In the midst of situations which could have taken him away from the vision, he kept going back to God and recapturing the vision time and time again.  

What do we learn from this – As leaders, we need to have a vision for our own lives – what is it that God is calling us for. We also need to have a vision for those whom God has kept with us, the people whom we work with, our colleagues and friends. 

2. Representing the People

The second role which Moses understood was - “Representing the people” before Pharaoh and God.  Persistently, based on the vision God gave him for his own life and his people, he kept going back to Pharaoh and pleading for his people till Pharaoh released them. 

Once released and after they started on their journey,  the same people for whom Moses had toiled, started rebelling, back-biting, maligning his character, and tried to stone him. And in the midst of all this, he did one thing....fell face down before God.Even when God decided to destroy the people, he would go back to God and ask him to spare them.He was constantly representing his people to God.  

As leaders our role is to represent those who are with us, to God and to others, even if they are against us.Leaders are called to be representatives of people to God.

3. Reproducing Leaders

The third role which Moses understood was that he was to “reproduce more leaders”. In the initial years of his life he did not see the importance of this. He did all the work himself. A visit from his father- in- law, was the start of a change in his leadership style. He moved into a people- developing role, through three clear steps.

a) He role - modeled through life – he showed them how to live through his life of dependence on God, integrity and humility.

b) He taught and trained selected people how to take care of the people and the problems they faced.

c) He identified capable men and delegated many of his roles and continued to support them to move to the next level of responsibility.

Our mandate as leaders is to live lives of integrity and dependence on God, and through this life role model for others a path to follow. We also are expected to identify people whom we can tech, train, delegate and support to move ahead into the level of responsibility and maturity.