The life of the leader is that of a learner – you don’t know everything and never will. One of the important aspects of leading well is to always have a teachable spirit. Once you think that you are fully competent, you are heading down a slippery slope. Yes, you are helping someone else become a disciple of Jesus and you will have more insight than those you are leading in many areas pertaining to discipleship, this is given. Yet you can never become complacent in what you know and stop stretching to know more, to gain wisdom.

“Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God.”Proverbs 2:2-5 (NLT) You can’t beat Proverbs for talking straight!

I personally have worked through the same curriculum with different guys I have been journeying with about 8 times in the past 8 years. I have reviewed the same lessons, talked about the same scripture memory verses, read the same articles. And yet each week before I bring the guys together, I need to sit down, reflect on the material again, and ask God to reveal to me more, to determine what I still do not know and how this material relates to these guys specifically. I must ensure that I bring a posture of teachability. However, beyond this, I can’t simply rely on this material, I need to go beyond, and model what it means to be a lifelong learner. I need to be memorizing new scriptures, reflecting on new passages, reading new books – it can never end.

Now I fully recognize that we each learn in different ways. And you need to find the way that you learn best and keep it up, but never stop. One phrase I often use with the guys I’m working with is, “You can’t live on Sunday School information forever, there is more to know.”

I have personally enjoyed formal education as a way that I learn well. In this light, I recently completed a Doctor of Ministry degree from Tyndale Seminary in Toronto. “Transformative Journeys: An 8-Month Engagement of Integrated Discipleship Through Service Learning” was the thesis title. Yeah, not too exciting, and it won’t be on the best-sellers list. However there were 7 conclusions that I drew from this research that are very applicable to our desire to see others become disciples of Jesus.

Over the next months, I will share them with you. I trust that they will add to your knowledge base.

One of the reasons I started this BLOG last fall was not so much to provide insight to others but to help me on my learning journey. For me, there is something about having to articulate my thoughts that make them stick. So as I let you into the heart of my thesis, it is my prayer that you will grow, but know that I am learning right alongside you.

For the Kingdom . . . Matthew

One of the key changes that must take place as you begin to lead others on the journey of discipleship is the recognition of the importance of rhythms. When you are being led on this journey, your leader/guide will hold you accountable for your rhythms, asking about your prayers, scriptural input, and other disciplines. However, as you begin to lead, you won’t always have someone asking you these questions, these you must simply know you need to maintain.

One of my rhythms has been reading through the bible each year. I have done this for close to a decade now and have appreciated the insight that I have gained in looking at the entire story of scripture every year. I don’t necessarily get caught in the minute details during these readings but simply take a bird’s eye view. I don’t always feel like doing my daily reading, I often don’t think I’m getting anything out of it, especially when I am “plowing through” some of the OT books, and yet I have learned to not allow myself to make an excuses but to simply do what I know is beneficial for the long  term.

As a leader, I don’t have someone asking me if I’ve read the current day’s portion, I don’t have someone carving out the time I need to make it happen, I’ve simply had to make it a reality that I will not deviate from. This is what leaders do, they first and foremost lead themselves.

As I recently read in my daily reading, even before the Israelites were led out of Egypt, God was giving them rhythms to live by. The Passover meal was established. “You must remember this day forever. Each year you will celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord.” Exodus 12:14 This was only the first of many such daily, weekly, monthly and annual rhythms that God was helping them establish. And why? “Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Deuteronomy 8:12-14

I have watched far too many people become “successful” and forget God, and then when life goes off-track, they all of a sudden discover how important these rhythms are. And yet, once life gets back on track, the rhythms also disappear. A leader of others must not succumb to this.

As you lead others, they are looking to you to demonstrate how a disciple of Jesus stays the course. Find your rhythms, stick with them, and establish a life that will not be shaken.