We are continuing our way through Paul Tripp’s book LEAD: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church. You can find the questions for Chapters 1-3 here and for Chapters 4-6 here.

Chapter 7: Servants

Principle:  A call to leadership in the church is a call to a life of willing sacrifice and service.

Key Quotes:

“What gives a servant joy in being a servant is service.” (p. 129)

“It takes grace to free us from the powerful inertia of sin’s individualism. It takes almighty power to free us from the depth of our self-allegiance” (p. 130).

“All horizontal complaints have a vertical component…Grumbling about horizontal difficulty is at once a complaint against the one who lords over those difficulties” (p. 136).

Discussion:

• Read the passages in Mark 9:38-50 and Mark 10:32-45 and a parallel passage in Matthew 20:20ff.  Which of the people do you most identify with? The arguing disciples? James and John? Their mother? The disciples who were angry with James and John? What things do they all have in common?
• Look at the last/first paragraph on Page 134-135.  Which one of those questions most reveal your heart?
• How well do the verses on page 137-139 describe you?
• Select 1-2 of the verses above and pray through them for yourself and your team. 

Chapter 8: Candor

Principle:  A spiritually healthy leadership community is characterized by the humility of approachability and the courage of loving honesty. 

Key Quotes:

“A spiritually healthy leadership community is spiritually healthy when it is a safe place for struggling leaders to speak with candor and hope” (p. 148).

“An isolated, independent, separated, and self-hiding Christian life is alien to the Christianity of the New Testament.” p. 148

“If ministry has come to define you, the Gospel won’t” (p. 154).

“We need to seek divine rescue from our ability to erect self-atoning arguments for our unrighteousness that crush gospel grief and humble confession” (p. 155).

Discussion:

• How do the statements in the second paragraph of page 148 encourage us to life in the church?
• What is the difference between “low-grade grumbling” and being frank about a struggle?
• Which of these five “silencers” do you struggle with? pp 154-157
  • Pride of Personal Maturity
  • Ability to Minimize Sin
  • Must Have the Respect of Others
  • Identity in Ministry   
  • Functional Gospel Doubt
• How does candor show our dependency on God?
• In what ways does candor contribute to rest?  p. 158

Chapter 9: Identity

Principle:  Where your leaders look for identity always determines how they lead.

Key Quotes:

“…wherever you look for identity will then exercise rulership over your heart and, in so doing will direct the way you live your life” (p. 164).   

“Is there any way that you’re looking horizontally for what you’ve already been blessed with in Jesus?” (p. 173).

Discussion:

• In addition to the verses on p. 165, what verses have been encouraging or challenging to you as you think about your identity as a follower of Jesus?
• How have you (or how do you) see yourself exchanging your true biblical identity for one of position?  Which of those sins described on page 168-173 has characterized you?  How has that (or does that) impact your leadership?