Chapter 11 Another Brick in the Wall There are three levels of relationships that need to be in place: Those above, those beside and those below. This creates 360° degrees of accountability. Bringing the church into alignment takes a team. It takes the right people serving at the right place all around us. Like a brick in the wall, each of us is dependent upon those around us in order to find our place in life. In fact each brick is kept in place by six other bricks. There are two above it, two beside it and two beneath it. Can you see how the ability of each brick in the wall to find its place of alignment depends upon the other six bricks around it? This interconnectivity creates strength in the wall and assures that each brick is kept safe and secure in its place. Perhaps this was what Peter was thinking when he said,
“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God though Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4-5
The Power of Relationships – It’s not what you know but who you know that counts I’ve heard the above phrase a lot. I’ve even used it myself a time or two. Usually when this phrase is repeated it is said sarcastically when someone else gets something of which we felt more deserving. When another person gets the promotion we desired; when someone else gets the job for which we applied; when someone else gets the raise for which we asked, we slap our lips together and say “Well, I guess it’s not what you know but who you know.” With rolling eyes and a sarcastic grin, we wag our heads in disgust and walk away disappointed, having written off the entire episode as a result of some political conspiracy. What we don’t understand many times is how powerfully true that statement is! It isn’t what you know that gets you ahead in life nearly as much as whom you
know. Most of the time, knowing the right person will do more for you than knowing the right facts. Success is frequently more of a result of relationships than schooling alone. Knowing the right people is a vital key to almost everything you want to achieve. Now before you close the book and declare that you are not going to be a ‘brown-nosier,” let me suggest that you have a little smudge of brown on your nose already. Think about your life. I dare say that many things you have attained in your life have come as a result of knowing the right person. Have you ever asked for a recommendation from a friend in order to get a job? Have you ever bought something at a discount because you had a friend or a friend of a friend who worked in the store? Have you ever asked someone for the name of a good mechanic or a nice restaurant? Have you ever asked someone to help you with a job around the house because they knew how to fix it? Have you ever asked someone for advice? All of the above is a who-you-know not a what-you-know proposition. If these relationships have ever served you over the course of your life, then I want to suggest that you have already greatly benefited from the fact that it’s not what you know but who you know that counts!
Social Capital, Relational Equity and the Good-oleboy Network All of life teaches us that everyone benefits from these types of relationships. Having access to the right network of friends is called Social Capital. Consider the friend who recommends a good mechanic to you. You find a person you can trust with your car, the mechanic picked up new business and your friend receives a discount on his next tire rotation because of his recommendation. Everybody wins because of this network of friendships. I call this Relational
Equity. Sometimes it’s simple known as the Good-ole-boy Network. Whatever you call it, much of your success will depend upon the strength of these vital relationships. My suggestion for people who want to succeed in life is that they need to sharpen their people skills. These are some of the most important tools that a
person can use. Sooner or later, all of us will need somebody to help us get to the next level in life. In the United States, we have a mythology that is just as real to us as Zeus and Achilles was to the Greeks. Ours is found in the rugged individualist. Superheroes like John Wayne and Rambo show us the lonely wanderer who succeeds on his own without anybody’s help. These characters grace the silver screens in movie theaters, fill up nightly television line-ups and pervade the pages of fiction literature. All the while, we are singing along with Frank Sinatra, “I did it my way.” This myth resounded in the imaginations of millions of immigrants who came to America looking for freedom. It gave them the courage they needed to keep going. Because of this, it is irrevocably connected to the roots of the American Dream. In reality our fore-parents who immigrated to this country found out what you and I need to discover today - we need other people.
Thank God for Who We Are Did you ever stop to think that the reason why you are saved is because of who you know more than it is what you know? Think about that one. We are not saved because of our perfect knowledge but because of our relationship with Jesus Christ. When we pray, we do so based upon the fact that we have a friend in high places, not because we have a mastery of the English language. It’s not what you know but who you know that counts! Every time we here that phrase we ought to thank God it’s true. If being saved and making it to heaven was based upon what we know instead of who we know, we would all be in trouble, wouldn’t we? You see God created human beings to be relational. Even though Adam was in a perfect environment and walked with God on a personal level God said “It is not
good that man should be alone (Genesis 2:18).” This statement confirms that contained within the most basic components of the human blueprint there is a deep need to relate with other people. We were not meant to live an isolated life. We need people in order to survive and to thrive. The quicker we stop fighting that fact and accept the notion that we need help from others, the sooner we will be put on the pathway to fulfilling our destinies. The desire in a person’s heart to connect to other people creates the ability for one person to come into alignment with another so both individuals can achieve
more. This is why the Bible says that one can put a thousand enemies to flight but two can put ten thousand to fight (Deuteronomy 32:30). There is multiplied effectiveness in agreement. Jesus confirmed this in Matthew 18:19 when He said
“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on Earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” Evidently, not just what you know but who you know is important when you need answered prayer.
