Strategies@Work, LLC, provides strategic planning, coaching, and training to facilitate transforming solutions for organizations, enabling them to achieve excellent performance. SAW’s philosophy is based on the presupposition that the timeless universal values and principles found in the Bible faci…
Wise organizational leaders and managers understand the importance of building organizations with people who are blessed. Blessed workers will seek to obey the Creation Mandate, that is, use the organization to serve as God's ruling agents on earth. Leaders and managers must be vigilant about building organizations with workers who are divinely empowered to mature as Jesus' disciples. Discipleship is the predicate for obedience to the Creation Mandate, which is the predicate for living in God's blessings. This is the only proper way to build organizations that magnify and glorify God.
Wise organizational leaders and managers recognize their responsibility to build with God. Consequently, they understand they must seek to produce the right value proposition but also must do it by serving the right people through building with the right people—those who manifest the fruit of regeneration and are maturing holistically in Christlikeness and in accordance to their divinely ordained calling—in the right way, in the right places, and at the right time. And all this must be done with the right motive: to glorify God.
Wise organizational leaders understand that they are building organizations in the context of what God is doing in his metanarrative. Therefore, organizations must reflect the will and ways of God as well as the purpose of God. To do this well, leaders must discern the right value proposition and find the right people to deliver the value proposition. The idea of right means that which is aligned with the plan and purpose of God, who has a reason for the existence of everything. There is no other licit reason for the existence of organizations except to serve God's purpose. This requires leadership grounded in a Christian worldview to deliver the value proposition ordained by God.
Organizational leaders and managers should build organizations based on the reality of living in the context of the new covenant era. This means that sound, efficient organizations should be built with true disciples (those who manifest the fruit of regeneration) who are humble, submitted, and teachable, and, therefore, seeking to live empowered lives aligned with the will and ways of God. Such people and organizations will build aligned with God and bear the fruit of progressively maturing in Christlikeness. This will enable them to truly bless those they serve as they honor God through excellent work (Colossians 3:17, 23).
Wise organizational leaders and managers recognize that the good news of the kingdom of God transforms people's hearts and is the basis for holistic living. To deliver an efficient value proposition requires workers who are maturing in living a Christian worldview that then informs every thought, choice, and action. Organizations with holistic Christian workers will deliver products and service with excellence and enjoy stellar reputations.
Wise organizational leaders and managers understand that Jesus is Lord of all, no exceptions. Accordingly, Jesus is Lord of all organizations. Therefore, the proper way to lead and manage an organization is in accordance with Scripture. To function any other way is humanistic, which will ultimately end in failure. The MTD message is incompatible with Christianity as historically understood by orthodox Christians. To build sound, efficient, and effective organizations, one of the key predicates is to build with people committed to orthodox Christianity as evidenced by their lifestyle.
Wise organizational leaders and managers will be regulated by a sound Christian worldview based on Scripture. Accordingly, they will understand the fallen condition of mankind and mankind's impotency to self-save and that God's plan of salvation is not universally granted to all. Hence, they will recognize the impact of sin on all stakeholders. Building an organizational culture based on Scripture as a necessary predicate for delivering excellent value will be a priority.
To lead well, organizational leaders and managers must be holistic—they must embrace the lordship of Jesus in all jurisdictions without equivocation. This means that every issue should, as much as possible, align with the will, ways, timing, and glory of God. When works and organizational leaders so live, organizations will be aligned with God's plan and purpose. This will be manifested by hiring the right workers who will then serve the right people with the right value proposition, using the right means and methods in the right places and at the right times for the glory of God. The fruit of this alignment with God will be success in accordance with God's plan and purpose.
Wise organizational leaders recognize the importance of workers who labor aligned with the will of God. The workplace is a context for people to fulfill their callings. To do this requires sound Christian leadership in organizations to prepare workers to find and fulfill their callings. To this end, support from local churches can be valued to help people discover God's call. Local churches that prioritize evangelism over discipleship will be counterproductive. This wrong priority will impair personal effectiveness and efficiency.
Wise organizational leaders think big; they study Scripture to understand the metanarrative, seeking to discern their assignments in God's plan. They understand the purpose of humanity is to serve as God's ruling agents who execute his will according to his ways in his timing and all for his glory. Organizationally, this means that everything should be aligned with God's purpose as outlined in the original Creation order and contextualized in the metanarrative. This requires both macro and micro discernment and application of a Christian worldview to all aspects of organizational behavior. Leading this way is the only path to success.
True leadership is Christian leadership because only Christian leaders are guided by Scripture as illuminated by the Holy Spirit and understood by the historical orthodox Christian church. This is the requisite epistemology that undergirds alignment of thought and actions with God's will, performed according to God's ways, in God's timing, and for God's glory. No leader will ever be profound without this mindset. And such leaders will be clear that the knowledge and wisdom needed will be found in Scripture and propagated through the real expressions of the local New Testament ekklesia (the church of the living God).
In a world without sin, there would be little need for leadership because everyone would always make the right choices. But in a fallen world, leadership is required to respond to the reality of sin—rebellion against God. This means that profound leaders do God's will, according to God's ways, in God's timing, and all for God's glory. There is no other way to properly lead individuals and organizations. As a definition of success, worldly metrics are deceptive and, at best, are useful tactically, but these metrics can never be profound. Only alignment with God provides a basis for profound leadership that facilitates individual and organizational success in life.
