aXion - leadership development

Here are brief descriptions of our two foundational aXion models, the Dutch equivalent of the international ConneXions models. These models inform and direct everything we do in leadership development. They are comprehensively examined in our "aXion for Leaders".

The 5C Model of Healthy Leadership
According to this model, a healthy Christian leader knows God (Christ), was formed and lives in supportive and accountable community (Community), has integrity (Character), knows the purpose of God and presents it with credibility, clarity and passion (Calling), and has the necessary gifts, skills and knowledge to lead the people in the accomplishment of this purpose (Competencies). These five elements are dealt with in detail in Leaders: SpiritBuilt Leadership #2 by Dr. Malcolm Webber.

Too often, we only deal with competencies. When a young man or woman goes to Bible school to become a leader, what is dealt with? Competencies! Perhaps some token attention is paid to the other four elements, but, essentially, most of our attention to “leadership development” is given in the area of competencies such as biblical knowledge, how to preach, how to counsel, etc. All of this is good, but it is not sufficient; consequently, we have many “disconnections” in our leaders today.

In our processes, we attempt to deal with the whole leader, not just his head. Our ultimate goal is the holistic transformation of the Christian leader into the mature image of Jesus Christ.

How Leaders Are Built – The ConneXions Process
Building leaders is easier said than done. Many times efforts at leadership building focus on courses and curriculum – the content. Not much time is spent on developing an appropriate process of development – which includes context as well as content.

Jesus’ method of building leaders is summarized in Mark 3:

He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. (Mark 3:14-15)

In this simple but profound statement, we have a distillation of how Jesus built leaders. In short, Jesus did two things:

• He created a relational web around His emerging leaders – a context for development.
• He taught them and He gave them things to do – a collage of learning opportunities which was the content of development.

Jesus built a relational web around them – involving relationship with God, relationship with a mature leader (Himself), and relationships with each other (the community of the disciples). Then, in the context of that environment, He taught them, He prayed with them and He gave them challenging ministry assignments. In a nutshell, that was how Jesus built leaders.

Traditionally, we are more likely to seat our emerging leaders in neat rows behind desks and lecture them interminably in our attempts to build them. We are often very strong in our content but weak in the context we create for leadership development. To be effective, the strength of the context must mirror the strength of the content. Our approach must change. For churches and Christian ministries to be effective in the 21^st century, we must understand how leaders are built. Then we must develop intentional and holistic strategies for building leaders.

To that end, ConneXions leadership schools embrace two core ideas of leadership development: context and content. Within that framework, we use 18 principles of leader development, in six groups. These principles are discussed in detail in Building Leaders: SpiritBuilt Leadership #4 by Dr. Malcolm Webber.

If you want more background of these models in the English language, please go to Strategic Global Assistance.