Grab a towel Blog
This book is a life-giving corrective to all this, painting a picture of servant leadership that’s both honest about the difficulties, pain and challenges – but also emotionally truthful about the ups and downs and how we might deal healthily with the suffering that is likely to come our way.
In this season, many leaders are having to find ways of leading while navigating their own sense of loss and pain. In this post I share about Pastor Vuyo Nyabaza who has continued to serve his community while having to navigate his own pain and grief.
I sit in fear, dread and expectation waiting for President Ramaphosa’s face to appear on my laptop screen, whilst I stream the address alongside hundreds of thousands of other South Africans. It’s a strange reality considering I have never, in my lifetime, sat anticipating the words of a South African president.
The unusual and unexpected emotions I’ve been experiencing during the Covid-19 pandemic have been pointed out quite unexpectedly to me as grief.
David Tucker has written this reflection on being in lockdown during the Covid-19 crisis in the light of reading Facing the Future We Didn’t Choose…
More than a book review, David encourages us to engage with the themes that Tim has shared in his book.
Guest post from Pete Portal:
I think I know what people are alluding to when they say that because we live in Manenberg, we are ‘ministering on the front line’. I think I know what they mean. We have had two bullets fly through our office windows during gang fights, dear friends and family have been killed, our houses have been broken into by those we have been trying to serve, we’ve seen miraculous financial provision come in as we’ve prayed for salaries or emergency rehab funds, we’ve watched friends come painlessly off drugs through the power of the Holy Spirit, and felt the hope drain out of us as others crash and burn for the umpteenth time, and we’re all committed to living among the poor and marginalised.
But here’s my issue with the F word – isn’t this just the normal Christian life?
In Acts 6:1-7, we read of the disciples multiplying and new leaders being appointed. Multiplication is the end result of a disciple-making process. This process can be seen in the life of an individual disciple or a ministry leader, or even the church! The end result of this process is mature disciples reproducing themselves into other disciples.
When I look at Christian leadership today, I see a situation akin to that of a dog chasing after a car. When the dog catches up with its target, it does not know what to do with the car because its purpose for chasing was not clearly defined. The absurdity of this situation is best explained by a quote from the late Dr Myles Munroe, who said, “when a purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable.”
We live in the age of personal branding and self-promotion… where people are serious about making a name for themselves. How, as Christian leaders, do we avoid the temptation of pride and selfish ambition that can so easily ensnare us?
The following extract is from the book ‘Being the Message’ where Andy Hawthorne (International CEO of The Message Trust) advocates that, in order to avoid the danger of being a people-pleaser, we need to take serving seriously and focus on following the example of Christ…
In my experience, the best books about grief are short. When it feels like the sky is falling, you don’t need or want lots of words. You rather need to know you’re alone and that you’re not completely losing the plot because of what you’re going through.