God has blessed me with a good friendship with Justin Land, Assistant Worship Director at NewSpring Church. He came in to help with our first band audtions and I was able to connect with him for breakfast last week while in town for the Unleash Conference. He’s a great leader who never hesitates to challenge and encourage me.
This statement he made really made an impact with me:
Rules are rarely needed when responsibilities are clearly stated.
That was huge to me! I’ve never wanted to dictate to those following, but I knew there had to be clear expectations laid out but I’ve been trying to figure out how those ideas work together. And as Justin unpacked the statement and how it applies to NewSpring, it became much clearer to me.
People want to know what’s expected of them. If those few expectations are clearly presented, the “what”…and if the vision is always clearly stated, the “why”…then the “how” and “when” is more up to the person. Leaders are called to empower others to do ministry…not create clones of themselves. An organization or church will never grow that way.
This morning while thinking on this statement it came to me where this idea originates from: the greatest leader of all time…Jesus (surprise, surprise, right?) All good things come from Him. But when Jesus was doing ministry, an expert at the law asked Jesus which is the greatest commandment in the law. Now obviously they were trying to trip him up because they took all 613 serious. Notice Jesus’ answer:
” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40 NIV
Jesus summed up 613 rules into 2 clear expectations. Love God and love others. Simple. That’s what is expected of Christ followers, all the other stuff really doesn’t matter if we miss those two things.