Leadership Development

Learn, Love, Lead like Christ

Leadership is cruciform, “cross-shaped”, shaped like Christ. So if leadership is cruciform, then our leadership development is cruciforming. Yeah, it’s a word we technically made up, but it gives shape to everything we do in leadership devlopment.

A biblical definition of leadership can be seen in the meaning of what it is to love people. When we look at Jesus’ leadership, it is of self-sacrificial love - he leads, he loves, by laying his life down for people. Jesus also calls us to love and lead by taking up our cross and follow him (Mark 8:34).

The Lord Jesus Christ commands and commissions us, with love and to love. We are to love God, love others and make disciples of Jesus Christ. We summarise this in three words: Christ, Community and Compassion. These words are our values, vision and mission.

These words from Jesus gives shape to who we are as a church, and what we’re about for those who are leaders of the church.

To Lead is to Love

Learning as disciples, developing as leaders

Another word for a ‘disciple’ is a ‘learner’. We learn Christ, together. Disciples are those who are born-again, by believing in, belonging to, and becoming like Jesus Christ.

As this discipleship happens in our lives, the Lord Jesus also gives his people different gifts by the Spirit’s work. As we see in Ephesians 4:12, God gives these gifts (who are people) for the ministry of the church. Included in this grace of God are leaders to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

Leadership is a good gift of God. Like any gift, leadership can be abused and this is why leaders ought to lead with love for God and others as priority, for healthy leadership and a healthy church.

Since leadership is a gift, there is a sense where we don’t make leaders but develop the gifts God gives as we discover such gracious gifting among us.

Developing Leaders Deliberately

In-person Brunches, Online Courses, Leadership Library and Podcasts

Our brunches hosted on the 2nd Saturday of the month are where we get to enjoy life together as we are encouraged and equipped as leaders who make disciple-making disciples.

See when the next Cruciforming Brunch is on >>>

So that leaders can grow as learners in their own time, we provide online courses that connect to what we’re engaging with in our 2nd Saturday brunches.

Acess courses below

In many ways the art of learning leadership is the art of self-reflection. To cultivate this we host a leadership library of articles that foster questions, reflections and ideas.

Browse the Leadership Library below

For the love of listening we host a podcast so that as we go about our day we can grow to learn, love and lead like Christ. Our podcast can be found on this webpage or on podcast platforms.

Access the Cruciforming Podcast Library

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. ”
— Ephesians 4:11-16

Cruciforming Courses

Preaching Course

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. (James 3:1)

Who is the Preacher? It’s all about the character of the person who preaches Christ.

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. (2 Corinthians 4:5)

Leadership Library