Formation for leaders of SFA Church

Mar 27, 2014

CHERAS (Herald Malaysia): A Leadership Formation was held on Saturday, March 14 at the Church of St Francis of Assisi (SFA) for all leaders / core team members from all the ministries in SFA.

The formation was conducted by Fr William Michael and his team and was attended by 52 participants from all language
groups.

The programme commenced at 9.00am with the Morning Prayer, followed by Praise and Worship led by St John’s Youth Ministry (SJYM).

Fr William who is also the Assistant Parish Priest of St John’s Cathedral began the session with the question, Is a leader born or made?”

He explained that leaders are not born but learn to become one. Everyone has the characteristics to become a leader.
There are two types of leaders: the Secular Leader and the Spiritual Leader.

Leaders in the church ministries are Spiritual Leaders. What sets apart a Spiritual Leader from a Secular Leader is that a Spiritual Leader is Called by God, Chosen from among many and Sent to proclaim.

Gabriel Moses conducted the second session. He began with the topic “Types of Challenges.” There are two types of challenges, Overweight/Oversized challenges and Spiritual challenges. Overweight challenges are conditions or attitudes that bring us to circumstances that rob us of the abundant life that Jesus has secured for us. He quoted from the Bible (Luke 10:39-40) about Martha’s performance. Spiritual challenges are conformed to the church environment, where we become performers, attending and responding to church activities.

As Spiritual Leaders, our mission is to teach and to transform. In order to achieve this, we must have a Belief System which is the major ingredient for the success of any leader. It provides a healing and learning place with opportunities to learn and to grow, namely in the following areas: mutual respect and trust, frequent communication and access to information, a sense of community participation, positive action and focus. Failure to adapt is the greatest threat to the church.

He further explained that the Spiritual Leader must also be a Healing Leader. A Healing Leader is someone who speaks the truth, cares for the community, competent in the ministry entrusted, engages in conversation, seeks systematic causes to problems, leads in continual improvement, keeps everyone focused on serving the community, and promoting participation.

A team building session was held on the importance of embracing each other and communication. As leaders, we must communicate/give feedback to achieve results. We are all in a way “handicapped” and we need to embrace each other for support.

Fr William concluded the programme by saying that all leaders must go back as transformed leaders.