What’s Your Kevin Bacon Number? The reason we should be thankful that success is more dependent upon who you know than what you know because there are a lot more what’s than whose. According to worldwide population data, there are almost seven billion who’s on the planet. While this seems like a lot, scientists and sociologists tells us that hardly anyone alive is more than six people removed from any individual on earth. The example they use is the actor Kevin Bacon. They say that none of us is more than six people removed from him. They even assign people their own Kevin Bacon
Number. For instance mine is 4. I have a friend who has a friend who has been on the David Letterman show. Letterman has interviewed Kevin Bacon many times so that means that, counting myself I am 3 people removed removed from David Letterman and 4 people from Kevin Bacon. So my Kevin Bacon Number is 4. If you know me then you are number 5. Banking on the truth it’s not what I know but who I know that counts, I have found that I do not need to spend years of my life becoming an expert on everything. All I need to do is know someone who is. I don’t need to be an expert on fixing cars because I know someone who is. I don’t need to be an expert on computers because I know someone who is. I don’t need to be an expert on advertising because I know someone who is. I don’t need to be an expert on plumbing because I know someone who is. I don’t need to be an expert on doing laundry because I know someone who is....at least that’s what I tell my wife! From the above illustrations, it’s easy to see that I have access to a whole lot of what’s by knowing only five who’s. The combined bits of information that it takes to become an expert on cars, computers, advertising, plumbing, and laundry would be in the hundreds of millions. It would take more than one lifetime to
become an expert on all of that. But I have access to all the information simply because I know 5 people! Thank God it’s not what I know but who I know that counts! My very survival depends upon it.
Understanding 360° Accountability It is vital that each person in the church, especially those in leadership, learn how to relate to people around them in order to achieve 360 °accountability. This is a term I use to describe what wise leaders understand about all their relationships with other bricks in the wall. They are accountable to everyone around them in different ways. To those above them, they are accountable for friendship and teamwork. To those below, they are accountable for leadership and forward movement. In these days of high profile scandals and moral failures, there is a greater need than ever for leaders to create a network of safety by understanding the value of 360° accountability.
Relating to those above us – learning FROM them Those above us are the people to whom we submit ourselves and serve as spiritual sons and daughters. No matter our stage of life or level of leadership, we need to have an on-going relationship with someone above us to whom we submit ourselves. Before I would ever subject my family to the leadership of another person, I would want to know the name of the person to whom they submit. I want to know who in case to call if I see a problem in them that needs addressed from the upper row of bricks. I would never recommend that a person attend a church where the senior pastor is the final link of authority. Everyone needs someone above them in order to become a qualified leader in the Kingdom of God. Alignment is impossible without that upper row of bricks. It doesn’t matter if it’s a cell group leader serving in a local church, the senior pastor of a church or an apostle who oversees a network of churches, every brick in the wall needs to have some relationship with someone above it.
A person’s ability to parent is directly related to their ability to be parented. Their ability to lead is in direct proportion to their willingness to be led. A leader who does not serve another person’s vision has no right to receive his or her own vision and then ask others to serve it. How can any leader ask something of his or her followers that they, themselves, are not willing to give? When seeking out those above us, we should look for people who have a natural anointing for leadership from the Holy Spirit. Their ability to parent us most likely will rest in one or more of the following three areas of qualification:
Authority-Based, Age-Based, and/or Achievement-Based leadership. (1)Authority-based
leadership
represents
a
person
who
walks
in
supernatural authority. They are not bossy or intimidating. They don’t have to be. Their authority is not from an overbearing attitude but from a gift of God. While they may be a lion when ministering in public, they are often very humble and nonassuming people in private. They do, however, carry upon them the stamp of God’s approval by an anointing from the Holy Spirit. This anointing produces great authority that is recognized by the devils of hell and discerned by the saints on earth. They regularly perform miracles and see answers to their prayers. They speak with such wisdom and authority that nearly everyone in the room listens when they open their mouths. These leaders make excellent generals in the army of God. Where they sometimes need help is in the area of parenting. While they see wars they need to be fought and demons that need defeated, they don’t always see children who need to be loved.
