Ministry Leadership

This course is designed especially for Christian leaders of ministry, but it uses principles that apply to any leadership role. It shows why conviction is the foundation of leadership. A potential leader will learn how to develop his abilities and character and increase his influence before he is in an official position. Leaders will learn how to guide their organizations through the process of discovering values, realizing purpose, sharing vision, setting goals, planning strategy, taking action, and experiencing achievement.

Directions for Class Leaders

Discussion questions and in-class activities are indicated by ►. For discussion questions, the class leader should ask the question and give students time to discuss the answer. If the same student usually answers first, or if some students do not speak up, the leader can direct the question to someone: “Paul, how would you answer this question?”

Much scripture is used in the course. Passages that should be read aloud in class are indicated by arrow bullet points. At other times, scripture references are given in parentheses in the text. For example: (1 Corinthians 12:15). Those references are support for the statements in the text. It is not necessary to always read the passages in parentheses.

Included on some pages are quotes from leaders in history. When the class comes to a quote, the class leader could ask a student to read and explain the quote. We should not necessarily agree with everything that these leaders did and taught, but we can learn from their examples.

Each lesson ends with assignments. Assignments should be completed and reported before the next lesson time. If a student does not complete an assignment, he can do it later. However, the leader should encourage students to keep on schedule so that they learn more from the class. Assignment 3 of each lesson is memorization of specific points from the lesson.

At the beginning of each class session:

• The class leader should collect written assignments from the previous lesson. The leader may choose some of the paragraphs written for Assignment 1 for class discussion.
• Each student should write the Assignment 3 content from the previous lesson from memory. Afterward the class should discuss these memorized statements briefly to make sure everyone understands their significance.

If the student wants to earn a certificate from Shepherds Global Classroom, he should attend the class sessions and complete the assignments. A form is provided at the end of the course for recording the assignments completed.

One of the purposes of the course is to prepare students to become teachers. The class leader should give students opportunities to develop their teaching skills. For example, the class leader should occasionally let a student teach a short section of the lesson to the class.

A sermon follows Lesson 17 and can be found in the appendix files under the Appendix Tab. This sermon about leadership may be used at any point throughout the course and may be preached in churches or taught to leadership teams.