Good Works, Inc.

By Bereket Mamo

As Christians we are called to become leaders so that God can be glorified through us. I am thankful to Good Works for allowing me to participate and become a leader so that I can be mature and grow in my relationship with God and others. My hope for the summer was to grow in my leadership skills and to find God in that role. This essay is an attempt to explain my experiences as a leader and how God has used me in ways that I never thought possible.

My time at Good Works is spent on learning about what leadership is mostly about. Although I have not mastered the skills of being a Christian leader, I have learned about the character of God as a leader. I have learned that being a Christian Leader is not an easy skill to have, but that it requires patience, love and humility. Philippians 2: 3 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” This verse reminds us to consider others better than ourselves especially when given a leadership role. I learned that humility gave me the opportunity to become a learner and become open minded so that God can be glorified. Moreover, I learned that leadership is an important gift for the body of Christ to unite together. It is through the constant giving up of one’s self for others that leaders are able to build and encourage one another in love. I believe that the Lord taught me the importance of humility that is needed to become a Christian leader.

I have had awesome experiences as a leader this summer. My first week at Kids Discovery Club was when I knew that I needed God the most. I had felt so inadequate to teach ten and eleven year olds about the armor of God. One of the group members became my helpers during faith time. She was able to critique and help me with my teachings because the kids seemed to not understand or care about our time together. Although I have been given the role of being her leader, she became someone that I had to learn from. God taught to me to learn from her and become a learner. This experience has helped me to change the ways I taught for the entire summer and I learned about some ways that I can work with kids. If it was not for the group member to critique me I would have not succeeded throughout the summer.

In addition, during my experiences as a leader I have learned about the love of God. The love of God is demonstrated through the people that I have worked with and it is displayed through their efforts to work together. These experiences demonstrate my growth as a leader and into the person that God is calling me to be.

God is calling me to imitate Christ as a leader. The Bible speaks about the humility of Christ when he served people. He was able to meet people from where they are at and did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. I believe that God is calling me to be a leader that represents Jesus. In order for God to be glorified through me I believe that I must allow others to teach, admonish, and also lead me. Moreover, I believe that God is calling me to become confident and thrust in him to do what is right. I have noticed that I don’t have confidence in myself and I am afraid to lead others. During my first week here I was afraid and scared of the thought of leading others. But the Lord has comforted me and gave me the opportunity to have confidence in Him. This summer has been another way that God demonstrated to me His faithfulness and love towards me. I have more confidence in myself than I ever thought was possible in leadership. I am hoping to imitate Christ and lead in way that he wants me to.