The Bible’s First Management Consultant

As we continue to expand God’s work in the city of Chicago through Park Community Church, we know we must grow our leadership core. But what does the Bible say about the leadership development process? What are the key steps we must do as leaders to gain the critical mass of leaders we will need to handle a church of 2,500 and a church-planting, church-partnering model?

In Exodus 18, we get a glimpse of the first management consultant in the Bible. The writer tells us of the visit of Jethro to his son-in-law Moses. We imagine the weary look on Moses’ face from handling all the cases of his people. Jethro observes that Moses has people in lines all day as he hears every single case involving his people. As a confidant to Moses and the Bible’s first management consultant, Jethro tells Moses to stop trying to do it all himself and begin to put in place a leadership engine that will serve the nation of Israel well past Moses time on earth. He tells him to select capable, competent folks to be leaders, to train them and model leadership for them, then to empower them to serve.

5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to him in the desert, where he was camped near the mountain of God. 6 Jethro had sent word to him, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”………

……….. 13 The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. 14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”

15 Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and laws.”

17 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. 21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”

24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25 He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

As God continues to bless the work we are doing, as leaders, we need to continually identify capable leaders, train them, model biblical leadership for them and empower them to serve. What a great marketplace-like example from Exodus. What do we need to do to create this engine at Park? What do you think?