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What does it look like to lead a team from a solid foundation of personal peace in the Lord?
The Judeo-Christian notion of peace or “shalom” speaks of wholeness, completeness, and fullness. I like theologian Cornelius Plantinga’s following description of it in his book Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin:
The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom. We call it peace but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a cease-fire between enemies. In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness and delight—a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.
Peaceful leadership is to lead others to a holistic health of body and mind, delighting in being at peace with God, self, and others, and longing to share this peace through organisational goals. In our case, it is the restorative justice that mediates from our ministry to make broken people whole through the redemptive work of Christ our Lord.
How do we cultivate a personal foundation of peace in the Lord?
There is no shortcut to developing personal godliness with contentment, which according to Paul is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6). I suggest that peace is the “great gain.” Godliness is to be wholly devoted to God—to love Him with all our heart, mind, and strength, and have Him in the very centre of our lives.
Contentment comes from experiencing the complete sense of fulfilment in being in God’s presence and needing nothing more. Cultivating God’s presence, like Enoch in the Old Testament (Genesis 5:21–24; Hebrews 11:5), is to walk faithfully with Him and seek only to please Him. It is a daily contemplation of stillness to know He is God (Psalm 46:10).
The elements of godliness include the fear of God and the longing for God. Fear encompasses both an anxious dread of punishment, and a sense of veneration, reverence, and awe for Him. In Christ, we no longer dread His wrath for we are forgiven (Romans 5:9). But we should still dread His discipline (Hebrews 12: 5–11). Following Isaiah 6:1–8, the sense of reverential awe of God should lead us to a deep sense of the power and presence of sin, so as to live a truly repentant life. Fear as veneration, reverence, and awe leads to unconditional obedience.
If all our needs and desires are centred on God, nothing should shake us in this world. We will experience the peace Jesus promised us in John 14:27, namely, the peace of salvation—the peace of forgiveness and the peace of His presence.
What does the result of peaceful leadership look like?
It should look like a New Testament community as seen in Acts 2:42–47; 4:32–35. In today’s terms, the result of peaceful leadership should inspire synergy, kinship, and positive mindset. There will be collaboration and not competition. There will be celebration of all good and positive things, and no envy and jealousy. Each will care for, and share with, the other. And all will look forward to work because everyone feels akin to the other. And there will be trust in the leadership because it is transparent, authentic, and caring.
What gets in the way of leading a team with peace?
Unrepentant attitudes and unconfessed sins; selfish ambition due to incomplete surrender to God; lack of prayerfulness and trust; depending more on our own wisdom than God’s; and a lack of godliness allowing the Evil One to have an influence on our hearts and minds.
In closing…
The person who influences me most is not the one who does great deeds, but the one who inspires me to feel I can do great deeds. One of my professors, Klaus Bockmuehl, said, “My job is to be the mule upon which you can scale the wall.” That is the role of the teacher-leader.
Leadership is a function of influence. The power of leadership is the power of stimulation and synergy. The leader stimulates what is best in us and synergises our talents—driving us forward to achieve the goal of the organisation by the optimisation of our personal and corporate resources.
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” (Colossians 3:15–16).
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