It takes a strong person to be a leader. Sometimes a leader faces difficult challenges like making unpleasant decisions and taking responsibility for failures. A leader might have to take a hard stance or correct someone who is wrong. A great leader will know how to balance this strength with mercy and grace when it comes to the people on the team. You will lead with mercy and grace when you support a team member in a time of need, help someone rise after a fall, or by helping someone come back into a growing relationship with Jesus. This post explains how to balance strength, grace, the mission, and the needs of the team with integrity and intentionality.

"Serve by Leading" by Boyd Bailey

Sometimes a critical circumstance requires the leader to assert influence for the good of the whole. There is no time for collaboration, since what’s best for the mission can’t be jeopardized. Good people can disagree, but the leader is responsible to do what he or she thinks is right. The risk of a failed project takes precedent over the risk of relational rejection. Hopefully there is eventual relational restoration when a leader wisely serves by saying no and clarifying the course.

Yes, leaders lead. It is a disservice for the one in charge to not give direction when a situation is sticky. God places us in positions of authority to serve others by leading them down prayerful and productive paths. Followers look to leaders to instruct with integrity and intentionality. So, even if our ill timed decision meets the disapproval of someone we respect, we still move forward by faith. We serve by leading in doing the next right thing and trusting the Lord for His results.

You serve by leading when you reassess a person’s past failure in light of lessons they’ve learned and their current faithfulness to the task at hand. Grace gives you permission to extend a second chance, working to restore someone’s youthful indiscretion that tarnished their integrity. Perhaps you take this occasion to bring a coworker back into good standing, so they have an opportunity to prove their trustworthiness. You serve by leading when you lead a friend back into faith’s fold.

Lastly, you serve by leading when you lead others into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. You lead well when the goodness of God wells up within you like the iconic geyser Old Faithful, intermittently boiling forth the refreshing fruit of the Spirit. The human heart is waiting for another human to lead them into an understanding of the Lord’s great grace. Indeed, the Spirit is interceding on behalf of unbelievers,  God will use you to introduce others to His Son Jesus.