(2)Age-based leadership represents a person who is mature in age and in ministry. These are the natural parents in the Kingdom of God. Their grey hair testifies of their parentage. These people have a natural wisdom for ministry because of their years of experience. They have accumulated numerous spiritual and relational victories over time though their unending love for the church. They are sought out by many other gifted leaders to become a spiritual parent to them. Their age makes this a natural fit. They are patriarchs by default and are able to produce many healthy and loving children. Their challenge may come when it’s time
to be a general. Whipping the troops into shape and drawing up battle strategies may not come naturally for them. They would much rather gather all the kids around their rocking chair for story time than send them out to war.
(3)Achievement-based leadership represents a person who has earned the right to lead by their fruit. Their works testify of their call of God. These leaders can oversee various ministries at once and seem to have the Midas touch with everything they put their hands on. Their achievements are attractive. Many other leaders in the church seek out these individuals because of the success and size of their ministries. Although they may attract many people who are more star struck than sincere, their ability to help these people is nonetheless effective. These leaders may have a harder time being as relational as the age-based leader but can easily provide an effective system in which other leaders can find accountability. Having leaders above us is a key to going to the next level. It would be fair to say that Elisha would have never reached his destiny without first submitting, serving and following Elijah. His ability to be released into his prophetic ministry was dependent upon how he first related to his spiritual father. The reason for this is because a spiritual inheritance is passed along from parent to child. It comes from one row of bricks down to the next. That’s why when Elisha stood watching Elijah leave this planet on a chariot of fire he shouted, “Father, father” and not “Prophet, prophet.” Prophets may give you the word of God but only a father can give you an inheritance. We receive the ability to reach our full potential from those above us when we enter into a relationship with them. That’s why it’s important for you to be connected to the right people above you. Not everyone above you is interested in helping you achieve your destiny. Some are only interested in you helping them achieve their dreams and desires. You need somebody above you who is willing to give to you in a condensed period of time what it took them years to learn. You want someone who loves you and has your best interests at heart. You want someone who freely shares their resources with you because they consider you a
true child of theirs. The upper row of bricks is supposed to reach down and help pull up those below them. Unless a leader has this heart, stay away!
Relating to those beside us – Learning WITH them Those beside us are peers. These are our brothers and sisters who serve alongside us as colleagues. Everyone needs people like this with whom they learn how to walk as friends and comrades. You learn how to watch one another’s back, wash one another’s feet and forgive each other after being offended. People who never learn how to walk in healthy peer-level relationships will never know how to function as a team. They will forever be a solo act that hinders the alignment of the church rather than helping it. There are five lessons that a person learns from relating with those bricks on either side of them that make up the team. (1)When a person properly relates with the bricks beside them, sharing the pedestal becomes natural. Who can forget that night when the captain of the United States hockey team stood atop the podium to receive the gold medal in the 1980 Olympics? After being handed the medal, he motioned for the entire team to join him on the podium which they did for the raising of the flag and the playing of the Star Spangled Banner. This is a picture of what every leader should be doing; sharing the pedestal with all of those who are part of the team. (2)When a person properly relates with the brick’s beside them, applauding another person’s achievement is easier. When victory can only be defined in corporate terms, it is less likely that jealousies will arise. Personal ambition won’t cloud a pastor’s mind who understands that their success is dependent upon the achievements of other members of the team. This can only be accomplished when success is defined by the condition of a territory rather than by the size of a local congregation. (3)When a person properly relates with the bricks beside them, team victories are the only ones that count. Again, when the condition of the city becomes the definition of success for churches in the territory, then a natural mindset of dependency emerges. Pastors and churches see themselves as part of the overall spiritual tapestry that covers the territory, not the entire picture.
