Leadership can take many forms. In this section I am focusing on the leadership of the church, and specifically a presbyterian concept of a session of elders. At its core leadership is the art and action of discerning God's will through the Holy Spirit and the teaching of Christ Jesus. While 1 person can lead, my focus is on leadership by a board. I will present three core values that I assert are fundamental to a life in Christ and therefore the body of the church. I also believe that leadership requires flexibility and adaptation. Therefore, what I present is hopefully viewed as a framework and not a rigid construct.
The 3 core values that I believe most influence our life in Christ are stewardship, discipleship, and outreach. Stewardship is how we utilize and protect the resources we receive from God and from one another. These include, but are not limited to, money (finances), property (buildings and grounds), and personnel (staff and volunteers). Discipleship is how we encourage the spiritual growth of participants in our faith communities. The art and work of discipleship occurs in worship, education, and small groups. Outreach is the faith community's focus on those outside of the church and to whom Christ is calling us to serve as well as the way that we make change in the world around us. Outreach includes work done through mission (active engagement to address needs in the world), evangelism (sharing the Good News with others while building relationships), and communications (how we share the work and life of the community within and without).
By now you may noticed a threefold design. This format came out of my faith in the Trinitarian Godhead known as the Almighty, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is a concept that cannot be properly expressed in our language or art, but may be most accurately described as an interweaving dance in which each of the three dancers can be individually viewed but at the same time cannot be distinguished from the other two because the movement requires all three at once. In other words the Almighty does not act separate from the Son and Spirit, nor the Son separate for the Almighty and Spirit, nor the Spirit act alone form the Almighty and Son. Looking at the church, I realized the similarity in the work of leadership. Stewardship does not exist separate from discipleship and outreach, so on. Previously I mentioned three concepts with each of the core values. These are recommendations and come out of my own experiences. You may find that they align with your context, or you may find that your context would best be served by a different arrangement of organization. I would encourage you to be prayerful on what holds meaning for your community and where leadership is most needed. Although I would strongly recommend the three core values, you may find that these are not helpful for your context. I will still recommend finding the three core values for your community and use them to create your framework.