As a Christian leader, you are held to high moral, ethical, and social standards. As a leader, you are held to high standards, but as a Christian leader, that bar is raised even higher. Why? Because both the Christian and non-Christian social environment has tended to expect that Christians measure up to their self-proclaimed moral and ethical standards, as they rightly should. What can you do to be sure you ‘stand up to the test’ in the area of Christian leadership?

1. 8 Steps to Effective Christian Leadership
1) Probably the most important thing you can do as a Christian leader is to
clean up your act---if there is anything in your life, moral or ethical, which would
not stand up to scrutiny if the entire world found out---you musteliminate it
immediately. Do not give anyonean occasion to think that you are a hypocrite.
2) Be surethat every decision you makeis honest and ethical. You cannot
effectively lead, as a Christian or not, when your decisions and actions arenot
above-board, fair, and honest.
3) As a Christian leader, commit to telling the truth no matter what. As a
Christian leader, when you lie or tell half-truths, people tend to feel that your
entire faith is a sham. In fact, if you are habitually lying and telling half-truths,
your faith may indeed be a sham.
4) Learn everything you can about the tasks at hand, even if it means working
in the trenches for a while. No one likes to be led by someonewho has never
done what they are doing. This does not mean you have to become an expert,
justparticipate in the menial work long enough to understand the frustrating
aspects of the work. Another benefit to this is, when you have done the work,
you can more effectively brainstormsolutions to challenges when they arise.
5) Lead by example. Do you expect your employees or secretaries to arriveon
time for work, and dressed well? Then you mustdo the same. Sometimes it is so
easy to think that you have earned the right to come in whenever you feel like it,
or to return from lunch whenever you wish. Sure, you may haveearned the right,
but you gain far more by setting the example for performance. Do you expect
others to work overtimewhen a projectis behind projections? Then you mustbe
willing to do the same.
6) Although you may feel you haveearned the right to delegate away all the
work, continueto be involved in productivetasks. By doing some of the work, not
only do you gain the respect of your employees, but also you keep in touch with
the flow of things. As a leader, it is easy to become disengaged from the actual
productivesegment of your business, and resultantly make decisions that look
good on paper and sound good around the boardroomtable but are worthless
when the rubber hits the road.

2. 7) Constantly reevaluate your own performance. Often, you may spend so
much time correcting the actions of others and solving crises you did not create,
that you develop a sensethat others are not as capable as you. Consequently,
you may not recognizewhen you are falling into bad habits that also need to be
corrected. Be the firstto recognize and correct your own short-fallings.
8) Avoid pride. Once in a position of leadership, especially if you are good at
what you do, it is easy to begin to feel that you are invincible. Once that occurs,
you become vulnerableto pride, and may makedecisions you would frown on if
your subordinates madethe same decisions. Maintain full responsibility for your
actions and always keep them above-board.
Bonus Step:
9) Learn to manage your time. When you are in a position of leadership and
find yourself delegating away most of the time-consuming tasks, it is easy to lose
control of your time. Again, when your employees see you wasting your time,
they will tend to do the same.