They know that they are only part of the answer for society’s complex problems. Seeing the church this way produces a team mindset that desires victory for the corporate church instead of everyone fighting to see who is going to be the biggest congregation in town. (4)When a person properly relates with the bricks beside them, learning to trust others becomes essential. There is no team without trust. Whether it’s on the sports field, battlefield or the boardroom, team members have to trust one another in order to win. Trust is the mortar that cements the bricks together. It is essential to have trust extending in all directions on this wall. When pastors and churches leaders connect in such a way that a team mindset is established, trust produces honesty, honesty produces unity and unity produces power. This is what the world is waiting to see. (5)When a person properly relates with the bricks beside them, everyone learns how to handle adversities and wins victories together. I believe that apostolic authority is being restored to the church in this hour for the purpose of creating connection for pastors, churches and ministries to come together worldwide. This unity will provide a greater force on the earth for good than combined forces of hell can create for evil. Unity gives us the ability to transform territories by defeating the forces of evil and establishing the Kingdom of God. For this to happen worldwide, however, it will take more than a single person, church or denomination. It will take an enormous team of people who are in alignment like bricks on the wall.
Relating to those below us – Learning FOR them Those below are the people we lead. Learning to treat them with respect and honor instead of seeing them as lesser than us is a valuable benchmark of Kingdom leadership. The expectations of those who follow will help keep the leader motivated and moving forward. They also have the right to call the leader into question just like children do to their parents when confronting them with the
truth of their word. We have all heard our kids say at one time or another, “But dad, you said… “ The way in which we interact with those below us should become clear by stating how we desire those above us to interact with us. In case you have forgotten, let me quote what I said earlier. In the preceding pages, I described what we should be looking for in leaders who are above us. Here are the highlights: “Not everyone above you is interested in helping you achieve your destiny. They are only interested in you helping them achieve their dreams and desire.” Now that you are the one in the upper row, you need to concern yourself with helping those below you. Assuming that you have received this same treatment from those who lead you, it ought to be an easy and natural thing to pass along as your inheritance. It is wrong and immoral to use God’s people as your own personal pawns and stepping stones to fulfill your own fantasies. You don’t want leaders doing that to you so why would you ever want to do that to someone else? ” You want someone who loves you and has your best interests at heart.” Any other type of relationship is manipulated. As you relate to those bricks below you, do so with their best interest at heart. You may need to rebuke them occasionally. Good parents know how to do this. You may need to whip them into shape like a drill sergeant occasionally. This prepares them for battle. You may have to be blunt and honest with them in order to help mature them as spiritual adults. This prepares them for adulthood. But whatever you do, make sure you always do it for their best interest. “You want someone who freely shares their resources with you because they consider you a true child of theirs.” Open up your heart and treasures to your child. What kind of parent would forbid their child access to the cupboard or refrigerator when they are hungry? When I visit my mom I still look around for some pie or cookies. I am her son and she has let me know that I am welcome to enjoy her resources. This is how healthy families work and this is how leadership ought to work in the church. “Unless a leader has his heart, stay away from them! Do you want people to follow you? Do you want to be a spiritual parent and produce offspring? They
don’t drive people away by using them like pawns for your own pleasure. Be a true parent to tem and lead with their best interest in mind. Be focused and committed to help them achieve their dreams and goals in life.
Five Elements that can Create or Destroy Your Relationships In order for the church to be aligned like those proverbial bricks in the wall that we have described, each person needs to understand how to build strong relationships. Without establishing these formidable connections, the wall will fall apart under the weight of its own egotism and dysfunction. Leaders will never bring themselves and their followers into alignment without having bona fide people skills. The church is, when all is said and done, all about people. Relationships are complicated because people are complicated. That’s why unity can only take place at the core of human desires where instincts are pure and damaged emotions, bad experiences and narcissistic hang ups are less likely to interfere in the process. This is also why the Bible is the only qualified book to use as a reference in bringing the church into alignment. It is, after all, the fundamental blueprint for mankind. Although volumes of literature have been written on the subject of relationships, the truth of the subject has yet to be exhausted. Psychologists and Sociologists are still theorizing about what makes relationships work and what rips them apart. Because of this, dating services abound on the internet and personality profiles thieve in the workplace. While I realize that the following five truths are certainly not exhaustive, at least they will get an interested person in the social ballpark. The following items represent five major qualities that build up relationships and how the opposite traits destroy them. (1)Trust will build strong relationships while SUSPICION will destroy them.
