It must be emphasized and re-emphasized that the church today need more leaders than pastors. Leadership ability is more needed than shepherding ability because the church of today is more complex than over before. Those who will really lead in the church today must therefore be people with real leadership abilities, and your leadership ability will largely be determined by your learning.

More importantly, true church leaders of today must possess a learning spirit. Unfortunately, this is not so. Many so called leaders of today are of the view that they don't need to learn anymore. It is either they believe that their bible school or seminary training before they enter the ministry is enough, or they believe that their current position, title, achievement, status, experience and gifts are enough for them.

They therefore shun, reject, neglect and despise continuous learning. Church leaders in Africa don't generally possess a learning spirit and that is one major reason for the maladies of leadership we are witnessing in every corner today. We run our churches and ministries through trial and error because we refuse to continuously learning.

Every true leader must possess a learning spirit. A leader must be a learner. This learning is not a programme but a process. Learning is a life-long process for a leader. As a leader, you must continue to learn and unlearn somethings if you are going to make a lasting impact. If you stop learning, you stop leading. When you stop learning, you start to lean. It is not a crime for God to call you when you are not educated, but it is a crime for you to remain uneducated, either formal or in informal.

Continuous learning is very vital to providing effective and dynamic leadership. Impactful, dynamic and result-oriented leadership is hinged on the continuous learning of the leader. Church leaders of today must know that there are people who doesn't need power demonstration. Rather, they need sound teaching and relevant information which you cannot provide unless you possess a learning spirit.

One of the reasons God has put leaders in the church is to help every person find his or her place. Leaders are meant to help others become the people God created them to be. They are called to discover the hidden, encourage the uncertain, develop the untrained, and empower the powerless. No leader can do all these effectively without a learning spirit.

This learning I am talking about is not just head knowledge, but acquiring relevant information that will transform the leader and the people. It is a known fact that you cannot shine more than the light you have. If you are a shallow and content-free leader, then your ministry will take a nose-dive. You can only give what you have. It is impossible to be a candle within and hope to shine as halogen light outside. Furthermore, you cannot be a lizard within and act like a crocodile outside. It is what you know that will make you known.

It is unfortunate that many churches are rejecting pastors today simply because they are achaic and old in their knowledge of the Scriptures. Church leaders that have little or nothing to offer in terms of sound revelation, illumination and information of God's word and life studies will find that their people will drift away from them.

Sheep only feed where the grass is green. If you cannot provide green grass that is fresh and vibrant in your church, don't complain if your sheep move away to greener pastures. You will only be able to provide fresh, relevant and vibrant grass for your sheep if you continue to learn. An uninformed leader is a dangerous leader. Little learning makes leaders to be proud, but deep and continuous learning leads to humility. Hosea 4: verse 6 says “ ... because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget they children” Quite sadly, this Scripture is being fulfilled in the life of so many pastors and ministers today. They reject continuous learning and God rejects them from the ministry.

Leaders must keep learning. The continuous growth of your life and ministry is hinged on your continuous learning. Bible school and seminary training is the foundation, you must keep building on them. You must learn from books, tapes, conferences and seminars. You must go for special courses and trainings that are relevant to your ministry area. Your learning will develop you, polish you and empower you to carry out your ministry effectively. You must realize that yesterdays information will not suffice for today. You must strive to be current and be properly informed.

This is the age of computer, internet and information highway. You cannot afford to be uninformed. Even if you are on the right track, you cannot lie down there, else, you will be crushed by the fast moving train of life. You must acquire the right information to be relevant and lead in such a way as to meet the needs of the people of now.

If you are willing to learn, you can go to any level. A learner today is a leader tomorrow. Your learning of today is a strong preparation for your future. Private preparation leads to public manifestation. It is a crime for a man not to be ready when his time comes. So, cultivate a serious learning spirit and get ready to learn something new everyday. To truly learn, you must have an open mind because you may have to unlearn some of the things you have learnt before. Unlearn negative and wrong things that hinder growth and learn the right things.

As a leader, continuous learning will give you confidence and security. Without security, you can destroy your leadership through carnality. An insecure leader will be full of envy and jealousy of his under-leaders.

You must learn until you become a reservoir of God's knowledge and wisdom. It is when you implode that you can really explode. Don't build your church or ministry on guest speakers, else, it will not stand for too long. Rather, become the person that others will gladly come and listen to. Load yourself with lots of good stuff. What you fill your mind and heart with is what will flow out of you. And for you to speak pure gold that people are willing to come and pay for, takes lots of hardwork. But without it, your ministry is nowhere. If you have nothing to give, people will stop coming to you and nobody will keep inviting a fumbling, empty but noise-making leader.

