This and the following lesson briefly introduce the concept of leadership.
The purpose of these two lessons is to clarify the difference between Leadership and Management.

Many churches are well managed, but not often well led! 

In these two lessons we will explain What Leadership is NOT, and then explain What Leadership IS!

WHAT LEADERSHIP IS NOT!

In this section we will stress several categories that do not come under the concept of leadership.
Notice that Leadership Is Not:

POWER:  Notice that Leadership is not Power over people (it may involve using whatever power one has for people, but it is not power over people).

CONTROL:  Leadership is not Controlling people.  controlling people is management, not Leadership.

AUTHORITY:  Although, as we will demonstrate later in the study, all leaders must have some authority to function, the question is What kind of authority does leadership have?  There is a difference between functional authority and absolute authority!  Again, we sho8uld notice that authority is not controlling authority, or authority over people, but authority to function as a leader.  Such authority is limited to the role or function provided.

MANAGEMENT: There is a distinct difference between Leadership and Management!  Management involves Control over People, Leadership involves Control for People.  By this we mean that the leader does not control the people, but does control circumstances that make it possible for leadership to take place.  These we will examine in the lesson on What Leadership Is!  We manage programs and tasks, but not people!  We lead people.

MAINTAINING THE STATUS QUO:  By this we mean that we do not want to change or do anything different from what we are doing now!  That is fine, but if you do not want to grow and change and do new and better things, then forget about leadership!  Leaders will want to take you places where you have not been before!

STABILITY:  Stability is similar to maintaining the status quo.  It simply means that stability is uppermost in your mind.  Leadership, growing, and changing will disturb stability!

ORGANIZATION OR SYSTEM FOCUS:  It is the responsibility or role of management to be concerned about organization and systems.  Leaders focus on people and leading people to new goals.  The mechanics of this may involve organization, but organizational focus is the role of management.


WHAT LEADERSHIP IS!

Now we will notice several categories that define Leadership.
Leadership Is:

FREEDOM:  Leadership is a concept that permits followers to decide whether they will follow the leader or not.  When they are forced to follow, this is a command performance or management rather than leadership.  In leadership the leader must have a vision, goal, or purpose that persuades the follower that it would be worthwhile following the leader.

INFLUENCE: The power of the leader to move people lies in his or her ability to influence the follower, rather than command the follower.

PERSUASION: As noted above, the leader uses influence and other factors to persuade the follower that the goal or purpose is worthy of following the leader.  Whenever power or force becomes the moving power, leadership has become management or command.

TRUST:  Likewise, a follower must trust the leader before on will follow.  Trust has to be earned, not commanded.  We will examine the Trust dynamic in a later lesson.

PEOPLE:  It is imperative that in church work we recognize that we are in the people business!  Church polity (governance) and church doctrine are important, but we are not in the business of doctrine and ecclesiology (church in the sense of organization).  We need to recognize that church is people, not the organization or some official body!  In leadership we lead people, we do not organize people!  We manage organizations or systems.  People do need to  be organized, but designing organizations is the business of management and organization theory.  In leadership our main focus is on people, and moving people by influence, example, and persuasion.

TRUST:  Trust is a fundamental factor in leadership.  People will not follow a leader they do not trust.  In management where control and command are fundamental factors, people have to follow whether they trust the management or not.  In leadership it is not so.  Trust is a vital ingredient of successful church leadership.  We will discuss this later in the course.

RELATIONSHIPS:  Another word for relationships is faith, or even trust!  One cannot have faith in someone whom one does not trust and with whom one does not have a good relationship.  This is a biblical concept.  We trust in God because we have developed a firm relationship with God.  We develop a firm relationship with God because we trust him!  Leaders must take the time to build relationships with their people.  Without such relationships, people will not follow a leader!

NEW HORIZONS:  Another way of describing this is that leaders provide vision for their people and use this vision to lead their people from where they are to future goals.  Leaders provide challenging new horizons for their people.

CHANGE:  New horizons and going places where one has never gone before involves change!  Change is something that conservative church people have difficulty accepting, but Christianity is all about change!  It is about becoming someone we were not in the past, it involves becoming like Jesus, it involves doing things we have not done before (maybe simply going to church).  Following a leader will involve change!  Churches that do not want to change should not explore leadership, for leadership will demand change!  Change must be well managed; there must be sound reasons for change; change should not be immediately radical, but should be incremental.