Trust is an investment that all people must give in order to reap the
benefits of social capital. Trust is a choice. It’s also a risk. Just like the person who invests money with an expectation to reap a greater harvest with interest, trust is an investment in people that assumes some measures of risks with the hope
of greater return. Is trust earned? In a sense, yes, trust is earned to varying degrees. But if you withhold your trust in someone until they jump though enough hoops to earn it according to your standard, then you are in danger of becoming manipulated. Relationships suffer under the extreme scrutiny of a person who exerts that kind of control. My experience in such matters is that a person who tries to control relationships to that extent is usually wounded from past betrayals and ends up becoming a very lonely and isolated person in the end. Trust is a fundamental quality that needs to be reciprocated in a 360° circle. Trust is the mortar that holds all the bricks in alignment. It connects each of us to the people above us, beside us and below us in ways that make unity possible. People need to invest trust in leaders above them while at the same time investing trust in those who follow. Everyone in the circle needs to be trustworthy in order for this exchange to be a bond that strengthens the wall on multiple levels and produces increased rewards. On a peer-level, people need to exchange trust just as much as they do for their vertical relationships. As a necessary ingredient to any strong relationship, honesty can only emerge to the degree that people trust one another. Without trust producing honesty, fear and hypocrisy will be the hallmarks of the organization. Again, trust is the mortar that holds the wall together. Without trust, we are just a bunch of redeemed bricks stacked on top of each other waiting for the day that we all fall apart under our own weight. To avoid this we need mortar. We need to learn how to trust one another. Suspicion is an instinctive doubt about the integrity and honesty of a person without evidence. It is the expectation that something is wrong with an individual that has not yet been proven. For protection purposes, many people make suspicion their initial reaction when sufficient information about a person is unavailable. Suspicion will make a person observe and analyze the slightest details of an individual’s speech and actions. Many times it misinterprets perfectly natural and innocent actions wrongly because it assumes the worst in people. Suspicion will justify itself by seeing and hearing things that make other people seem untrustworthy. This happens because the possibility of a person being truly honest
and good-hearted does not fit into the suspicious person’s worldview. They have been hurt too many times to believe that truly trustworthy people exist. (2)GENEROSITY will build strong relationships while SELFISHNESS will destroy them. Generosity is more than related to money. It describes the willingness of a person to give of all their resources to help another individual achieve their goals. This is a needed trait for all bricks on the three levels of the wall. Each brick must open up their treasure trove of resources and become generous to those above, beside and below them in order for the Kingdom of God to advance. At times this kind of bounteousness may be financial generosity but more often, it will be intangible things like giving of time, advice, compliments, trust and genuine love. These characteristics give life to alignment. When they radiate in a 360° circle from each brick, the entire wall will pulsate with the presence of Jesus. This kind of activity attracts the Spirit of Christ and gives Him a habitation in a familiar place. Truly the rule of God will be exerted on earth as it is in heaven. He will call a place like this home! At this point the bricks become more than inanimate objects, they become living stones according to 1 Peter 2:5. Just as generosity can make the wall alive, selfishness will kill it. Whenever the bricks become inward focused and stingy, they absorb life from one another like a black hole in space. The focus of the wall is turned inward instead of outward. The life of the wall is depleted with every selfish breath drawn into the lungs of self-centered people. They view the wall only in terms of how it benefits them. This is not the environment of Christ but the characteristic of Satan’s Kingdom. This attitude exemplifies that curesd kingdom of this world rather than the blessed Kingdom of God. Soon, an organization like this loses its life and becomes an old wineskin, held together only by the mortar of tradition and manipulation. With its life depleted, like the ruins of some ancient civilization. (3)RESPECT will build strong relationships while RESENTMENT will destroy them.
I would define respect as a feeling or attitude of admiration and
honor directed toward a person. Based upon this definition, having respect in a 360° circle means that we give honor like the Bible says to do to everyone around
us. Paul told the Philippians,�Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or
conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem better than himself (Philippians 2:3).� This is respect! This trait may have been especially important to the Philippians as all social classed were represented to the church at Philippi according to the record of Paul’s journey there in Acts 16:12-39. These bricks in this wall included everyone from a former demon possessed slave girl to a fashion designer; from a government employee who was a jailer to other women who attended a weekly prayer meeting by the river. Respect in this diverse atmosphere was a key in keeping this wall free from any death blows inflicted by superior and inferior attitudes. Generosity is still important today for the church to remain multicultural, multi-racial, multipositional, multi-economical, multi-ethical, multi-generational and multi-gender. Resentment is the seedbed of hatred. It is a result of the plowed ground of jealousy. Like the sharp blades of a plow, jealousy cuts at the heart of a person bringing wound where the seeds of resentment are sown. The wall of relationships will be destroyed after the harvest of resentment produces the fruit of hatred. This must be avoided at all costs. Resentment might be position-based. This attitude is aimed at those who have the highest rank in an organization. This is especially true when someone on a certain level gets promoted to a position on higher level. It could be based on money or it could be based on popularity, two things that draw resentment and criticism from jealous onlookers. It could be something as serious as who is most anointed in the church to something as shallow as what brick is better looking or best dressed. Whatever the case, resentment destroys relationships and needs to be resisted on every level. (4)FORGIVENESS will build strong relationships while OFFENSE will destroy them.
