Q: Why is this book important for the church right now?A: We believe the global body of Christ is in desperate need of a renewed call to experience the freedom that is theirs in Jesus Christ. The theology and practice of the steward leader is uniquely biblical and profoundly effective. Our driving motivation is to equip and inspire God’s people for this journey of the faithful steward. Despite nearly 100 years of study, research, education and training in leadership, we are facing a global leadership crisis. Followers of Christ who are called into positions of leadership are struggling to provide the leadership necessary to impact the world for Christ. This is happening in the church and para-church, and every sector of society and culture where Christians serve in leadership positions. In the face of this crisis, we believe God has provided us with a renewed understanding of leadership that can change the global face of how Christians lead.
A: Steward theology is a description of a journey. It began in creation where God’s gift of relationship was given to us to steward faithfully under his guiding hand. As bearers of the image of God, we were perfectly designed to live as stewards through the four relationships that mark our core value and purpose: namely, our relationship to God, Self, Neighbor and the Creation. Christ came to free us from the bondage of sin and set us on a life-long journey to walk with Him as faithful stewards. That journey is marked by faith, trust, obedience and joy. Despite this good news and amazing invitation, we continue to choose to be owners instead of stewards, lords instead of servants. As a result, we place ourselves right back into the bondage from which Christ set us free. Given the choice for freedom we continue to choose to live as people in bondage. The journey of the faithful steward is the path of discipleship, obedience, discovery, adventure, service, and joy. It is the way of freedom and the way of the cross. It is the journey of every follower of Jesus. It is on this journey that we experience deeper levels of surrender, increased intimacy with Christ, clearer identity, more robust faith and greater passion to serve.
A: Over the past two decades we have counseled and coached hundreds of Christian leaders nationally and globally. We have heard countless stories of leadership failure, most of which do not end up in the kind of national headlines we have seen all too frequently recently, but still cause pain and spiritual damage to the body of Christ. The most common denominator, in fact the common starting point in these stories of moral and ethical compromise and failure is a loss of intimacy with Christ. The stories start something like this: My commitment to my work became my life and it overwhelmed everything else I did. As I grew more busy, my time of prayer, quiet reflection on God’s word and listening for his voice suffered. I chose to address the critical issues of running my business/ministry/church and slowly set aside the disciplines of my faith. As a result, I began relying more on my own strength, following my own ideas and using my authority to get things done. I also pulled away from accountability because I didn’t want people to know how much my internal spiritual life had suffered. Without a daily, intimate connection to Christ, when temptations came I was able to justify small transgressions, which ultimately became big ones. Looking back, it all began the first day I set my Bible aside and reached for my laptop believing the lie that the latter was more urgent, and that surely I would return to God’s word when I had the time. I never did.
Q: Who can benefit from this book and why?
- This is a book for every follower of Jesus who serves in a position of leadership. This includes formal leadership roles (CEO’s Executive Directors, Presidents, Superintendents, Pastors, etc.) and informal roles (parents, church elders, managers, business owners, volunteer leaders, missionaries, board members, etc.) Too often, well-intentioned Christian leaders at every level get shackled in chains of fear, stress, discouragement and burnout because they accept a way to lead that is not God’s way. This bondage can spiral downward with disastrous consequences if truth does not set them free.
Q: You talk about spiritual stagnancy in the book. What is that and how can people move out of it?
- One of God’s greatest gifts to us is the gift of intimacy with him. It is the starting place for every journey of faith and through it God supplies all that we need for every step along the way. Through intimacy with Christ, we stay connected to the Owner and fully understand how we are to live as faithful stewards. The goal of the enemy is to steal this gift from us by using distraction, the busyness of life and the weight of the struggles and disappointments that naturally come our way. In its place we experience spiritual stagnancy. When we begin to look for security, identity and fulfillment in any other place then in our relationship with Christ, our faith journey will wander through a wasteland that is devoid of the abundance of God’s provision and the overflow of his spirit. The way we come against it is to reclaim the great gift of intimacy with Christ, surrender our desires to go it alone and return to His feet in humble submission, worship and prayer.
