“Sometimes I long to be more on the 'front line' of
the work but I have to remind myself that Crosslinks
staff are here to equip others for ministry.”

writes Andy Lines

Sometimes I long to be more on the 'front line' of the work but I have to remind myself that Crosslinks staff are here to equip others for ministry. 

My actual personal and family life is also of vital concern. Faithfulness and holiness are always things I ask people to pray for me. When I'm on one of my trips, with others or on my own, away from my wife and my family, being human, I have to be particularly careful and vigilant about personal godliness. That is where my church prayer triplets are so important in keeping me accountable. 

Another challenge is that of being a servant. A while ago I preached at the commissioning of a fellow General Secretary of another society. I told him that the Bible passage suggested that he was 'the lowest of the low'. He was going to serve the staff of his particular organisation, which in turn were seeking to serve churches in the UK and elsewhere, which were seeking also to serve the local members of the body of Christ there. Likewise I'm at the bottom of the pile, but I also have, as part of a voluntary Society, a role as a catalyst to church leaders in their thinking; for instance to consider partnering with national leaders around the world as well as white western mission partners. 

I was very excited last year when I visited a particular diocese in the Anglican Communion, and saw for the first time what I thought was a biblical model of leadership in a diocese with the diocese seeing itself clearly as the servant of the local churches trying to enable them for mission. So often the local churches seem to be there just to pay their dues, with the diocese as the end point. 

ENCOURAGING INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP 

The world has changed a great deal in the 20th and early 21st centuries. Working within our priorities of evangelistic opportunities and training trainers, and without sacrificing the traditional model of sending largely white, western missionaries to other parts of the word, there are three main areas of significant change in the way we operate: 

The first is through short-term Project Partners who are leaders supported for a short period in strategic initiatives around the world. Ayanda Jacobs, for instance, is working on the staff of the Bible Institute of the Eastern Cape in Port Elizabeth in South Africa where she has taken up a post held in part by a former western mission partner. These types of partnerships are seen as an encouragement towards national ownership. 

Another way is through the Study Partner programme. In the past, when training national leaders, they would be brought over to Bible Colleges in the west where they would have the best opportunities for learning. However this is not now the best way to train. Not only does it not make sense economically, but they are learning in a completely different context from their own. And so we seek to sponsor people in training in context and we now have many more study partners than mission partners. 

All our partnerships are developed with local churches or individuals, mainly in this country but it is difficult to encourage them to understand that a partnership through a non-western study partner, who may not understand or speak English, is actually a great long-term strategic prospect. A western mission partner takes a long while to train, costs much more to support and may only be overseas for three to five years and so risks barely scratching the surface. 

The third way is through Schools of Biblical Training. These try to encourage local churches around the world to develop clear, faithful and relevant Bible exposition, which some churches in the UK have had for 40-50 years largely from the ministry of John Stott, Dick Lucas and others. The aim is to have seminars each year, gradually training local people in the teaching so that they are not reliant upon us. It is encouraging to see some countries catching the vision, and already setting up preaching groups. 

LEADERSHIP OF A MISSION AGENCY 

Because a mission agency is a charitable trust working within the Charity Commission guidelines, we have, wisely, a division between the trusteeship or governance elements and the staff or executive officers; I am the chief executive under a Board of Trustees who appointed me and keep a close eye on me. Their job is to choose the person with the gifts they believe that particular agency needs at that particular time. My predecessors were very different in gifting from me, and I think the Trustees saw that other gifts were needed at the time, and I would expect and hope that my successor would be different again and bring different gifts. 

Actual knowledge of what is and is not your gifting is quite an important thing, and I am quite clear that, although I've been an Army officer I'm not a natural strategic thinker. I'm a people person so I love getting different people with different gifts to work together. I have to work to bring on board those who have the skills I lack. 

RESOURCES FOR LEADERSHIP 

Inevitably the Bible has to be the number one resource with the Pastoral Epistles and people studies. But there are two other things that I would mention: 

The first is actual personal discipleship. I am the product of a Christian leader who leads a local church and who has discipled me for over 30 years. During the time I was in the Army, he put himself in my shoes and asked the awkward questions. He did it when we were mission partners in Paraguay. He does it still, challenging me in all areas. That has been really key. Although we are not into creating clones, you would inevitably see in my style of leadership some of the things that I've picked up from him. 

The other element would be historical studies. We don't read enough about some of the Christian leaders in the past. On my recent visit to Thailand I took the latest Hudson Taylor biography and I have learnt some things that I'm going to be taking on to my leadership team, and we will see how those could be applied in Crosslinks today. Behind both these resources is the Bible as the vital tool in discipleship and also the authority behind the mission stories. 

LEADERSHIP IN THE FUTURE 

I had had three completely different spheres to develop my leadership: in the Army, in South America and in Crosslinks. Each layer has built itself on something else. I feel sharper than I was, but still feel I have a lot more to learn and look forward to what the Lord has to give.  

(click here to download Acrobat pdf version - approx 500 KB)

Adapted extracts from an interview between Andy Lines and Andy Peck of The Leadership File, Premier Christian Radio. (3 June 2007)