VALUED

“You have yet to see the power of a people valued”, the Lord whispered this phrase to me many years ago and I have never forgotten it. When people understand their value to God, have a healthy valuation of themselves and finally are valued by others its a perfect combination.

When people know they are valued it changes all sorts of attitudes and responses. I have been working in a large Packhouse with hundreds of people and have been watching all levels and kinds of leadership exhibited. If as a leader people know that you value them they will go the extras mile for you. Conversely if people feel undervalued you are going to have problems.

People aren’t commodities to be used to reach an end goal, be that in the workplace or in a church family. Smart leaders know this. There has been news articles lately about church members feeling like they have been used. Its spilled over in to the media, sad. Years ago working in a factory the management philosophy to any gripes we had was, “if you don’t like your job or wage we will find someone who does. The message was clear, you are replaceable, not valuable.

People are incredibly valuable, and when they feel valued they operate above and beyond expectation. On an overseas mission to do some preaching etc it came time for the start of the meeting and heaps of people were yet to arrive. I asked the local guys should we start without them as it was start time. He said no in our culture we value the people over the meeting, we will start when they all get here. It was a financially poor country with limited access to transport for lots of people.

Church leaders more than any other need to be people who value their people. One preacher said it this way, “they don’t care how much you know as much as how much you care”.

Every one of us is a leader of some sort, even if you are just leading yourself. Great power is released when people know that they are valued.