Q: You describe seven keys in the book to becoming a Steward Leader. Talk about a couple of them.
A: Steward leaders seek intimacy with God as their highest calling. This means they prioritize activities that nurture this intimacy and reject the temptation to allow urgent matters to rob them of it. They follow God’s leading wherever it may take them and the ministry. The temptation of self-reliance will push us toward the drive to succeed, and the more we depend on ourselves, the more we will be cut off from the daily desire to know God’s will and do it. After all, if we are in charge, if we can rely on our own strength, wisdom, experience, knowledge, and cleverness, we don’t need to be led by the Holy Spirit. It’s not that we stop believing or trusting or even wanting God to lead us, it’s just that we stop depending on him. Prayer and devotion become mechanical and duty-driven. Once they stop being the very life force that we depend on as leaders, they will soon become a nicety that we engage in when we have enough time. Once we rely on ourselves to do things for Jesus, we forget the scriptural truth that apart from Christ we can do nothing (John 15:5). This spiritual stagnancy is at the heart of every failing of Christian leaders great or small, whether it be a moral, ethical, or physical failing. That is why we must confront this issue head-on.
Steward leaders are secure in their identities in Jesus Christ. They stand firm on that certainty and reject the temptation to desire affirmation or applause from any other source. This positions them to absorb criticism and deflect praise. As leaders, we will either find our identity solely in our new creation in Jesus Christ, or we will find it, at least some of it, in other, counterfeit sources. These may be our job, our title, or our reputation. The struggle here is between finding a solid footing for our self-image and the ability of the enemy to distract us through either pride or self-doubt. There is a sweet spot in the life of a steward leader. It is that place of stability, balance, and confidence where we are in the center of the path to which God has called us, our eyes fixed fully on him, and our stride steady and sure in his direction.
Q: One of the chapters says, “People are an ends not a means.” Talk about that.
A: Each of us have a personal and professional agenda. We have goals and dreams— things we believe we must accomplish to be successful. We are busy, on a mission, engaged, and in pursuit of achievement. What happens when we encounter other people while charging ahead to meet our objectives? If we are not careful, our desire to achieve our agenda can mean treating other people whom God puts in our path as means to our own ends. The root of the problem is the bondage we have to our own self-interest. As long as we look to relationships to meet our needs or further our progress toward our own objectives, they will always be measured for their usefulness to us. For a leader, this is a powerful bondage. The key is our freedom to look beyond our own needs, because God is our provider. If we are confident in God’s provision, if our identity is secure in him, then we are free to invest in others. We will see them, like ourselves, as someone on a journey to experience greater freedom and joy. We will use the intersection of our journey with theirs to be used by God to help them along the way. We will do this because we are free to do so. This is real freedom, and God can work through you in powerful ways to impact the lives of everyone you lead if you rely on Him to be your provider.
Q: What other resources do you offer to leaders?
- Through Kingdom Life Publishing readers can access additional resources to help them on their journey.
- Steward Leader Meditations is a collection of 50 daily meditation for steward leaders that include a lesson, text, action step and prayer.
- The Seventh Key is a short novelette that tells the story of one man’s journey from bondage to freedom as a leader.
- Becoming a Steward Leader Experience (non-profit leaders) and Becoming a Steward Leader in the Marketplace (business leaders) are 15-week online courses that take a leader deeper into this theology and equips them for the journey at the most comprehensive level.
- Weekly blogs on the steward leader journey at www.thestewardsjourney.com. Podcasts are available on a variety of steward leader topics at https://thestewardsjourney.com/podcasts/.
- Daily texts for spiritual encouragement to steward leaders. You can sign up by texting stewards1 to 81411.
Attend the annual Steward Summit to gather with like-minded leaders on a range of topics important to the journey of steward leaders. https://thestewardsjourney.com/steward-summit.
