STUDENT NOTES

Introduction

Welcome to the Leading the Journey – The Servant Leader’s Guide to Creative Solutions lesson, which is the last element in the Growing the Servant Heart on-line Programme for Christian Leaders.

The goals of the Christ-centred servant leader are to live out the servant hearted character of Christ as a leader, and enable those whom they lead to achieve their full potential. Through the Growing the Servant Heart programme we have looked at many facets of both of these goals. And we now come to the last element of the programme: creative thinking.

As we will learn in this lesson, when it comes to thinking we have natural tendency to think along the same old lines as we have always done. This shows itself most when we struggle to find ways of addressing the challenges, problems and opportunities we inevitably face.  Often, therefore, we do not find a good solution let alone the best solution, and we simply do what we did before. Because of this tendency, we apply solutions to problems which do not work at all, or at best only work for a while and then problem reappears. The servant leader, seeking to help those whom they lead to achieve their full potnetial will encourage them to find new, novel, innovative, betetr solutions to the problems and chalanges they face.

Creative thinking also enables Christ-centred servant leaders to “Challenge the Process”, ever seeking more effective ways of working for their team.

This lesson is about how to stimulate our thinking processes so that we can think differently, finding creative and innovative solutions to the challenges we face. It’s about how to change perspective so that we can look at things from a different angle and so discover new ways of thinking, that lead to new ways of doing.

The Growing the Servant Heart programme is about providing practical tools to help the Christian leader function day-to-day. As such, the tools and approaches have been selected because they are supportive of the values and objectives of the Christ-centred servant leader.

Objectives

At the end of this lesson, as the student, you will have:

  • Considered creativity from a Biblical perspective
  • Examined the traits that constrain our thinking.
  • Discovered thirteen tools to help you change perspective and think creatively and innovatively,
  • Explored five collaborative approaches to creative thinking.
  • Considered how to select the best ideas and refine them into practical solutions.

At the conclusion of this lesson we would recommend that you review all that you have learned about being a Christ-centred servant leader, especially the very first element of the programme – Exploring Leadership in the Kingdom.

This lesson is split into 9 topics and you will find students notes for each topic on the topic pages. They are virtually a verbatim transcript of the topic videos. You can also download the full student notes from the link below.

You’ll find the Google Translate controls at the top right so you can read the on-line notes in your own language.

The Christ-Centred Servant Leader

The goal of the Christ-centred servant leader is to live out Christ’s sacrificial servant character as a leader. This is the exact opposite of seeing leadership as being about status and position. It is about enabling others to gain advantage from fulfilling their potential, not gaining personal advantage for oneself. It is about leading others in the way that Jesus led others, in the context of the Kingdom of God.

The goal of the Growing the Servant Heart programme has been to do exactly that; to grow a servant heart in leaders. If you made it to the end of the programme then keep on going. Constantly review what you have learned and actively and prayerfully seek to live it out in your leadership style.

If you have found your way to this lesson first, then I would encourage you to seek God for a heart’s desire to lead with Christ’s servant heart as your driving force. Start at the beginning of the programme and work your way through.

May the Lord bless you as you seek to bring glory to him.

Please enjoy the module, you can start by selecting a topic from the menu: