22 Mar THE POWER OF ADVICE: A KEY TO BUILDING AN EFFECTIVE, CLOSE EVANGELIST-ELDER TEAM
No leader has a perfect perspective or unclouded vision—we all have areas of inexperience, uncertainty, and weakness. That’s where advice comes in! To be an effective individual leader, we need to invite and embrace advice from other leaders on our team. They can help us see more accurately, consider different viewpoints, and make wise decisions. Scripture speaks often about the power of advice:
Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
Proverbs 15:22
Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.
Proverbs 19:20
Make plans by seeking advice.
Proverbs 20:18
Wise leaders open up their hearts to others, sharing what they are dealing with and inviting help. After you receive advice, prayerfully seek God’s wisdom to help you decide what to do. And I encourage you to listen humbly to advice even when you haven’t specifically asked for it! You will learn vital truths and become even more effective in your leadership.
Of course, what goes around comes around. God also calls upon us to give advice:
I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.
Romans 15:14
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16
As we give counsel to our fellow leaders, let us do so with humility. This will enable our partners to more easily hear and consider what we have to say.
Sharing and receiving advice with our leadership team allows every team member to use their God-given gifts and insights to build up the body of Christ. As we work together, the entire body of Christ grows. This is what Paul had in mind when he wrote:
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13
Let us share our wisdom and build up the body of Christ—together!
*Check out our YouTube channel for a discussion on this topic: https://youtu.be/Nq2QzwQKDqA
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