Learning entails reading. You must learn to read and read and read again. If you don't read others, nobody will read you. Therefore, read relevant books, read wide, read deep and read with the attitude of learning. Learning also include listening. You must listen to others, either young or old. Attend seminars and conferences that has quality. What you will get in them, you will not get elsewhere. If you don't listen to others, nobody will listen to you.

Personal study is a veritable avenue of learning. You will need to study, think and do personal research in your field of interest. You must therefore invest in various editions of the Bible, quality books, tapes and resources. It is ironical that some leaders who want to learn, yet, are unwilling to invest in quality resources. They want it free or they are willing to get them through crooked ways. This is bad. Learning demands that you must be willing to pay for quality resources. Cheap resources contains cheap informations. Costly resources contains costly informations that will give you pure gold. It is only when you invest in yourself that others will invest in you. ‘Am yet to see a leader that is dynamic, effective, result-oriented and that command the respect of the people, who is not a continuous learner. Learning and growing are two sides of the same coin. The continuous learning of the leader will translate to growth of the ministry. More than ever before, those that desire to lead in a dynamic way must learn, keep learning and growing. Michealangelo, the great artist, at the age of 90 has a motto that says ‘still I am learning'. Learning should be a life-long thing. Even when you are going to die, you will still need to learn how to die, because you have not died before!

Don't let the ministry keep you from learning. A minister must keep making progress, and one of the ways you make progress is by continuing learning the things of God. Your learning will affect your living. You cannot live better than what you know.

In the last of his inspired letters, Apostle Paul exhorted Timothy, “you, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convince of knowing from whom you have learned them” (II Tim. 3:14). You have learned doctrine. Good! Continue living it and continue learning it. You have learned the Bible. Good! Continue learning it. You have learned how to preach. Continue learning and studying how to preach better all your life. This is the way of the ministry. For if you don't continue learning the things you have learned already, you'll be ruined as a minister; either ruined in your personal life or ruined in your effectiveness as a leader.

The day you become a full time minister, you are like a well and the people are like a bucket. Everyone has needs and demands, and every few days they come back expecting another sermon, another message, another teaching and ministration. And if you don't keep learning, they will drain in you dry. It's inevitable. That's the nature of the ministry.

Men who make progress in ministry are like the men in Proverbs 10:14, where we're told, “Wise men store up knowledge”. They store up biblical, financial, family, pastoral, growth, leadership and theological knowledge. A seminary or once and for all training can't give you all you need for a life-time ministry. The answer is continuous learning. As long as you live, you learn. As long as you learn, you live. 

LISTEN AND OBEY

As we begin the journey of another year, we must be mindful that God is a God of times and seasons. (Dan. 2:20-21). He deals with His people according to times and seasons (Gen. 8:22). There are great things He wants to do this year which he has not done before. For that to be a reality in your life you must take heed to listen and obey. Joseph had a relationship with the Lord. He listen and obey, else, he would have destroyed the treasure that was put in his care. Matt. 1:18-25; 2:13-15, 19-23; Ps. 25:9; Ps. 48:14; Joshua 9:14-15.

1. Listen:

You must learn to listen to the Lord for guidance, direction and warning in your prayer time. Your prayer time must not be a monologue but a dialogue with the Lord. Some are too busy to really pray and develop fellowship with the Lord. Mark 1:35.

How do you listen to? Your ungodly wife, husband, leader or friend?. Do you only listen to your own heart and deceptive spirits?. I Tim.4: 1,2. Do you listen with discernment and perception or you take everything? Do you even have ears to hear? Matt. 13:14-15; 11:15; II Tim. 4:3,4.

2. Obey:

The secret of great success in ministry is to pray, listen and obey the Lord. Great men who have achieved much obeyed the Lord. Ecc. 12:11-12; I Sam. 15:22-23. What obedience with do, fasting, prayers and giving will not do it. Great men are humble enough to obey and keep obeying. Joshua 1:8; 11:15; Gen. 6:22; 22:2,3; Acts 5:29; Jam. 1:25; Rev. 22:14. Our obedience must be prompt, complete, total, continuous. It is then and only then we can have mighty success. Many have not achieved much because they disobeyed much.

Keep listening and obeying the Lord this year and great things will happen in your ministry. Keep growing and glowing.

Dr. Francis Bola Akin-John