Forgiveness may be the most important trait next to love that
brings life and strength to the wall. People need to know how to forgive in order to establish strong and long lasting relationships that bear fruit. The reason for this is because over time, everyone is going to have to forgive somebody in order to move forward. It is the trait that best exemplifies Godliness as He forgives our
sin daily. Whenever God gives us a chance to forgive someone who has wronged us, He is giving us the opportunity to be blessed by becoming more God-like in our forgiveness of others with a gracious and humble heart. This truth is so vital to the health of the church that Jesus said, “ For if you forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you (Matthew 6:14).” Be wary of someone who has no track record of long-lasting relationships. If they have no life-long friends; if they have multiple marriages; if they have been to several churches in a short period of time; if they have jumped from job to job, it tells you something about their character. This lets you know that they probably have deep wounds that keep them from the ability to forgive on a 360° circle and stay connected to those bricks around them. If a person has a long history of broken relationships, it tells you something about what they believe about themselves. Because people like this are not secure and confident enough to offer someone the grace to be released from the obligation of wrongdoing, they see forgiveness as a reward to be withheld until the offender earns the right to receive it. With manipulative strings, they hold it over the heads of the perpetrators, feeling like the puppet master of the relationship. Those who feel victimized will use forgiveness as a source of control over people. What they don’t realize is that the strings they are using have entangled them in bondage with even more hideous consequences. (5)FUN will build strong relationships while HEAVINESS will destroy them. Nobody likes to bond with a parasite. It costs too much. Relationships that work are those that are easy and fun. What people enjoy most is finding a person who doesn’t demand a lot of work to be entertained. You don’t feel the obligation to carry every conversation. These are low maintenance people who don’t get offended because you didn’t call them or email them during the week. They don’t get jealous if you have other friends or angry because you didn’t ask them to go on vacation with you. Time spent with these folks is easy and peaceful. These relationships usually click early in the process, something within minutes. If you want to be a liked person and have many people in your social network, then learn how to laugh and have a good time with them. Being too serious and
heavy will exhaust people and drive them away. Using people to prop up your happiness in life will drain people and cause them to avoid you. You don’t want to be the lone brick on your wall or do you? I see people all the time searching for willing victims. They are probing for a host from whom they can draw life and significance. These insecure people can draw life and significance. These insecure people depend upon the strength of others to satisfy their parasitic appetite. They literally suck the life right out of a person with their constant complaints of injustice, pain and depression. Their life moves from one perceived crisis to another.
This becomes their identity and
source of personal attention. Tragically, being a victim becomes their moniker as they literally cause these negative events to become reality through the power of their confessions and expectation. Trying to extract their strength and joy from one brick after another, they wear people out. They draw life from people until each host has no more to give and is eventually discarded like an old soda can, replaced by another overly sympatric person. This kind of activity must be stopped in the wall by learning how to be givers instead of takers. These types of bricks are weakening the wall and need to be told how to live victoriously by becoming a giver instead of a taker. I realize that this is easier said than done. However, leaders need to address this issue in their congregations before it’s too late.
Summary God has arranged the church like bricks on a wall. Each of us can stay in alignment by creating and maintaining proper relationships above us, besides us and below us. God intends that these relationships continue long-term and provide continued unity within the church by creating an atmosphere of commonality around a single purpose. These relationships are vital in creating a social network of friends who can help us move to the next level, going from “ glory to glory” according to 2 Corinthians 3:18. We need people above us pulling us upward. We need people beside us encouraging us onward. We need people below us urging us forward. To the extent that we experience 360° accountability, are we truly qualified for Kingdom
leadership? There are some common tools that help keep us connected on all three levels of relationships for long-lasting benefits. Among them are trust, generosity, respect, forgiveness and fun. These will build lasting connections that will produce long-tem results.