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The fifth and final point ...
...is about ensuring that individuals and groups are reaching their full potential in Christ.
It involves: releasing ministry,
taking and giving responsibility,
accepting accountability and
providing effective training and support.
I think one of the most exciting things in the life of a church is where leadership can embody the character of Christ.
and that's where leadership is above all about mobilising others to use their gifts.
It's not about management as such: It's not about lording it over others
but actually being a servant to all...
and I think the church can model a kind of leadership
that is not only incredibly attractive but also highly effective.
And we can model that type of leadership to the wider community and the society
in which we have an important part - to serve and to shape our values and cultures and futures.
There's no doubt there is a gift of leadership.
Romans Chapter 12 talks about the gift of leadership
and that those who have that gift ought to be diligent in developing it.
But I think there are many people who write themselves out of the idea of being a leader
because they have an image of the leader as someone who is really about control: Controlling others, controlling agendas.
Actually I think leaders are people who want to release control.
They want to see people mobilised so that their gifts are used as part of a bigger picture.
And when that happens leadership can be life-changing.
And what a privilege to be involved in the business of seeing people develop
their gifts and as a result lives being changed as well.
I passionately believe that there is no one style of leadership
that is going to be effective in building an organisation like a church...
and making it able to fulfil its full potential.
I think leadership can look very different.
I think it embraces very different types of personality.
people with very different types of gifts.
But when leadership works effectively then the whole organisation is mobilised.
For the church that is the thrill of seeing every member of the body of Christ
using their gifts to fulfil the full redemptive potential of what a local church can be.
I'm sure that the future health of the diocese lies at the local level.
We can provide a strategic framework - strategic directions, key priorities
but actually what matters is what's done locally.
I hope that what you've seen has been encouraging,
not necessarily that you would do this but that you might do that.
So what you have are these five colours...
not so that we can produce painting by numbers...
but so that we can produce masterpieces of our own design that fit in our own local context:
Together let's do something beautiful for God as we are about...
Living Faith for the future.