Spirituality in Transformative Leadership
Transformational Leadership
Transformative leadership connects people with God and each other so that they may grow to be the people they were created to be. I believe that every person can grow in intelligence, relationships, and spirituality. The Means of Grace help us achieve this growth. The Wesleyan Means of Grace are spiritual practices that enables us to live out our faith. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, taught that God’s grace is unearned and that we are not to be idle waiting to experience it. The Means of Grace are ways God works in the interiority of a person that overflows into the church or a group of people. This means that spiritual practices can be both individual and communal. Individual practices include reading, meditating on and studying the scriptures, prayer, fasting, regularly attending corporate worship, healthy living, sharing our faith with others, doing good works, visiting the sick, visiting those in prison, feeding the hungry, and giving generously to the needs of others. Communal practices include regularly sharing in the sacraments, Christian conferencing (accountability to one another), Bible study, seeking justice, working to end oppression and discrimination, and addressing the needs of the poor.When people do this together the church can grow as well. My vision is to help others to improve and grow in their knowledge, spirit, relationship, and leadership skills so that they can fulfill the mission of the church. The Means of Grace offer me a toolbox of practices to lead others in the interconnectedness of all of these skills.
Spirituality
At times we practice spirituality so that we may be transformed and at other times we practice spirituality and embody the message of Jesus because we have been transformed. These practices are not only transformational but are also connectional. They connect us to God, to each other, and to the world. A spiritual practice is an action, experience, or discipline that connects someone to God, to others, and/or to the world as they live out their faith with the hope that they will encounter the grace of God and be transformed in the process.