Lesson #9 – God may place a “set man” in every assembly or ministry, but it doesn’t mean that the others are dead men. Leaders ought to put structures in place to enable their followers do greater works than them.
At a recent Christ Lifeline’s executives meetings, we had a post-event evaluation of the Ilorin World Outreach Convention (WoC) that took place on 11 May 2013. Ilorin WoC 2013 was the first time I had deliberately decided not to attend a major event, so I was curious as to the outcome of the event. I asked the other executives how it went and if they missed me. Lanre Durowoju replied – “we didn’t miss you at all. Adeyiga Awomuti delivered a powerful message and the manifestation of the Spirit was awesome. Some people have called after the event to share testimonies of healings and transformation”. I muttered a delighted “thank you Jesus”. I informed the team that it was evident that we can function in the absence of the President and that was my intention for not attending this meeting. More so, one of the greatest tests of a leader is “reproduction”, and my desire, in the coming years, is to see our leaders and partners do what I do in ministry in greater dimensions.
It may sound like a tough call, but that is the example we see with Jesus Christ. Jesus spent about 3 years with His 12 disciples when He was physically present on earth, and when He left, almost all of them could do what He did, some did even greater works. I like the way Apostle John described their experience with Jesus in 1 John 1:1 (GW). He said – “The Word of life existed from the beginning. We have heard it. We have seen it. We observed and touched it.” They went beyond just seeing Jesus’ works and hearing Him; they touched Him; they experienced Him; they observed His process and products. That is reproduction! Unfortunately in our day, many followers just “see and hear”. That is why it is common to hear us start every “religious statement” with – “my mentor said” because we have not observed and experienced “what we see and hear”. Can followers today do 10% of what our leaders in the kingdom do, especially in the leader’s absence? Leaders in the Kingdom must consciously strive to develop better leaders. Many leaders in the world strive to ensure that their followers are not as knowledgeable or powerful as they are. In Christianity however, leaders ought to put structures in place to make their followers outperform them. The realm in which we operate is one where “a success” without many great successors is a failure and every leader must be committed to raising committed leaders.
In our early days in ministry, we used to long to stand before 10,000 people (or more) at a time to preach the gospel. But as we grow spiritually, our focus has shifted to – how can we raise 10,000 people to do what we do in God’s kingdom, in even greater dimensions? In 2 Timothy 2:2 (CEV), Paul told Timothy –“You have often heard me teach. Now I want you to tell these same things to followers who can be trusted to tell others.” This refers to reproduction – getting followers to start exhibiting leadership dispositions in the same measure as Paul. In Titus 1:5 (GW), Paul told Titus – “I left you in Crete to do what still needed to be done-appointing spiritual leaders in every city as I directed you.” This is our motivation in Christ Lifeline; we don’t want to lead “10,000 inactive people” who are spiritually weak, lethargic and content with being prayed over; we want to raise “10,000 foot soldiers” who will go to into the field of life, crush the adversary and get supernatural results everywhere they go. Some of the followers we bring up may end up attempting to sabotage the ministry however we should not be deterred from obeying the Word. Every ministry is likely to have a Judas Iscariot but we must trust God to deal with problematic situations or people we encounter in obeying his instructions. I am trusting God that in the next 10 years, we would have put in place stronger and better structures to enable others identify purpose, execute divine mandates, win many souls to God’s kingdom, and develop the next generation of leaders.
If you have a passion to function at this level described above but you are currently “inactive” or not operating in “full bars”, please join me by 2pm on 20 July 2013 as we celebrate our 10thanniversary. We would be sharing on the theme: Plugging into the present move of the Spirit. The venue is Bellus Court, 7A Akin Adesanya Street, Off Town Planning Way, Ilupeju Lagos. You can reach me at tope.aladenusi@christlifeline.org and we will forward an invitation letter to you.
Shalom!
– Tope S. Aladenusi
