Foundations of Christian Leadership, Mentor's Guide, MG07

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F O U N D A T I O N S O F C H R I S T I A N L E A D E R S H I P

Put away your notes, gather up your thoughts and reflections, and take the quiz for Lesson 1, The Christian Leader as Deacon (Diakonoi) .

Quiz

Scripture Memorization Review

Review with a partner, write out and/or recite the text for last class session’s assigned memory verse: Mark 9.35-37.

Turn in your summary of the reading assignment for last week, that is, your brief response and explanation of the main points that the authors were seeking to make in the assigned reading (Reading Completion Sheet).

Assignments Due

Led by Elders - a Lost Reality?

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Because of the breakdown of so many families, we have generations of people who have never seen or witnessed the reality of leadership in their families by elders , or even by the elderly. In a day when so many have grown up with virtually no input from anyone in their family who is older, and who have been trained to see their grandparents as “old people,” the elderly are not perceived by them as useful, wise, and resourceful let alone authoritative leaders exercising oversight over their lives. For many even the thought of being led by elders is distasteful and seen as both interference and a form of unnecessary complication in their lives. How are we to communicate biblical concepts such as leadership by elders when whole generations of people today have no tangible or concrete experience with being led at all, by elders or anyone else?

Young People Rule the World

What is immediately noticeable in the world today, most visibly seen in the marketing strategies of worldwide commerce, is that young people rule the world. In many endeavors, youth is the defining symbol of life, vitality, and excitement, whereas age is associated with the old, the discarded, and the unnecessary. While many non-Western cultures still prize the role of elders in their society and family, most Western cultures still unfortunately associate the elderly or aged with weakness, fragility, and even senility. Christian cultures have fallen prey to the same kind of unbiblical thinking; dynamism and growth are all too often associated with