CTK is an inherently leader-dependent proposition. Yet, our mission statement says nothing about leaders...or does it? Our mission is: "To create an authentic Christian community that effectively reaches out to unchurched people with love, acceptance and forgiveness, so that they may experience the joy of salvation and a purposeful life of discipleship." While leadership is not a stated activity, it is an implied one, and right off the bat. The statement begins "To create..."
We don't get two words into the statement without someone incurring responsibility to create. And the responsibility is human, not just divine. Obviously, we could have written this statement in a more spiritual-sounding way (not more spiritual, mind you, just more spiritual sounding), and said, "To watch God create." And truly, unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain. But we do labor with Him (not in vain). We are co-laborers with Christ. We are engaged in a great co-mission. He has given us direct orders to go and make disciples. It is by His authority that we are indeed sent.
So someone is going to have to take responsibility to create an authentic Christian community, and that someone is what I would call a leader. And the reason I know for sure that it's a leader who will fulfill this "creating" is because of what is being created: an authentic Christian community. As Erwin McManus opines in Defining Leadership: "After three decades of stumbling through this leadership journey there is one theme that prevails: leaders create human communities." I agree. This is what they do. Leaders create communities. They always do. What makes leadership in the CTK story different is just in the type of community that is being created. We are challenged to create an authentic, Christian one.
So what makes you an ideal candidate to lead the CTK story?
• You resonate with the call to create community. You want to see a community created that is authentically Christian, and that reaches out.
We don't get two words into the statement without someone incurring responsibility to create. And the responsibility is human, not just divine. Obviously, we could have written this statement in a more spiritual-sounding way (not more spiritual, mind you, just more spiritual sounding), and said, "To watch God create." And truly, unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain. But we do labor with Him (not in vain). We are co-laborers with Christ. We are engaged in a great co-mission. He has given us direct orders to go and make disciples. It is by His authority that we are indeed sent.
So someone is going to have to take responsibility to create an authentic Christian community, and that someone is what I would call a leader. And the reason I know for sure that it's a leader who will fulfill this "creating" is because of what is being created: an authentic Christian community. As Erwin McManus opines in Defining Leadership: "After three decades of stumbling through this leadership journey there is one theme that prevails: leaders create human communities." I agree. This is what they do. Leaders create communities. They always do. What makes leadership in the CTK story different is just in the type of community that is being created. We are challenged to create an authentic, Christian one.
So what makes you an ideal candidate to lead the CTK story?
• You resonate with the call to create community. You want to see a community created that is authentically Christian, and that reaches out.
• You have the tools to create community. There are various tools that one can use to create community (communication skills, relational skills, administrative skills, etc.) and there are tools available to you to get the job done.
• You are willing to make creating community your life's work. There may be other ways that you pay the bills, but there is nothing more important than the work you are doing to create an authentic Christian community that effectively reaches out to unchurched people with love, acceptance and forgiveness, so that they may experience the joy of salvation and a purposeful life of discipleship.
