Leading Groups and Teams

5.1 Assignment. Devotional – Red-Letter Team Leadership (Part 5)

Getting Started

Throughout the Holy Bible, we are able to see ways in which Jesus demonstrated leadership principles that we today hold up as best practices. Throughout the class, we will look at this Red-Letter Leadership (in many Bibles the words of Jesus are printed in red) as it applies to teams. This week, we look at an example of Jesus having to teach and re-teach his disciples a simple message, the value of children.

Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

· Appraise a biblical perspective regarding team leadership.

Background Information

Read(new tab)  or  listen(new tab)  to Matthew 18:1-5 (NIV)

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."

Walton & Keener (2016) tell us that “in ancient society, children were powerless and often overlooked.” Jesus seems to be indicating that he is here for all, including the powerless and overlooked. Even more, Jesus is telling his disciples to change and become like children. Buzzell, Boa, and Perkins (2013) noted that “the greatest people in God’s kingdom are those who view themselves as children. These people know they are weak and vulnerable before God. And in God’s kingdom, every great leader perceives himself or herself that way.” 

So, after this teaching by Jesus, the disciples should be on the lookout for ways to bless the children they interact with, to even learn from them, right? Well, just one chapter later, they seem to have forgotten and have to learn this lesson again.

Read(new tab)  or  listen(new tab)  to Matthew 19:13-15 (NIV)

Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

In the chapter Team Leadership that we will read this week, Northouse (2022) notes that team leaders sometimes have to step in to refocus the team on the goal, to train or coach team members, or to model ethical and principled practices. We may wish that we could do this once, our team would get it, and we wouldn’t have to address whatever the issue is ever again. However, we humans often need to be reminded, redirected, or retrained again and again. The leaders who are willing to do it will have more successful teams. The leaders who get frustrated and give up will have teams that implode.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.  

2. Review the information in the Getting Started and Background Information sections.

3. Write a 250-300 word reflection paper (Word document) that shares your thoughts/perspectives on the following:

a. What is something you consistently need to be reminded of or retrained on at work? How do you want your leader to address that?

b. How have you done that type of retraining or coaching of others? Anything you could or should do differently based upon your study in the course and reflection on the biblical passage?

c. What personal, professional, or even spiritual insights might you glean from your reflection on the devotional materials in this workshop?

4. Reflection papers are to be written in accordance with APA Guidelines (7th ed.) including format guidelines. Papers must be logical, well organized, grammatically correct, and have correct spelling and sentence structure.  Write in complete paragraphs.