Tim King Leadership

Over the last few months my mind has not been on leadership it has been on writing a History of a small Pentecostal movement in Africa. I was thinking about the different leaders in this church their styles and personalities and how these men grew churches. So this got me thinking about the different types of leaders you get today in our churches. Here is a short biblical homily on my thoughts on the subject: 1 Corinthians 3: 5-7 What after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants through whom you came to believe- as the Lord as assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters it is anything but only God who makes it grow. For many years I ran a construction projects management business, I dealt with architects who envisioned and designed the buildings I built. I dealt with engineers who saw that the structure was sound and the foundations and fr...

Manifesto: We Promise to do the following- with intent, when in Christian leadership: 1) People Matter. People are our purpose. People are not a means by which we can create our own ends. When we reach out to people they are our objective. 2) We will help people think. If people are our objective we will not get bogged down in the process. We will help people to think through our process in order to recognise our objective rather than just getting them to do and blindly follow. 3) Create great environments. We need to help people become great, not just fix their problems. We do this by creating great environments by which they can grow and build their relationship with God. 4) Create opportunities for initiative. People need to see and experience a spirit of excellence. They need to see opportunities where they can succeed rather than just avoid errors. 5) Be curious. As a leader you don't need to know everything even though a little knowled...

The opening lines of me new book: Pastoral Intentionality. A Manifesto for Christian Leadership. Study is rarely a substitute for life experience. I don't know about you but my Bible College never prepared me for pastoral ministry. They instilled in me doctrine and theology gave me a summary of church history. Taught me how to read and interpret the Bible and communicate it better, they gave me a run down on governance and practice, but they never once said to me this is what you are going to experience in your church. Nor did they say these are the types of problems and people you will come across and this is how you can handle the problems. Nor did they tell me how I could grow a successful church and develop great leadership teams. If you want to read more over the next few months watch out for my blog posts.

Parasites verses Symbiosis. For those of us brought up in Africa we know what tick bite fever is, I think they call it Lime's disease in the USA. It is a nasty little parasite that sucks the blood and leaves behind a nasty bite and a little later a fever and sickness that will leave you feeling really unwell. Whenever I think about the word parasite I always see it in a negative sense and think about that little tick that inhabits the African bush. "So why the sudden interest in ticks you may ask?" As Church leaders there is a great need for us to choose our words and the way we phrase what we say very carefully. This is one such occasion when a church leader used, I believe, the wrong words to put across a good idea.  The other day I was having lunch with a young leader who in all sincerity said to me that in church he felt there were two types of people, those who were parasitic in their relationship or those who had a symbiotic relationship with...

Been thinking about what Intentional Christian Leaders do, how they act and what they say. If anything I have learned that leadership is a cultural thing that differs from place to place and church to church. I think there are some things that are common to all cultures. Below are just two of the things that I have noticed about Intentional Christian Leaders.  Intentional Christian Leaders step forward and challenge the status quo they question things both inside and outside the church. Inside the church because they are always looking for a way to do things better. They question both other leaders and themselves. If they question others but not themselves they could lose- in the fog of information- that vital piece of information that could usher in that next great move of God for their churches. If they question just themselves they gain nothing, but doubts. Outside the church, they look to question those in authority in their communities and hold them to the standards ...

I hate golf and retirement. Jesus said take up your cross and follow me until you are 65 then you will need to retire and take up fishing. Fortunately for me Jesus never said this. The reason for my musings and my present ramblings was a visit to my doctor, a lovely Christian woman, who made a wrong assumption. The other day I had to go to the doctor's for a check up and she referred to me as being retired and asked if I played golf. I objected and told her I was nowhere near retirement. Just because I was not active in a role within my local church she thought that I must be retired. I quickly remedied the situation by explaining that there were many opportunities to teach and preach outside of the local church. I also told her that I hated golf and was the sort of game that spoiled a good walk. In the minds of many of those in youth focused churches there is a perception that older people and their ministries are no-longer relevant. I would agree that there is a nee...

Getting a glimpse of God. It is that time of year again where I think about the last twelve months and then look ahead to the next twelve months. I ask questions like: how did I do this year? What have I accomplished? Did the goals I set out to achieve work out? I know for many Christian leaders their focus at the moment is on the programmes and events that are going on in their churches. The process of Christmas planning is full steam ahead as the countdown to the big day is just a matter of hours away. Before you know it Christmas morning will be upon you and you will be wading knee deep in used Christmas wrapping paper, dodging children or grand children festooned across your lounge floor with wife or grandma trying to get them ready for the Christmas service. Life is hectic to say the least. Let's stop for a moment and focus on that "peace on earth" stuff that we long for in our hectic lives and consider for a moment the life of the poor she...