EMPOWERING
And the things
you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable
men who will also be qualified to teach others.
(2 Tim 2:2 NIV)
Then Jesus came
to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always,
to the very end of the age."
(Mat 28:18-20 NIV)
The definition of empowering
is to authorise
another person, or group, to have the freedom to act, think, respond, initiate,
and make decisions affecting their area of given responsibility.
Managers empower staff. Leaders empower their
leaders. Parents empower their children. Teachers empower their students.
Pastors empower their congregations. Those that empower others do so
through educating, resourcing, evaluating, and guiding.
Dr. Stephen Covey describes empowerment this way-
Give a man a fish and you
feed him for a day.
Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
The greater the maturity, the less need for
direction and supervision, and therefore the greater the amount of empowering
that can be given.
1. Based
on Matthew 28:18-20, what level of maturity did Christ show in His disciples?
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2. Read Acts
20:28-36. To what extent did Paul empower the Ephesian elders?
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Being empowered requires three essential
things: (i) Character, (ii) Trustworthiness, and (iii) Competence.
To qualify for maximum empowerment a person must accept responsibility for
their own development in these three areas. No-one else can make
you a person of character, trustworthiness, or competence. It’s something
that must be developed “internally.” George Bernard Shaw wrote about his
desire to be empowered to live life when he wrote-
This is true joy in life: being used for a purpose recognised by yourself as a mighty one...Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy...”
Empowered people accept responsibility for
their empowerment rather than blaming others for what they do not have.
They are prepared to grow, change and be stretched. Have you ever
tried to help a person who didn’t want to be helped? Have you ever heard
an addict blame others for their addiction? There is a principle deeply
involved with empowerment: if you want it, give it away first.
3. What
are some things that people can’t have until they give it away?
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4. Can
we limit Luke 6:38 just to money?
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5. What
are the three essential things to empowerment?
(i)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
(ii) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
(iii) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
6. What
would an empowered church look like? How would it be different to an autocratic
church?
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7. Could
we describe the men in Second Samuel 23:18-17 as empowered? Why and who
by?
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To empower someone first involves recognising
the vision and mission (purpose) to which we are called. Then
it is a matter of identifying the level of a person’s character, trustworthiness,
and competence. Dependent upon their competence, empowerment is more concerned
with outcomes (reaching agreed objectives) than it is with methods. For
example, a parent might say to their ten year old child that they want them
to have their bedroom tidy before they go to bed at 8PM every night. The
parent and the child agree that this is not unreasonable, and they also
agree on the reward/penalty for achieving/not achieving this outcome. If
the parent then nags the child to clean their room because it is getting
closer to 8PM, and they are present in the room giving orders on what needs
to be picked up and where it needs to be put, they have not really empowered
their child.
Empowering does involve delegating. We
must delegate outcomes, not methods. Reasons not to delegate, and therefore
empower another include: it is slower (you could do it yourself quicker);
things don’t get done in the priority you have in mind; it takes more time
to show someone else how to do it than it does to do it yourself; it may
not be done the way you would do it; and, it may contain mistakes.
We want to be a church of empowered and empowering
people. We finish by reading Ephesians 4. Note how it speaks of each of
us having a role to play in Christ’s church. If we accept that, then we
are well on the way to being empowered and empowering.
Amen.