Wise organization leaders recognize Christlike transformation in people as an indication of the Holy Spirit at work. They understand that regeneration is a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit—an extension of the grace of God that precedes the expression of faith in a person. Sometimes godly works may precede a profession of faith. When godly leaders see evidence of the Holy Spirit in people (Christlikeness manifested by HST), they will support it by helping people understand and live aligned with truth. This facilitates discipleship. Organizations with a culture of discipleship will produce excellent products and services that will bless their customers and glorify the Lord. This is a way that people and organizations show they love the Lord with all their hearts, souls, and might.
Wise organizational leaders recognize the bigger picture of reality and consider their responsibility in the context of the Creation Mandate and the metanarrative. While they understand the function of management to coordinate and supervise people and resources to accomplish tasks on time, on scope, and on budget, they also understand that the bigger responsibility is to serve the purpose of God in and through every stakeholder. This means they recognize their role as shepherds who care for God's sheep who have been placed under their authority as they serve the people whom their organizations are called to serve with the value propositions they are called to deliver.
Wise organizational managers understand that reality is created and governed by the sovereign, intentional, strategic Creator as revealed in Scripture. Therefore, to manage well, they embrace a Christian worldview holistically because Jesus is Lord of all—no exceptions. Their focus will be discerning God's will, doing it according to his ways, in his timing, and for his glory. There is no other legitimate way to function in God's universe. And only obedience to God will bring enduring success, security, significance, and satisfaction.
Wise organizational leaders will reject the worldly definition of strategic success and embrace the Christian definition. All transactions must be tactically aligned with the will and ways of God not with pragmatic metrics, such as, does it work or will it make money. Everyone in the organization must be trained to think from a Christian worldview and then empowered to tactically act aligned with the strategic plan, which is congruent with the will and ways of God. The organizational culture must support this view of strategic success and the leaders must hold all stakeholders accountable to live accordingly.
Wise organizational leaders recognize that successfully fulfilling their divinely ordained purpose requires an economic context that supports Christian values and principles. Without this context, obedience to God becomes arduous. This may also threaten the existence of the organization. In such case, it may be imperative for the organization to find a Goshen to survive the threat until the organization can safely return to its divinely ordained mission. Organizational leaders would be wise to prepare contingency plans to mitigate such risk.
Building multigenerational organizations is daunting in a fallen world given over to sin. Organizational leaders and managers must vigilantly model and build a culture that seeks to align with God's will, ways, timing, and glory. There is no other way to build that will enjoy God's favor and blessing. This makes organizational leadership and management a profoundly spiritual function that can only be executed well multigenerationally based on a Christian worldview.
Wise organizational leaders and managers understand the primacy of living according to the multigenerational metanarrative aligned with the purpose of God both individually and organizationally. Accordingly, they seek to discern God's purpose for their organizations and to build with people who seek to serve God's purpose individually. When divinely ordained individual and organization purposes are aligned, organizations will be effective and efficient. They will have healthy cultures and excellent reputations and will also enjoy financial favor. Consequently, aligning with God's multigenerational purpose is the only sound way to build people and organizations.
Wise leaders and managers recognize the profundity of Jesus' model of servant leadership. He is the gold standard. Though one might find examples of other men who displayed servant leadership, such as Hal Moore, no mere mortal has ever lived (or ever will live) fully congruent with Jesus' model. Sound organizational leadership is based on humbly and sacrificially serving God's purpose in others. This applies in all settings—churches, nonprofits, businesses, and families. Servant leadership is the path to success and significance in all activities of life.
Wise leaders and managers understand that the only correct way to build organizations is God's way—his will done his way in his timing for his glory. In God's universe this is the only right way. Accordingly, they will build diligently using biblical principles, such as the C4 Principle, to help identify the right people—those God has sovereignly ordained to be part of an organization. This practice is one of the keys to facilitating individual and organizational excellence and success.
Wise organizational leaders and managers understand that Jesus is Lord and resist the temptation to presume that anything exists outside of his sovereign control. Accordingly, they understand that every person and organization is accountable to Christ. Organizationally, this means that to the best of their ability every aspect of the organization should be aligned with the will of God. This includes the enduring purpose of the organization.
Wise organizational leaders and managers seek to connect their thinking and actions to God's metanarrative, knowing that all will give an account to the Creator for their choices. Therefore, individuals and organizations must seek to serve God's purpose in the metanarrative with the understanding that the only correct way to live, individually and organizationally, is to seek to obey God's will according to God's ways in God's timing for God's glory. At the same time, we must always remember that the power to so live comes solely from God. This is foundational Christian thinking.
Organizational leaders and managers must be committed and submitted to a Christian worldview as revealed through Scripture. Accordingly, they will value biblical principles such as the C4 Principle as a tool to facilitate alignment with God both individually and organizationally. When used congruently throughout an organization, the C4 Principle will enable the organization to deliver an efficient and excellent value to customers. The byproduct will be a stellar reputation, financial profit, and success.
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
