Equipping Disciples is All About Leadership

By Fr. Jeff Lorig, Director of Pastoral Services

At the heart of Christian leadership is the sacred responsibility to equip others for the work of ministry.

It doesn’t just make good sense, it’s biblical…

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. (Ephesians 4: 11-14)

Equipping the saints takes more than a lecture or a program; it takes a leader who invests in and empowers others to be ambassadors for the Kingdom who then invest in and empower others to be ambassadors for the Kingdom. This is missionary discipleship, but it’s also just good old fashioned Christ-like leadership. This is why the Pastoral Services of the Archdiocese of Omaha has invested our time and resources to organize, invite, and host the Global Leadership Summit (GLS) at Creighton University August 8th and 9th. We have over 300 guests registered for this event and we have room for a few more. It’s not too late to register. Just click here.

We’re hosting the GLS with six wins in mind.

1. An Investment in Relationships. We think GLS will be an opportunity to bring to the surface and identify leaders from parishes and schools with whom we can develop relationships and work with to move the Pastoral Vision forward in their context. We also think GLS provides the same opportunity for pastors and principals to identify and build relationships with leaders from the parishes and schools.
2. Whet the appetites of positional leaders for leadership growth. We think many of us who attend GLS will be convicted in our desire to become better leaders and then do something about it.
3. Networking leaders from across the Archdiocese. We think the atmosphere at GLS will inspire leaders from different parishes and schools to interact and share ideas and dreams.
4. Move intentional disciples to missionary disciples. An intentional disciple is someone who has made a choice for Jesus Christ. A missionary disciple someone who shares that choice with others and uses his or her influence (leadership) to invest in others.
5. That every attendee would experience some form growth in their leadership capacity. Ultimately yes, this is a no-brainer win, but we also believe that if it doesn’t happen then this was a failed event. For this reason we have been actively praying for the GLS speakers and all those attending the event, especially here in Omaha.
6. Activate lay leaders in the workplace, boardroom, families, etc. We often refer to this as our Lumen Gentium 31 win. Empowering lay leaders in the Church does not mean clericalizing the laity or laicizing
   the clerics. Far from it. Lumen Gentium 31 continues to breath fresh air into our confusing times.

The laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there by God that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity. Therefore, since they are tightly bound up in all types of temporal affairs it is their special task to order and to throw light upon these affairs in such a way that they may come into being and then continually increase according to Christ to the praise of the Creator and the Redeemer. (Lumen Gentium, 31)Fr.

Fr. Jeff Lorig can be reached at jplorig@archomaha.org or 402.558.3100.