Richard Stearns - Lead Like It Matters to God Study Guide: Eight Sessions on Becoming a Values-Driven Leader

WELCOME! IM GLAD YOUVE JOINED ME on this journey toward thinking more about what it means to be a godly leaderwhether in your chosen profession, at your church, at your school, in your neighborhood, or in your familyand then becoming one. Because good leaders can change the world in remarkable ways.

Leaders provide direction and vision, enabling groups to accomplish something that individuals alone could not have achieved. Think about any winning sports team or successful company. Why are they winning and accomplishing more? Leadership.

Leadership is the one critical ingredient that changes the world. Yet as Christian leaders, our first duty is faithfulness to God; its the quality of our character and witness wherever we work. Successful outcomes are important too, but they shouldnt become our all-consuming goal.

As Christian leaders, our true purpose is to become part of Jesus revolution to change the world, to help bring about a new relationship between God and humankinda relationship that reconciles, restores, and heals the brokenness of the human race and renews Gods creation, conforming it more to the character and likeness of God. Our part in that revolution begins where we work and live. And so God is looking for leaders after his own heart, winsome leaders who will submit to his leading and trust him for the outcomes. A leaders character, values, and motives matter to God. While we value the what of our work, God values the why and the how. We reward success, but Gods bottom line is faithfulness.

This is why our leadership matters so much to God. Christian leaders are called to be change agents for Christ, bringing healing and restoration into the brokenness of their communities and workplaces. Good and godly leadership contributes to human flourishing when it creates cultures and environments that are fair, just, and caring. Christian leaders shape and influence institutions, and that matters. Integrity, excellence, humility, forgiveness, encouragement, trust, and courage are values of the kingdom of God. And when leaders incarnate those values, the world changes.

Second Corinthians 5:20 captures our role as Christian leaders: We are therefore Christs ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. Ambassadors are called to embody the values, ideals, and character of the one they represent. It doesnt matter whether you consider yourself a leader or not. Youre Christs ambassador, his change agent. God has been present in your life since before you drew your first breath, and he wants to use all your talents, abilities, and life experiences to shape you and prepare you to serve his purposes.

I am not arguing that we dont strive for success as leaders. Success isnt a bad thing, its just not the main thing. Character and competence are both honoring to God. When we focus first on being faithful to God in our lives and when our work is driven by the values of Gods kingdom, he may very well bless us with successful outcomes. But qualities like integrity, humility, excellence, perseverance, generosity, courage, and forgiveness matter more to God than the most impressive resume of accomplishments. Thats why I wrote Lead Like It Matters to Godto call Christian leaders to embrace and lead with those values.

The beauty of becoming a values-driven leader is that embracing positive values does not require us to master any exceptional new skills or techniques. Values-driven leadership is more about character than capabilities, more about being than doing, more about pleasing God than people. So I organized the book around seventeen values and leadership qualities that I believe are essential for a Christian leader to embody: surrender, sacrifice, trust, love, excellence, humility, integrity, vision, courage, generosity, perseverance, forgiveness, self-awareness, balance, humor, encouragement, and listening.

Throughout this guide, were going to unpack each of these character qualities so we can learn the main lessons and develop and mature those values and traits in our lives and in our leadership so we can aspire to a different kind of successthe kind that truly matters to God.

The following eight sessions include all seventeen character traits I discuss in Lead Like It Matters to God, but for the sake of time, Ive combined two to three characteristics in each session. You can go through each lesson individually or in a group. These lessons are designed to help you reflect honestly and vulnerably on how youre doing with these traits in your life and your leadership. But it doesnt end there. You must put them into practice!

To help you do that, Ive broken each lesson into several parts: review, reflect, and practice. First, well review the key principle and Scripture passage for the value or trait were studying, as well as some of the corresponding chapter material.

Second, well reflect on how that trait or value is most relevant to your experience and leadership setting. We talked about how important the why and how of leadership is to God; this is the place to ponder those aspects more deeply. Use these thoughts to prompt your self-evaluationboth individually and as a groupto move you into applying the key lessons to your own leadership.

Third, at the end of each chapter well give you practical ideas for putting these qualities into action right away. As you already know, the act of leadership is just thatacting, engaging, practicing. It is anything but static.

Leadership is important. It affects every dimension of our human experience. It can unite us, lift us, and inspire us to achieve great things. And good, values-based leadership provides us with that North Star of character that is so crucial to accomplishing Gods purposes in our world.