3. Expanding the Ministry - Living and Leading Like Jesus

Type the word “leadership” into the search window on Google you’ll garner some 452,000,000 responses.

“It’s important to make a distinction,” says Navigator Tom Yeakley, of The Navigators Training and Development Group, “between leadership skills and helping someone to learn to live and lead like Jesus.”

Tom explains that it’s possible to train someone with the leadership skills they need in a relatively short time and bring them to a certain level of competency. “Developing a leader,” he says, “is much more involved. We’re talking about a life-long process. And it’s something that an individual assumes ownership for.

“We’re looking to develop Kingdom leaders who look to Jesus as their biblical model,” Tom says. “Regardless of where our staff members fulfill their calling, we’re working to develop leaders who are biblically rooted, culturally relevant, and practically effective.”

What that means, Tom explains, is that Navigators develop leaders who look to the Scriptures and the life of Jesus for what it means to be a leader. The way to help someone develop as a biblically rooted leader is to spend lots of time with him in the Scriptures.

Developing cultural relevance is critical as well. But Tom points out that being culturally relevant isn’t about changing the message of the Gospel to fit a certain situation. “It’s about communicating the truth of the Gospel so they see how it applies in their specific situation,” says Tom, “whether that’s on a college campus, a military base, or in the business community.”

A good leader also has to be effective. “It has to work,” says Tom. “It’s not about having great theories—it’s about fruitfulness. There should be evidence that we’re living and leading like Jesus.”

Why focus on developing leaders, rather than just teaching leadership principles? “The impact of a leader can be huge,” says Tom. “And God has always worked through individuals,” he adds. As an example of the impact an individual leader can make, Tom recalled what has happened in the Navigator collegiate ministry in Holland.

“By 1999,” shares Tom, “the Navigator collegiate ministry in Holland consisted of one staff-led ministry at the university in Rotterdam. We were considering shutting down campus ministry in Holland.” But one leader believed that God still had work for The Navigators among students in Holland.

“Jelle Jongsma examined the ministry,” says Tom, “to see if it was culturally relevant.” He found there were elements that worked in the United States but caused problems in the Dutch culture. They weren’t biblical or spiritual issues, but they kept students from being able to hear the Gospel. “Jelle removed those obstacles,” Tom shared, “and began getting students into 10-week Bible exploratory studies.” Over the last five years, thousands of them have come to Jesus.

Currently, 75 Dutch Navigator staff members serve on 17 universities across Holland, with some 2,500 students in Bible studies. Between 600 and 700 Navigator influenced students are graduating yearly and impacting society.

“The thing about developing leaders rather than focusing on leadership skills,” says Tom, “is it’s not about finding a program that works. It’s about developing an individual who leads like Jesus—then relies on God to create a ministry that’s culturally relevant and practically effective. It will look different each time!”